A stunning collaboration between poet Nandi Chinna and Martuwarra guardian Professor Anne Poelina. Punctuated by three long poems from Anne Poelina, this book-length collection explores meaningful and respectful responses to place through immersion. Together, the poems explore the beauty and complexity of the Kimberley region in Western Australia and the importance of a connection to land. Perfect for poetry lovers who enjoy collections that push boundaries and engage with important themes, Tossed Up by the Beak of a Cormorant is a powerful poetry collection about connection, nature and culture that is not to be missed.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nandi Chinna works as a Research Consultant, Community Arts Facilitator and poet. She was born on Kaurna country in Adelaide and currently lives and works on Bunuba lands in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and on Noongar Country in the southwest of WA. Nandi uses mindfulness and meditation, slow walking and immersion in nature to facilitate creative writing. For the last seven years, Nandi has worked with First Nations people on poetry projects about rivers, wetlands and homelands. Most recently, Nandi collaborated with Nyikina Elder Professor Anne Poelina – a Guardian of Martuwarra Fitzroy River – on a poetry project focusing on the Martuwarra River. She is the author of four poetry collections. Her poetry book The Future Keepers was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award in 2020 and was highly commended in the Victorian Premier’s Prize in 2019. In 2021, Nandi was awarded the Western Australian Premier’s Writing Fellowship.
Professor Anne Poelina PhD, PhD, MEd, MPH&TM, MA, Chair and Senior Research Fellow, Indigenous Knowledges Nulungu Institute of Research, University of Notre Dame. Adjunct Professor, College of Indigenous Education Futures, Arts & Society, Charles Darwin University, Darwin. Peter Cullen Fellow for Water Leadership. Anne is the inaugural First Nations appointment to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences (2022). She is also a member and Visiting Research Fellow of the Institute for Water Futures, Australian National University, Canberra; and is a Member of the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water as part of the Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Water Interests (CAWI). In 2023, she was nominated as Ambassador for the Western Australian State Natural Rangelands Management, and in 2019, she became a founding member of the Western Australian government’s Aboriginal Water and Environment Advisory Group (AWEG). In 2018, she became the inaugural Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council. Anne has been recognised for many of her achievements and contributions, including receiving a Laureate (2017) from the Women’s World Summit Foundation, Geneva; the Women Taking Climate Action Award (co-winner 2023) awarded by the Zonta Club of Melbourne on Yarra and the Zonta International District 23 Zonta Says NOW team; and the Kailisa Budevi Earth and Environment Award, International Women’s Day (2022) in recognition of her global standing.
