Ruby Moonlight, a novel of the impact of colonisation in mid north South Australia around 1880. The main character, Ruby, refugee of a massacre, shelters in the woods where she befriends an Irishman trapper. The poems convey how fear of discovery is overcome by the need for human contact which, in a tense unravelling of events, is forcibly challenged by an Aboriginal lawman. The natural world is richly observed and Ruby's courtship is measured by the turning of the seasons.
Author
Ali Cobby Eckermann is a Yankunytjatjara / Kokatha kunga (woman) born on Kaurna land in 1963. As a baby Ali was adopted into the Eckermann family. After failed attempts she was assisted by Link Up to find her mother Audrey, and four years later her son Jonnie. Her journey was supported by many members of the Stolen Generations. She regularly visits her traditional family in rural and remote South Australia; to learn and to heal. After nearly thirty years in the Northern Territory, Ali chooses to live in the ‘intervention-free’ village of Koolunga, South Australia, where she is renovating the old general store and establishing an Aboriginal Writers Retreat. Ali Cobby Eckermann enjoyed great success with her first collection of poetry, little bit long time. Her poetry reflects her journey to reconnect with her Yankunytjatjara / Kokatha family. Other collections include Kami and Love Dreaming and Other Poems, published by Vagabond Press. Her first verse novel, His Father’s Eyes, was published in 2011 by Oxford University Press. Her second verse novel, Ruby Moonlight, published by Magabala Books, won the 2011 inaugural kuril dhagun Manuscript Editing Award and the 2012 Deadly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature. She has been featured on Poetica, ABC Message Stick, and on the Poetry International Website. In 2010 she performed at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali, and in 2012 at the Reaching The World Summit in Bangkok, Thailand. Too Afraid to Cry is her much anticipated memoir.
