Genre, History and the Stolen Generations: Three Australian Stories

Abstract

This article explores the role that genre plays in fictional depictions of the Stolen Generations (Australian Indigenous children removed from their homes) in three twenty-first-century Australian middle-grade novels: Who Am I?: The Diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937 by Anita Heiss (2001); The Poppy Stories: Four Books in One by Gabrielle Wang (2016); and Sister Heart by Sally Morgan (2016). It argues that the genres of fictional diary, adventure story and verse novel invite different reading practices and approaches to history, and shape the ways in which the texts depict, for children, the suffering and resilience of the Stolen Generations.