Swallow the Air is the 2006 debut novel by Australian author Tara June Winch. It draws on Winch's own mixed ethnic background: while she is of partial European English descent, her father is a member of the Wiradjuri aboriginal nation of New South Wales and has partial Afghan heritage as well.
The novel also draws on the geographical spaces Winch grew up with: the protagonist, like Winch herself, starts off on Australia's east coast but ends up traveling around to discover more about her aboriginal identity and where she belongs. The protagonist's travels mirror Winch's own experiences after leaving high school to camp out, hitchhike, and move abroad to Scotland, as well as her later travels, such as living in France and backpacking around China.
Swallow the Air was written while Winch was in her early twenties, a BA student at Wollongong University and single mother to an infant daughter. Her vivid, lyrical style is influenced by music and poetry: in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Winch revealed that she "like[s] reading poems and listening to music. . .Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake - stuff that's got a rhythm, songs that could be novels. [She's] attracted to the musicality of words. [She] played with words; [She's] interested in the sound more than the meaning."
The novel won several awards, including the 2004 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and David Unaipon Award for unpublished indigenous writers, 2006 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for indigenous writing, 2007 Dobbie Award, 2007 New South Wales Premier’s Literary UTS Award for New Writing, the Sydney Morning Herald's 2007 Best Young Australian Novelist Award and the 2008 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
