Song of the Crocodile

Song of the Crocodile
AuthorNardi Simpson
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
PublisherHachette Australia
Publication date
29 September 2020
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint
Pages448 pp.
ISBN9780733643743

Song of the Crocodile is a 2020 novel by the Australian author Nardi Simpson.[1]

It was the winner of the 2021 ALS Gold Medal.

Synopsis

The Australian country town of Darnmoor features a welcoming sign calling it "the Gateway to Happiness", a notion that is only applicable depending on the colour of your skin. The novel follows the Billymil family, who live just outside of town, across three generations, and details the tensions that exist between them and the local white settlers.

Critical reception

Reviewing the novel for Australian Book Review Jane Sullivan called the novel "one of many valuable and sometimes enthralling cross-cultural moments".[2]

In The Saturday Paper Khalid Warsame found in the novel "stunning moments of perfect fluidity and permeability, where Simpson’s deep engagement with the ancestries and cosmology of her people comes through".[3]

Awards

Notes

  • Dedication: For my ngurrambaa
  • Epigraph: 'our initiations continue, the bloodletting flows, the boy comes out and the man begins.' - Max Dulumunmun Harrison

See also

References

  1. ^ "Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson (Hachette 2020)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  2. ^ ""Cross over into Campgrounds"". Australian Book Review, Jan-Feb 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  3. ^ ""Nardi Simpson Song of the Crocdile"". The Saturday Paper, 17 October 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Simpson wins 2021 ALS Gold Medal for 'Song of the Crocodile'". Books+Publishing. 21 July 2021. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  5. ^ "Miles Franklin Literary Award 2021 longlist announced". Books+Publishing. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2024.