Here is a list of 20 true stories from Australian voices. (And you can find even more recommendations in the collection below.)

My Place by Sally Morgan

First published in 1987, My Place is a milestone in Aboriginal literature. Sally Morgan relates her experiences growing up in suburban Perth in the fifties and sixties. Through the memories of her childhood and adolescence, vague hints and echoes begin to emerge and a previously hidden story unfolds – a mystery of identity, complete with clues and suggested solutions.

The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke

Sweltering heat, a three bedroom blonde-brick, a family of five, a beat-up Ford Falcon, Vegemite on toast – Maxine Beneba Clarke’s life is just like all the other Aussie kids on her street. Except for this one, glaring, inescapably obvious thing… From one of Australia’s most exciting writers, this is a powerful, funny, and at times devastating, memoir about growing up black in white middle-class Australia.

Songs of a War Boy by Deng Thiak Adut with Ben McKelvey

Deng Adut’s family were farmers in South Sudan when civil war altered their lives forever; at the age most Australian children are starting school, Deng was conscripted into the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. After suffering through illness, warfare and overwhelming loneliness, Deng was smuggled out of Sudan by his brother John, and with help from the UN, was able to come to Australia as a refugee. Despite physical injuries and mental trauma he grabbed the chance to make a new life.

Light and Shadow by Mark Colvin

Mark Colvin one of Australia’s longest-serving broadcasters, as a reporter for more than two decades and the national radio evening institution he has become as host of PM since 1997. In this memoir, he reveals what it was like to discover his diplomat father was really an M16 spy, as well as the reality of covering some of the most dangerous flashpoints of recent history: Tehran during the hostage crisis, the end of the Cold War, Iraq in the buildup to the First Gulf War and Rwanda in the direct aftermath of one of the worst massacres of the century.

My World on Wheels by Russell Mockridge

This is the forgotten story of Australia’s finest cyclist ever. Shy and bespectacled Russell Mockridge was the black sheep of Australian cycling and also its greatest all-round champion. He dominated both the track and road – at the time of his death he was the reigning national sprint, pursuit, and road race champion. In May 1958, he started to write the story of his life. On September 13, 1958, while competing in a road race on the outskirts of Melbourne, he was killed.

Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung

This story does not begin on a boat, and nor does it contain any wild swans or falling leaves. In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice and her Chinese-Cambodian family pursue the Australian Dream, Asian style. Armed with an ocker accent, Alice dives head-first into schooling, romance and the getting of wisdom. Her mother becomes an Aussie battler – an outworker – that is, and her father embraces the miracle of franchising and opens an electrical-appliance store. And every day her grandmother blesses Father Government for giving old people money.

Not All Superheroes Wear Capes by Quentin Kenihan

Born with a rare bone disorder, osteogenesis imperfecta, Quentin Kenihan’s bones broke all on their own, and often. When Quentin Kenihan was seven, Mike Willesee made a documentary about him and Australians fell in love with the boy’s never-say-die attitude. Over the years he grew up before our eyes, and at 41 he is a filmmaker, stand-up comedian, radio host, actor and film critic. Not All Superheroes Wear Capes is his life story – a tale of abandonment, drug addiction and dark thoughts, but also of perseverance and joy.

Second Half First by Drusilla Modjeska

Second Half First is a stunning memoir from one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed writers. Beginning with the disastrous events of the night before her fortieth birthday, Drusilla Modjeska looks back on the past 30 years. In asking the candid questions that so many of us face – about love and independence, growing older, the bonds of friendship and family – she reassesses the experiences that have shaped her writing, her reading and the way she has lived.

Pictures from My Memory by Lizzie Marrkilyi Ellis

Pictures from My Memory is Lizzie Marrkilyi Ellis’s account of her life as a Ngaatjatjarra woman from the Australian Western Desert. Born in the bush at the time of first contact between her family and White Australians, Ellis’s vivid personal reflections offer both an historical record and profound emotional insight into her unique experience of being woven between cultures her Aboriginal community and the Western worlds.

Yassmin’s Story by Yassmin Abdel-Magied

At 21, Yassmin found herself working on a remote Australian oil and gas rig; she was the only woman and certainly the only Sudanese-Egyptian-Australian background Muslim woman. With her hijab quickly christened a ‘tea cosy’ there could not be a more unlikely place on earth for a young Muslim woman to want to be. This is the story of how she got there, where she is going, and how she wants the world to change. (Please note, Penguin Random House is contributing royalties from this book to Youth Without Borders.)

