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Several high-profile authors have quit the University of Queensland’s publishing house after it pulled the publication of a First Nations children’s book that was illustrated by Matt Chun.
On Wednesday, the University of Queensland Press (UQP) confirmed to Lamestream podcast it had pulled the already printed Bila: a river cycle by Jazz Money, an award-winning poet of Wiradjuri and Irish heritage, and illustrated by Chun.
The University of Queensland Press paused printing of the book in January, following an essay by Chun in his online newsletter about the Bondi Beach terror attack, titled: “We Don’t Mourn Fascists”.
In a statement to this masthead, the university said Chun’s statements “do not align with the university’s policies and values or with its adopted definition of antisemitism”, referring to the controversial IHRA definition adopted by some Australian universities.
Speaking to this masthead, Money said “the book couldn’t be less about anything captured in the IHRA definition of antisemitism”.
Bila: a river cycle is an adaptation of a poem included in her first published collection, called How to Weave a Basket. “It’s about a river that flows from the mountains down through Wiradjuri country and is poisoned by the interventions of people on the land, and so [it] takes the form of a human to walk, to walk with people, to learn, to flow out to the sea.”
It’s a story about care, Country, sovereignty and about the interconnectedness of all things, Money says.
She describes Chun’s work as stunning hand-drawn and hand-watercoloured images that “capture the water essence that underpins the whole story and brings to life the complexity and wonder of Country”.
“That’s the thing that is most distressing to me, it just sets the most awful precedent for integrity and courage in publishing in Australia because this is a very gentle kid’s book written by an Aboriginal mum about my Country and about my family’s Country,” Money says.
“If that can be cancelled under this definition, this weaponised definition, then what would stop anything more political or more urgent from being destroyed? What would compel a publisher to defend something that is higher stakes?”
Authors including Evelyn Araluen, winner of the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize, Melissa Lucashenko, Omar Sakr, Sara Haddad, Dženana Vucic and Natalia Figueroa Barroso have quit UQP in protest over the decision.
In an online statement, Araluen said she was severing ties because of the university’s “shameful and abhorrent decision to pulp the work of a fellow Aboriginal storyteller without due process, communication, respect, or consideration”.
“I fiercely advocated for UQP’s significant place in the literary ecology of this colony and developed deep and lasting relationships with workers at this publishing house,” she said.
Araluen said she had encouraged other First Nations storytellers to work with the publishing house, and estimated she had helped the university pocket upwards of $750,000 throughout her association. “I have poured my heart into the works I’ve published with UQP,” she said.
“It is devastating to see that despite the cultural, emotional and intellectual labour given to UQP through its First Nations storytellers, our work can be erased on a political whim.
“It’s clear you don’t deserve our words, so we will use them to speak truthfully to all you’ve done here today.”
Hours later, Money said she was also leaving the publisher, and that the university’s decision outlined connections between UQ and “right-wing press, political lobbying, university capitulation, environmental degradation and the erasure of Indigenous storytelling”.
She said the university and publisher had been “shocking” in their treatment of the author and illustrator duo.
“The gaslighting, silencing, obfuscation and outright lies have shown me what this once-esteemed publishing house really stands for,” she said.
On Thursday afternoon, Chun said he had been cut out of communications about the book at the beginning of March, and accused the university of trying to drive a wedge between him and Money. He said the book was cancelled on March 30.
Palestinian-Australian writer and academic Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah – whose removal from the Adelaide Writers’ Week in January sparked a boycott that led to the event’s cancellation – also cut ties with the publisher over the book’s withdrawal.
Abdel-Fattah said the decision showed “utter contempt” for First Nations artists and writers of colour.
“It’s astonishing that UQP made this decision knowing full well what the consequences and fallout would be,” she said.
By Thursday afternoon, Lamestream reported more than 30 authors penned an open letter to UQP voicing their solidarity with Money.
Money said she had not expected the level of community support, and thanked the authors including Araluen.
Originally Bila: a river cycle was expected to be released on June 30. The University of Queensland said it had not barred Money.
“We have enormous respect for Jazz and her work, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with Jazz again in the future,” the university’s statement said.
The university said it had not yet destroyed the several thousand copies of the book it had already printed, although it was considering “recycling options”.
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