as good a woman as ever broke bread
This debut collection of poetry explores the threads and gaps in family and national story — both oral and archival — to connect multiple generations of migration, separation, adoption, secrecy and reunion. The poems connect seemingly distant times and places — from slave plantations in North America, to the rookeries of London, a bend in the Nepean River and a street corner in The Rocks — and pay homage to other poets communing with ‘archival women’, including Jeanine Leanne, Natalie Harkin, Elfie Shiosaki and M. NourbeSe Philip.
Alex McInnis (she/her) is a writer living on Gadigal land, working with written forms to explore ideas of family, friendship, labour, time and stories that subvert accepted histories and futures. She has been shortlisted for the Overland Fair Australia Prize, and was awarded the NSW Institute of Journalists' Prize for Literature in 2021.
