How to find information about Indigenous literature

Explore Australia's literary heritage with the Australian Literature Society Collection. Home to over 500 works, including novels, verse, and essays, it showcases iconic authors like Patrick White, Joseph Furphy, and Kylie Tennant. Founded in 1899, this collection highlights the society's crucial role in shaping Australia’s vibrant literary tradition.

A guide to finding Australian literature resources

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This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: English for Year 4 students. It has been developed to use National Library collection material as the basis for an exploration of children’s literature as part of the literature strand of the English learning area.

Hear from Colin Thiele, Kylie Tennant, Gabrielle Wang, Doris Pilkington, Norman Lindsay and Christina Stead as they share their thoughts, memories and creative journeys.

Explore some of the crime-fiction reads in the collection and how they can help readers learn more about Australian culture, history and place.

The Alston Collection is a treasure trove of over 1,800 works on philology and linguistics. From rare books and manuscripts to Robin Alston’s personal drafts and correspondence, this collection is a must for anyone exploring the history of language and early bibliographical studies.

Learn about National Library of Australia Fellow Dr Matthew Lamb’s research into the life and juvenilia of legendary Australian writer Frank Moorhouse.

Michael Richards

Brooke Blurton and Dr Melanie Saward yarned about their new young adult novel, A Good Kind of Trouble, and what it means to write Indigenous-led stories for today’s young people.

Award-winning Tongan-Australian writer Winnie Dunn delivered the 2026 Ray Mathew Lecture, examining the topic of representation in literature.

We joined the Future Library project, Tommy Orange and Amitav Ghosh online as they delivered the 2026 Handover Ceremony.