PUBLISHED WORK
Opinion pieces, poetry, articles
I carry within my soul bones the blood of all my grandmothers past. There is nothing but their strength and stories coursing through my veins. I hold their ancestral wisdom deep within my DNA, and it is their power that allows me to communicate with the moon. I write of love and loss, lust and passion, sex and anger, truth and lies. Stories are our medicine, and when I weave a tale of words crafting them into fresh meaning, I am creating ceremony...I am honouring my ancestors - after all, my existence is evidence of their resistance. I am here because of every one of their dreams. My words have always sat in paperbound booklets, away from sunlight, away from judgment, away from earthly eyes...but there comes a time when you must take a step out of the shadows, throw some light on your craft and perhaps someone will feel...feel what you have intended, and wouldn't that be a blessing! So, I am finally giving wings to my words to free the poetic soul of mine - to remove the shackles I have bound to my voice and pen in the hope that they may land upon crimson hearts.
ARCHER MAGAZINE #18 - THE INCARCERATION ISSUE
Welcome to the INCARCERATION issue.
Guest edited by ME!
"There is a solidarity among those who have seen the inside of a cage that the non-criminalised will never understand," writes guest editor, Tabitha Lean.
"When I walked out of the gates of prison, I made it my mission to dedicate my life to abolition. I wanted to use my hands to tear the system apart – brick by brick, bar by bar, word by word, policy by policy."
Having spent almost two years in Adelaide Women’s Prison and a total of 18 months on Home Detention, Tabitha Lean uses her lived prison experience to argue that the criminal punishment system is a brutal, and too often deadly, colonial frontier for her people.
"Every inch of this edition will make your body surge with emotion – and, hopefully, rage. I hope this magazine compels you to act."
The edition features writing about the prison system and its impacts on First Nations people; how incarceration affects young people and the children of people with lived experience; a story from a writer who was locked in detention; an image essay from Haitian photographer Zarita Zevallos; a Q&A with abolition activist Debbie Kilroy; a speech from Aunty Vickie Roach and more.
TESTIMONIALS
I read your article with much delight. You write So beautifully and lyrically. Have you written a book as I so wanted to keep on reading. Thank you for your beautiful spirit and respect.
Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin AO
PUBLISHED WORK
CROAKEY
Calling for the release of women and children from prison
https://www.croakey.org/freeher-calling-for-the-release-of-women-and-children-from-prison/
Stand with us to clean out prisons
https://croakey.org/stand-with-us-and-clean-out-prisons/
Resources for decolonising education
https://croakey.org/for-parents-teachers-and-children-some-resources-for-decolonising-education/
Drawing a line in the sand, and speaking up for abolition of the prison industrial complex
https://www.croakey.org/drawing-a-line-in-the-sand-and-speaking-up-for-abolition-of-the-prison-industrial-complex/
State Sanctioned Sexual Assault: the injustice of strip searching women in prisons
KOORIE HERITAGE TRUST
https://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Essay-Tabitha-Lean.pdf
Essay: Lisa Waup
https://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/29.-Essay-Lisa-Waup.pdf
Creation was not a one time event
Essay: Aunty Joy Murphy
https://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/26.-Essay-Aunty-Joy-Murphy.pdf
Essay: Aunty Bronwyn Razem
https://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/19.-Essay-Aunty-Bronwyn-Razem.pdf
THE SATURDAY PAPER
Speaking out for criminalised women
ASCENSION MAGAZINE
An open letter to the man who racially trolled me on Invasion Day
https://ascensionmag.com/an-open-letter-to-the-man-who-racially-trolled-me-on-invasion-day/
Undercover Kindness
https://ascensionmag.com/undercover-kindness/
Dear Daughter
JUNKEE MEDIA
20 Ways You Can Support Indigenous People
VERSE MAGAZINE
Be a better tenant, and pay the rent too
https://versemag.com.au/home/how-can-the-uni-be-a-better-tenant-and-pay-the-rent-too/
Tauondi College Budget slashed by state government
https://versemag.com.au/home/tauondi-aboriginal-college-budget-slashed-by-sa-government/
Interview with Tabitha Lean
https://versemag.com.au/edition-32-37/edition-34/interview-tabitha-lean/
Buying Blak
https://versemag.com.au/home/buying-blak/
How to do a eucalyptus cleanse
https://versemag.com.au/home/how-to-eucalyptus-cleanse/
Cover Image of Edition 34
https://issuu.com/versemagadelaide/docs/edition_34_wip_v2__2_
The Soap, the shower curtain and the mopping up
https://versemag.com.au/edition-32-37/edition-34/the-soap-the-shower-curtain-and-the-mopping-up/
Love in 5 parts
https://versemag.com.au/home/love-in-five-parts/
Something about the rain
https://versemag.com.au/home/something-about-the-rain/
Myth Busters
WOMAN SCREAM INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY
MINDSHARE
Still Talkin' 'bout a Revolution: A reflection on Nancy Bates' show
https://mindshare.org.au/nancy-bates-talkin-bout-a-revolution-a-reflection/
Nancy Bates – A Review
https://mindshare.org.au/nancy-bates-a-review/
Review: Janet's Vagrant Love
https://mindshare.org.au/review-janets-vagrant-love/
Review: Kym's Overall Extravaganza Showcase
https://mindshare.org.au/review-kyms-overall-extravaganza-showcase-comedy/
Review: Teardrops on my dildo
https://mindshare.org.au/review-teardrops-on-my-dildo/
Review: Kevin Kropinyeri Goes Talkabout
https://mindshare.org.au/review-kevin-kropinyeri-goes-talkabout/
Review: Why can’t Mi goreng?