Two Sisters by Ngarta Jinny Bent, Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Pat Lowe and Eirlys Richards

Ngarta and Jukuna lived in the Great Sandy Desert. They traversed country according to the seasons, just as the Walmajarri people had done for thousands of years. But it was a time of change. Desert people who had lived with little knowledge of European settlement were now moving onto cattle stations. Those left behind were vulnerable and faced unimaginable challenges. In 1961, when Jukuna leaves with her new husband, young Ngarta remains with a group of women and children. When tragedy strikes, Ngarta is forced to depend on her cunning and courage as she is pursued by two murderers in a vast unforgiving landscape.

The Never, Um, Ever Ending Story by Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum with Jeff Jenkins

Filled with outrageous anecdotes and a kaleidoscopic cast of musos, colourful characters and international superstars, The Never, Um, Ever Ending Story is the first of Molly’s memoirs of his chaotic, incredible life and the show that made him famous. The follow-up is Ah Well, Nobody’s Perfect.

Of Ashes and Rivers That Run to the Sea by Marie Munkara

An old baptismal card falling out of a book changed the course of 28-year-old Marie Munkara’s life forever – until that moment she had no idea of her true origins in Arnhem Land. Delivered on the banks of the Mainoru River by her two grandmothers, Marie was born with light skin and consequently, she was soon taken by the authorities and placed with a white family to be raised in Adelaide. After her chance finding of the baptismal card Marie felt compelled to go looking for her own family, leaving her strict Catholic establishment family aghast.

The Fighter by Arnold Zable

Henry Nissen was a champion boxer, the boy from Amess Street in working-class Carlton who fought his way up to beat some of the world’s best in the 1970s. Now, he works on the Melbourne docks, loading and unloading, taking shifts as they come up. His real work though is on the streets: he’s in and out of police stations and courts giving character statements and providing support, working to give the disaffected another chance. And all the while, in the background is the memory of another fighter, his mother – and her devastating decline into madness.

How I Met My Son by Yolanda Bogert

Yolanda Bogert, a mum from regional Queensland, made worldwide news when she placed a notice in a Brisbane newspaper in December 2014. It read: ‘A Retraction. In 1995 we announced the arrival of our sprogget, Elizabeth Anne, as a daughter. He informs us that we were mistaken. Oops! Our bad. We would now like to present, our wonderful son - Kai Bogert. Loving you is the easiest thing in the world. Tidy your room.’ How I Met My Son is the story behind and beyond this notice.

Reckoning by Magda Szubanski

In this extraordinary memoir, one of Australia’s most beloved performers describes her journey of self-discovery from a suburban childhood, haunted by the demons of her father’s espionage activities in wartime Poland and by her secret awareness of her sexuality, to the complex dramas of adulthood and her need to find out the truth about herself and her family. With courage and compassion she addresses her own frailties and fears, and asks the big questions about life, about the shadows we inherit and the gifts we pass on.

Blood Mystic by George Gittoes

Equal parts artist and warrior, George Gittoes is world-famous for waging war on war with his art. He has been shot, stabbed, bombed, beaten, tortured, drowned and jailed. He has worked with Andy Warhol, dined with Fidel Castro, plotted with Julian Assange, been feted by Mandela, blessed by Mother Theresa, sneezed on by the Dalai Lama. In this memoir, Gittoes reflects deeply on a life less ordinary.

The Family Law by Benjamin Law

Meet the Law family – eccentric, endearing and hard to resist. Your guide is Benjamin, the third of five children and a born humorist. Join him as he tries to answer some puzzling questions: Why won’t his Chinese dad wear made-in-China underpants? Why was most of his extended family deported in the 1980s? Will his childhood dreams of Home and Away stardom come to nothing? What are his chances of finding love?

Not Just Black and White by Lesley and Tammy Williams

Lesley Williams is forced to leave her family at a young age to work as a domestic servant. Apart from a bit of pocket money, she never sees her wages – they are kept ‘safe’ for her and for countless others just like her. But when desperation forces her hand, she begins a nine-year journey for answers. Inspired by her mother’s quest, a teenage Tammy later entered a national writing competition with an essay about injustice. Winning first prize results in the mother and daughter to go on a journey of their own – Not Just Black and White is their account of what they discover along the way.

Brett Whiteley by Ashleigh Wilson

When he died in 1992 Brett Whiteley left behind decades of ceaseless activity: some works bound to a particular place or time, others that are masterpieces of light and line. Written with unprecedented behind-the-scenes access, and handsomely illustrated with classic Whiteley artworks, rare notebook sketches and candid family photos, Ashleigh Wilson’s biography reveals the full portrait of a mercurial artist.