Penni Russon

May 12, 2024 | theconversation.com | Penni Russon

Gender Queer, a graphic-novel memoir of coming out as non-binary, was at the centre of Australia’s perhaps highest-profile book banning furore in recent years – that is, before western Sydney’s Cumberland City Council banned books on same-sex parenting. And Gender Queer’s status is still threatened: Bernard Gaynor, the conservative Catholic activist who led the call to ban it is taking the Minister for Communication and the Australian Classification Review Board to the Federal Court of Australia.

May 12, 2024 | thetimes.com.au | Penni Russon

Gender Queer, a graphic-novel memoir of coming out as non-binary, was at the centre of Australia’s perhaps highest-profile book banning furore in recent years – that is, before western Sydney’s Cumberland City Council banned books on same-sex parenting[1].

Mar 12, 2024 | hashtag.net.au | Penni Russon |Jeanine Leane

“From the moment I got here, I’ve wanted to set the whole of Brisbane on fire,” reflects Andrew, the protagonist of Melanie Saward’s debut novel. Saward, a Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author, moved to Bracken Ridge in the northern suburbs of Brisbane as a teenager, after growing up in Tasmania. So does Andrew, who like her, is Indigenous. When we meet him, he is in Year 10 and has recently moved to Bracken Ridge with his mother, Linda, and her boyfriend, Dave.

Mar 12, 2024 | tolerance.ca | Penni Russon

By Penni Russon, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, Monash University Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author Melanie Saward’s Burn is structured around three fires. It bears witness to the role institutions play in exacerbating trauma associated with colonialism. Read complete article© The Conversation -

Mar 12, 2024 | theconversation.com | Penni Russon

“From the moment I got here, I’ve wanted to set the whole of Brisbane on fire,” reflects Andrew, the protagonist of Melanie Saward’s debut novel. Saward, a Bigambul and Wakka Wakka author, moved to Bracken Ridge in the northern suburbs of Brisbane as a teenager, after growing up in Tasmania. So does Andrew, who like her, is Indigenous. When we meet him, he is in Year 10 and has recently moved to Bracken Ridge with his mother, Linda, and her boyfriend, Dave.