Day Break
In 2021,McQuire released the children's picture book Day Break. The book was illustrated by Matt Chun and was published by Hardie Grant. [9] The book explores the Australia Day debate and the ways in which First Nations children experience the day. [9] McQuire told ABC News that she was motivated to write the book after struggling to find stories with which teach her own two children about Indigenous perspectives on Australia Day. [10] She described the book as "grounded in strength and resistance and the resistance of a family on Invasion Day holding their own ceremonies",and said that she hoped the book would be an educational tool for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. [11]
Black Witness
In 2024 McQuire's book Black Witness was published by the University of Queensland Press. In the book McQuire criticises the mainstream media's treatment of stories about First Nations Australians and argues that Indigenous media,or the voices of "black witnesses",is critical for understanding Indigenous issues. [12] In a review published in The Guardian ,Sian Cain wrote that the book "should be required reading for anyone working in journalism". [13] Reviewing the book in The Conversation ,Matthew Ricketson expressed some scepticism towards McQuire's claims that objectivity is a pointless ideal and that journalism and activism are inseparable,but praised the book and wrote that it helped the reader to "attend to the unstated assumptions of white witnesses,while hearing the voices of black witnesses". [14] In a review published in the Journal of Criminology ,Amanda Porter described the book as an "extraordinarily powerful,page turner of a debut book". [15] The book was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction,and won the 2025 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing. [16] [17] [18]
