She also writes often about nature, painting landscapes of brutal, untamed beauty reminiscent of Annie Proulx. Given how universal Brooks’s books are, why then does she remain so under-appreciated outside of Australia? In her fiction, she returns most frequently to the beauty and blood found in religion, exploring faiths in a quiet, reverent voice that recalls Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead.

As a fan, it is nice to see a self-described “feminist tree-hugging pinko” officially recognised for her body of work. It’s an apt description: whether the setting is the rocky American wilderness or pre-biblical Israel, all Brooks’s books have an underlying fascination with the wider world, frequent references to multiculturalism and mutual understanding, and warnings against the corrosiveness of class prejudice – all wonderfully Australian roots. She often speaks about writing to school students, and has taught creative writing and mentored writers.The American-Australian author was awarded the Order of Australia on Tuesday, to mark her “essentially Australian” contributions to writing, as she called them in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. 'So I became one of the first 'ambassadors' for ILF, just a sort of a spokesperson for the needs, which are vast, given that less than half our Indigenous kids are finishing high school and that two thirds of remote communities have no access to anything like a library.' 'I was enthusiastic,' she says, 'because when I'd spent time on outstations as a reporter, I always found the kids were mad keen to be read to - if you could find a book, you had them: full, wide-eyed attention. Also, they're focused on some very Australian themes of social justice and the corrosiveness of class and exclusion.'īrooks became an early ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation after speaking to the founder, bookseller Suzy Wilson, about her plans to take books to remote communities. 'They're a product of an Australian attitude of being turned out towards the world, feeling a stake in all the world's cultures, because of the multicultural nature of our own neighbourhoods and communities. Yet her books are 'essentially Australian', she says.

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