Song of the Shadow of a Seed: First Nations poetry about family and connection

Seeds are sacred. They are the minutiae of all life, along with Boodjar (Country), Beeliar (rivers), women, and all bodies and vessels that carry living things.

Mitchell's debut collection is divided into different cycles around the life of a seed - elders, memory, language, hunger, burning, flowering, flight - and the poems within reflect the ways in which a seed, a person and a nation can contain the long history of what has been, as well as the promise of what is to come. These poems open conversations about connection to Country, the resilience of culture, and the complex articulation of identity as a First Nations descendant.

Inventive, moving and accessible, Mitchell's work includes conversations-in-poetry with family members that weave connection and shared history into every line.

They are a call to listen, to learn, and to engage with the lived truths of Whadjuk Nyungar Country.

Born and raised in Rubibi/Broome, Luisa Mitchell (Shaw) is a Whadjuk Nyungar and Australian writer, filmmaker and arts producer living in Boorloo/Perth. She has ties to Yued Country and is also of English, Irish and Swedish heritage. After combining her passions for story, art and social justice with a BA in International Relations and Screen Arts from Curtin University, she co-founded the youth journal Pulch Mag, The Uni Goonies Film Festival, and the Centre for Stories First Nations Writing Program with Ballardong editor Casey Mulder. Luisa's poetry and short stories have been published in Westerly, Liquid Amber Press, Sweatshop, Portside Review and more, and her short films have been screened in festivals worldwide. She currently facilitates story-telling projects with First Nations communities across Western Australia and is a committee member of PEN Perth, advocating for writers in prison, and freedom of expression.