Australian authors launch Summer Reading for MPs campaign

A group of over 90 Australian authors and other members of the literary community have given Australian federal parliamentarians a ‘carefully curated package of books on the Middle East to expand their knowledge of the history of the conflict,’ as part of their Summer Reading for MPs campaign, reports the Guardian.

The group—which includes authors Tim Winton, Charlotte Wood, Michelle de Kretser and J M Coetzee—paid for the books to be distributed to 227 MPs and senators.

University of Queensland publisher Aviva Tuffield was one of the originators of the campaign, which is endorsed by the Jewish Council of Australia and the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network. ‘The summer is for reading,’ Tuffield told the Guardian. ‘There’s well-known summer reading lists like Obama’s, and the Grattan Institute’s. It might be good for politicians who aren’t engaged [on this issue] and only get the talking points to do some reading [of their own].’

The following books were sent to politicians as part of the campaign:

• Balcony Over Jerusalem (John Lyons, HarperCollins)
• The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance (Rashid Khalidi, Profile)
• Palestine A–Z (Kate Thompson, Liminal Books)
• The Sunbird (Sara Haddad, originally self-published, forthcoming with UQP)
• A Very Short History of the Israel–Palestine Conflict (Ilan Pappé, Oneworld).

In a letter, the group said: ‘The political debate in Australia and internationally rarely touches on the issues, events and historical analyses that these books reveal—despite their direct relevance to what is happening today.’

‘We’re not asking anyone to change their personal opinions or public positions. We just ask that politicians consider reading one or more of these books in the hope that they might inform and illuminate discussion on the ghastly situation we have been watching unfold across the Middle East.’

Pictured L–R: Aviva Tuffield and Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel, via Instagram.

Category: Local news