Jamie Oliver in Hot Soup for Indigenous Appropriation

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver landed himself in a little bit of hot soup earlier this month, drawing ire from Australia’s peak body for Indigenous education after his children’s book Billy & the Epic Escape featured an Aboriginal subplot that quote “erases, trivialises, and stereotypes First Nations peoples and experiences”. His publisher Penguin Random House UK has since withdrawn the children’s novel from circulation.

 

On the line to shed more light on collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous writers was Wiradjuri poet Associate Professor Jeanine Leane, and non-Indigenous research associate Dr. Elizabeth Smyth.