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Paper short abstract

This paper examines multi-voiced narratives of the Slovenian diaspora in Australia, including SALUK writers, showing how nature—as home or foreign—shapes hybrid identities, belonging, and co-created stories bridging memories of Slovenia and experiences in Australia.

Paper long abstract

This paper explores how nature and community identity intertwine in written, multi-voiced narratives of the Slovenian diaspora in Australia. Examined examples include migrants’ letters, postcards, community newsletters, and contemporary online posts, showing that nature functions as both an important theme and metaphor, often appearing as a welcoming “home” or an intrusive “foreign” presence. Special attention is given to Slovenian writers active within the literary circle SALUK (Bert Pribac, Marcela Bole, Pavla Gruden, among others), whose works provide valuable insight into literary multi-vocality connecting Slovenian heritage with the Australian landscape. Through these texts, questions of what constitutes home for individual authors frequently emerge: is it Slovenia, Australia, or something in between? Slovenian emigrants, in dialogue between memories of their homeland’s nature and experiences of their new environment, construct hybrid discourses in which nature serves as a site of connection, negotiation, and symbolic bridging between “here” and “there.” The paper demonstrates how such co-narrating practices are central to understanding diasporic identities and the role of nature in their ongoing (re)construction.