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‘Dark Emu’ chosen as inaugural Parliamentary Book Club title

Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu (Magabala) has been chosen as the first book to be read by politicians for the inaugural Parliamentary Book Club, to be held in early 2020.

Dark Emu was the ‘clear favourite’ during a two-week call out for nominations on social media. It was announced as the winner at the launch of this year’s Australian Reading Hour at Parliament House on 17 September.

Pascoe and Magabala publisher Rachel Bin Salleh will travel to Canberra to join the participating politicians for the book club discussion. Bin Salleh said, ‘We knew how important ​Dark Emu was when we first published it in 2014, but to see it gathering momentum and taking hold in the hearts and minds of so many Australians gives us hope. We believe that ​Dark Emu can be the catalyst for meaningful change.’

Other books to receive a high number of nominations were No Friend But the Mountains (Behrouz Boochani, Picador), ​Eggshell Skull (Bri Lee, A&U), ​Too Much Lip (​Melissa Lucashenko, UQP) and ​Call of the Reed Warbler (Charles Massy, UQP).

The Parliamentary Book Club initiative is led by senator Hollie Hughes and MP Graham Perrett.

 

Category: Local news