Dr Chelsea Watego's book launch on Wednesday night was heralded a success on social media with dancing, drinks and Blak excellence on display.
Despite its difficult subject matter, 'Another Day in the Colony ' was launched with a 'Blak Joy' and 'unmitigated Blakness'.
It was an outpouring of celebration, rather than focusing the often bleak experiences of First Nations people, Dr Chelsea Watego said.
"The idea of this night was to reclaim the day — reclaim our joy, our excellence and our beauty and celebrate that.
"It's been really exciting."
Dr Watego said as many events around the country were cancelled due to COVID restrictions, including NAIDOC, many attendees at the launch took the opportunity to get dressed up and hit the Blak carpet.
'We want to read about ourselves'
She said the launch party wasn't just about a book, but about exploring and showing the world joy and love rather than trauma.
"As Blackfullas, when you grow up in Black homes, in Black communities this kind of joy and beauty and excellence is always there — we are just putting it on show so the rest of the mob get to see and celebrate and share in that with us," she said.
She said the book, a collection of essays, is about sharing stories for and about our communities, rather than the historical norm of outsiders writing about First Nations people.
"That's the goal of the book, it is to speak with Blackfullas about who we are and... get us thinking about our location in this place in a different kind of way," Dr Watego said.
"It gives us all strength and power to be on our terms and not be required perform, attend or be of service to the settlers, because that is exhausting."
Dr Watego said the response to her book had been 'overwhelming', with the book going into reprint on the same day it was released.
"That is not because it's sitting on suburban bookshelves but it's because Blackfullas are talking about this book and Blackfullas are buying books.
"We read books, we buy books and we want to read about ourselves but not from their account but our own," she said.
Another Day in the Colony is available to buy online or in all good bookshops.
