ma-li by Lulu Houdini

A captivating debut poetry collection from the 2024 black&write! Fellowship winner.

– you as, and in relation to, all things –

at all times

ma-li is the luminous debut poetry collection from Lulu Houdini – a sensual, lyrical vessel carrying the intimate stories and Gamilaraay language of the Blak matriarch in motion.

Lulu’s power is rooted in the liminal spaces she occupies, magnifying the intricate patterns and relationships that are always at play on Country. Through poems of stolen soil, babies, and rivers that remember, we are brought into deep coalescence with the pulse that restores both land and self.

To the Queen Matriarchs of old, Lulu offers salves to their stripped identities. She houses their memories in her body, voice and pen.

Raw, tender, and defiantly alive, ma-li is a meditation on cultural vibrancy. The lifeblood of love and relationality, connective tissue of rivers and oceans, and the spine of Matriarchy blend together effortlessly in this powerful collection to make a heart strong.

A captivating debut poetry collection from the 2024 black&write! Fellowship winner.

About the Author: Lulu Houdini is a Gamilaroi poet and midwife living with and on Jerrinja, Wandi Wandandian Country. Her work is shaped by cultural identity, care and place and explores memory, resistance and liminality. Lulu was a 2024 black&write! Fellowship winner.

24 Feb 2026
 

ma-li by Lulu Houdini ISBN 9780733654497