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
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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.
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
When children's wellbeing becomes a political football, it's time to change the game
https://www.croakey.org/when-childrens-wellbeing-becomes-a-political-football-its-time-to-change-the-game/
What will it take to stop disabled people in prison falling between the cracks of services and systems?
https://www.croakey.org/what-will-it-take-to-stop-disabled-people-in-prison-falling-between-the-cracks-of-services-and-systems/
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
INDIGENOUS X
Suffering Separation
https://indigenousx.com.au/suffering-separation/
Reflections From D Wing
https://indigenousx.com.au/reflections-from-d-wing/
Like Prison Like Home Detention
https://indigenousx.com.au/like-prison-like-home-detention-no/
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
Meeting at the Intersections
https://www.ywca.org.au/opinion/meeting-at-the-intersections/
WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AUSTRALIA
YWCA
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 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
PEARLS & IRRITATIONS
Drawing a Line in the Sand, and Speaking up for Abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex
https://johnmenadue.com/speaking-up-for-abolition-of-the-prison-industrial-complex/
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When Children’s Wellbeing Becomes a Political Football, it’s Time to Change the Game
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The Unheard Voices: How Society Silences Women
https://johnmenadue.com/the-unheard-voices-how-society-silences-women/
Australia’s Love Affair With Imprisonment
https://johnmenadue.com/australias-love-affair-with-imprisonment/
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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:
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7AM:
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Talkin time with Lukas and Alicia:
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Doin' Time:
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3CR Thursday Breakfast:
Safety For Who? Abolitionist perspectives on Criminalising Coercive Control
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TESTIMONIALS
I read your article with much delight. Â You write So beautifully and lyrically. Â Have you written a book as I so wanted to keep on reading. Â Thank you for your beautiful spirit and respect.