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As a kid from the tiny Australian town of Dapto, The First Scientists author Corey Tutt never imagined he would one day win a literary prize for writing a children's book.
"It's because of booksellers taking a chance on my books," the adjunct associate professor and Kamilaroi man told ABC News.
"So, I'm very grateful to booksellers, especially the local ones, that continue to stock my book and support First Nations writers."
Winner of the 2023 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Children's Literature, the decorated writer's book celebrates the sciences and the "many deadly feats" of First Nations Australians ranging from bush medicine to bush tracking.
"Booksellers play a huge role in helping us tell stories that really can create the next doctors, the next scientists, the next artists, whoever you want to be," he said.
"Without books and stories, we don't have anything.
"Our kids need good solid books that can help them escape, maybe help them find a passion, or purpose in life."
The cultural role of bookshops has been in the spotlight after the owner of Victoria's oldest independent bookshop posted on social media, calling for "kids picture books with just white kids on the cover".
Dub Leffler, whose illustrations have graced the covers of many children's books including Sorry Day by Coral Vass, says part of his role is "creating heroes for kids".
"So, kids can see themselves in a book, in any book," he told ABC News.
"And also, my role is not to segregate the audiences so, you want the audience, from all walks of life, from all backgrounds to be able to get something out of your books."
The Bigambul and Mandandanji man's latest cover for Walking Together, also by Vass and out in July, gives children the chance to imagine their faces atop a range of bodies, with clothing that includes rainbow shorts and a floral dress with a print depicting the Aboriginal flag.
Leffler has fostered relationships with booksellers, some of whom he counts as friends.
"The good booksellers have their finger on the pulse of what people are reading," he said.
"Booksellers are gatekeepers. Just like librarians, especially when it comes to children's books. And as authors and illustrators, we know this."
The bookshop owner and the backlash
In a series of posts on her since-deleted X account, Robinsons Books owner Susanne Horman said:
What's missing from our bookshelves in store? Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional nuclear white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous art, non indig aus history #weneedbetterstories
A day later
Books we don't need: hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left wing govt propaganda. Basically the woke agenda that divides people. Not stocking any of these in 2024. #weneedbetterstories
She followed up with:
So I am advocating for a substantial shift in the focus of Australian publishers to be in line with public opinion and requests for books and for what is GOOD! We aren't going to stock books that intend to cause harm and make Australians hate each other. #weneedbetterstories
The December posts were screen-captured by @coffeebooksandmagic and shared on Instagram.
The bookshop posted an apology on Facebook, saying the comments were "being taken out of context" and "being misrepresented as the views of Robinsons Bookshop when they are not".
Horman followed up with a post, saying "I know my social media posts have upset some people and I'm sorry about that". It featured a video of the team's "favourite books" from Indigenous authors.
Leffler said the social media comments struck at the heart of the value placed on a child's right to education.
"Reading is so important. The empowerment that a child will get from being able to read a story that they relate to, it will just show that they're valued," Leffler said.
"This lady is stopping people from learning. And she's affecting the livelihoods of people, most [of whom] don't earn a lot of money.
"To have somebody say you're not valued, your books aren't important and for them to be working in the same industry, it highlights that we're not all on the same page.
"It's a dated attitude. And it was wrong then."
In response to questions from ABC News, Horman said she had received an outpouring of support: "My comments related to needing specific types of books (mainstream fiction for men and boys with a positive male character) because there continues to be a gap in the market for many years now we would like to see filled."
'No gap in the market'
Horman's comments were "really disturbing", according to Robbie Egan, who is the chief executive of BookPeople — the Australian Booksellers Association, which has about 500 members including independent bookshops and chain stores.
"I see no shortage of white male stories," Egan said.
"I don't see any gap in the market, as Susanne has back-pedalled to suggest, because it doesn't exist.
"If you read every bit of it, it's clearly not taken out of context."
He said Robinsons Bookshop was a member of BookPeople until a few years ago.
"Most booksellers I know, the vast, vast majority, and I know lots around the world, are really committed to multiple perspectives on issues and to diversity of storytelling and stories," he said.
Egan, who was a bookseller at Readings Carlton in Melbourne for 14 years and is a PhD candidate researching bookshops as built spaces, said booksellers choose from a "mind-boggling" number of books published globally every month and their decisions could help make or break careers.
He cited The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams and Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, which has been made into a Netflix series, as examples of this phenomenon.
"[Dalton's] first book Boy Swallows Universe really started off [creating a buzz and gaining momentum] in bookshops. And now he's a megastar," he said.
"Publishers will tell you that it's very hard to break an author or make a book in Australia, if it's a kind of literary type title, without the independent sector on board."
Debut author Madeleine Gray agreed, saying she depended on booksellers to create a buzz around her bestselling 2023 novel Green Dot about a doomed love affair from the perspective of "the other woman".
"I think that honestly, they are the most important in the book-selling process because booksellers are the ones who get books into the hands of people," Gray said.
Gray is also a critic and has worked as a bookseller at Better Read Than Dead in Sydney, saying a small number of people read book reviews but most rely on recommendations from others.
"And when the person recommending them is an expert in books, you trust their opinion a lot more," she said.
"When I worked at the bookstore, people would often come in and just directly ask me for a recommendation in whatever realm of book they wanted to buy.
"And usually, if I suggested something and explained why it was good, they would buy it.
"That's a huge amount of power and responsibility held by someone."
Gray has described Horman's comments as "dangerous".
"I think that a bookstore has a responsibility to be a kind of community hub that offers and caters to everyone in the community," Gray said.
"And the diversity of books should reflect the diversity of customers.
"And also, even if the customers aren't that diverse, it should offer them insight into other worlds and other experiences."
'Shocking and disappointing'
Award-winning author and University of Queensland professor of communications Anita Heiss said her experience with the bookselling industry had been mostly positive.
"As an author, newly minted publisher and lifetime ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, my experience with the bookselling industry has by-and-large been supportive and respectful of the need and the desire for First Nations voices to be heard, as a way of redressing the imbalance in the truth in history," she said.
Heiss, who is a member of the Wiradjuri Nation, said as a reader, she tried to support independent booksellers where possible.
"My loyalty to a bookshop is heavily influenced by how they curate their shelves, and I expect to see diverse reading tastes reflected in their stock because we all read differently," she said.
As a First Nations author and publisher, she understood the need for a national literary landscape that includes stories from all communities to "represent and provide a complete narrative of this country".
"As a lifetime ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, I know that improving literacy is dependent on relevant resources, ie: books where we are represented on the page," she said.
"And books by First Nations authors that tell stories through our lenses, not only empower us but also serve to educate non-Indigenous readers about many aspects of a shared history that is still not recorded nor engaged with."
She believed Robinsons Bookshop "would feel the full brunt of boycotts by authors and readers who do not want to be associated with the chain due to Horman's position".
"To say that the comments by Susanne Horman were shocking and disappointing would be an understatement, but post-[Voice] referendum, I cannot say that they were completely surprising," she said.
"So many assume permission to proclaim publicly their ignorance without any shame or accountability whatsoever. Clearly, Horman was wrong to assume that.
"We've seen globally with the boycotts related to Gaza that people power works."