But... even true stories have to be invented sometimes to be remembered.

It was very difficult, impossible really, to survive if you never existed.

Men from the mountaintops will always come down to the molehill to conquer it. That will always be the vice of the conquerors.

A goddess who had dragged herself out of the ocean then become an ordinary old woman.

So my brain is as stuffed as some old broken-down Commodore you see left in the bush.

No matter what happens to you, you can maintain your own control about what you believe and who you are.

It's a really important thing for Aboriginal people to remember how stories are told and the power of stories, and make it an important feature in our world again.

I've never seen myself as a spokesperson. I've always seen myself as a worker and am very grateful for the trust that my own people have given me over the years.

English is my language because of the history, and what I try to do - and I did that in 'Carpentaria' in particular - is to write in the way we tell stories and in the voice of our own people and our own way of speaking.

The expectation was I would get married and become a mother and settle down. We didn't have any role models. We saw teachers and doctors and nurses, but I'm not a teacher, and there was no possibility of being a doctor or a nurse. I had to work and find my own way.