https://mindshare.org.au/review-why-cant-mi-goreng/
Review: I didn’t know I was drowning, till I saw the shore
https://mindshare.org.au/review-i-didnt-know-i-was-drowning-till-i-saw-the-shore/
Review: 7 Day Notice
https://mindshare.org.au/review-7-day-notice/
Review: The Twins
https://mindshare.org.au/review-the-twins/
Fringe Review: Leather Lungs – Shut Up and Sing
https://mindshare.org.au/fringe-review-leather-lungs-shut-up-and-sing/
Fringe Review: Brown Women Comedy
HEAD EDITOR: BLAK OUT
I was absolutely honoured to be the Head Editor of the first Blak Out Magazine.
Meeting at the Intersections
https://www.ywca.org.au/opinion/meeting-at-the-intersections/
YWCA
WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AUSTRALIA
ON THE RECORD
KILL YOUR DARLINGS
The waiting room and hep c
https://wwda.org.au/blog/the-waiting-room-and-hep-c/
Survival is productivity, right?
Reconciliation Week: Insanity or Hope?
https://ontherecordunisa.com.au/2021/05/26/reconciliation-week-insanity-or-hope/
Pay the rent (and your respect) this January 26 and beyond
https://ontherecordunisa.com.au/2021/01/24/dear-settlers-paying-the-rent-and-your-respect-this-january-26-and-beyond/
Stop asking me to bleed for you for 50 bucks
https://ontherecordunisa.com.au/2022/06/07/stop-asking-me-asking-me-to-bleed-for-you-for-50-bucks/
OLD WATER RAT PUBLISHING
Hands Up
https://oldwaterratpublishing.com/hands-up/
Old Man Gneering
https://oldwaterratpublishing.com/2021/08/31/old-man-gneering/
OVERLAND
Into the belly of the beast
https://overland.org.au/2021/08/into-the-belly-of-the-beast/
Why I am an abolitionist
JOURNAL OF PRISONERS ON PRISONS
'THE NOT SO EASY SIMPLE SOLUTION' - WRITTEN WITH DEBBIE KILROY
THE VIEW MAGAZINE UK
https://theviewmag.org.uk/cw-discusses-domestic-violence-abuse-and-carceral-violence/
The not so easy, simple solution
https://uottawa.scholarsportal.info/ottawa/index.php/jpp/article/view/6292/5129
SYDNEY REVIEW OF BOOKS
More Black than Blue: A confession
A review of Black and Blue by Veronica Gorrie
https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/gorrie-black-and-blue/
ROSA PRESS
Four Scenes Poetry Anthology
Available at:
https://rosapress.net/product/tabitha-lean-budhin-mingaan-four-scenes/
AUSTRALIAN MULTILINGUAL WRITING PROJECT
THE POWER TO PERSUADE
The state’s perfect partner
https://www.powertopersuade.org.au/blog/the-states-perfect-partner/20/10/2023
Academic
Papers
Making visible the invisibalised voices of criminalised women in Australia
By: Debbie Kilroy & Tabitha Lean
Book : The Routledge Handbook of Women's Experiences of Criminal Justice
Papers
Abolition as a decolonial project
By Debbie Kilroy, Tabitha Lean, Angela Y. Davis
Book: The Routledge International Handbook on Decolonizing Justice
Papers
Abolition Feminisms Vol. 1
Organizing, Survival, and Transformative Practice
Edited by Alisa Bierria, Jakeya Caruthers, and Brooke LoberForeword by Dean Spade
PODCASTS
featuring Tabitha
Kids Pod:
7AM:
Talkin time with Lukas and Alicia:
Doin' Time:
3CR Thursday Breakfast:
Safety For Who? Abolitionist perspectives on Criminalising Coercive Control
