Shapeshifting is a collection of 15 stories by Indigenous writers in ‘lyric non-fiction’ form: a term describing non-fiction essays purposely embracing the personality and personhood of the writer. Essays will often break the main narrative with poetry and/or personal reflection. This format subverts the constraints of non-fiction conventions. Indigenous voices can then be heard without the need to bend to paternalistic ‘rules’.

The editors explain the format of the essays in the collection within the introduction, but the concept is equally well described in the first essay, Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello’s, ‘Glue’. She also makes the important point that Indigenous law is what it claims to be – and not what the uninformed dismiss as ‘folklore’. Natalie Harkin’s essay plays with formatting, giving the reader dual narratives, side by side. The most emotionally compelling essay – for me – was Daniel Browning’s, ‘Bundjalung for Queer’. Browning talks of being twice denied his personhood: firstly for being Black; and also rejected by some within his own community for being gay. His sense of being ‘culturally void’ makes for devastating reading.

All essays are necessarily political. They reflect on the past and examine Indigenous life in contemporary Australia, although both ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Australia’ are disputed terms in the final essay, Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta’s, ‘Elephant in the Room’. This is the ideal essay on which to complete this anthology: replete with well-argued ideas and a challenge for the future. This collection’s format is the perfect vehicle for First Nations writers. It’s intellectually stimulating while simultaneously validating engaging lyricism.

Reviewed by Bob Moore