Dreaming in the Urban Areas

Overview

Lisa Bellear’s poetry moves sharply between street-smart portrayals of poverty and dispossession, and the complexity of Black love, identity and experience. She reaches into the unspeakable parts of a colonial past in order to unpick the ongoing repercussions of Australia’s invasion and history.Written with poetic prowess and political bite, Bellear’s work is a reckoning force set against a backdrop of urban community and strength. Her boundless energy and activism shine throughout, ensuring that each poem has a striking clarity of vision. Dreaming in the Urban Areas is an incandescent work of integrity and truth that charts the enduring struggles for survival and recognition.

Author Biography

Lisa Bellear (1961-2006) was a Goenpul woman of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah, Queensland. She was a respected poet, photographer, activist, spokeswoman, dramatist, comedian and broadcaster. Her work in social justice, campaigning for equality and Indigenous rights, and her contribution to Indigenous writing, academia and the arts had a huge impact on many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Dreaming in the Urban Areas was Lisa's first, and only, published poetry collection. From the Sydney Opera House to the Australian Consulate in Mumbai, Corporate to community, Gunai Woman Kirli Saunders (OAM) has had experience speaking, facilitating, and teaching across a multitude of stages and settings. Kirli is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, writer, singer-songwriter and consultant with a passion for enlivening spaces and engaging broad audiences in bold conversations for social impact.