The Roar of (Un)Quiet Australians
What makes someone speak up?
Before you witness them take to the (Un)Quiet Australians panel discussion at Literature & Ideas on Sun 23 Feb at 5pm, we thought we'd introduce you to a couple of the faces who know a thing or two about highlighting universal experiences in contemporary Australia.
Thomas Mayor found his voice in the wharves.
Jess Hill found hers through a national emergency.
Jeff Sparrow's took flight through the airwaves.
Here's where you can hear them in person before they take on the world...
FINDING THE HEART OF A NATION
Discover a novel that tracks the journey of the Uluru Statement throughout Oz
A union official for the Maritime Union of Australia in his early 30s, quietly spoken Thomas Mayer gained the skills of negotiation and organising, applying these skills to advancing the rights of Indigenous peoples, becoming a signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a tireless campaigner.
Following the Uluru Convention, Thomas was entrusted to carry the sacred canvas of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. He then embarked on an 18-month journey around the country to garner support for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice, and a Makarrata Commission for truth-telling and agreement-making or treaties.
His journey continues, both in person and through the pages of his book Finding the Heart of the Nation. The book is his gift to the campaign for Voice, Treaty and Truth. Like the Uluru Statement from the Heart, he hopes that all Australians will accept it.
Thomas Mayor speaks with Benjamin Law about his work, which documents his 18-month trip carrying the Uluru Statement canvas throughout Australia.
SUN 23 FEB, 2PM @ BANQUET HALL
SEE WHAT YOU MADE ME DO
Explore how to confront a national crisis
Jess Hill is an investigative journalist who has been researching and writing about domestic abuse since 2014.
Hill puts perpetrators (and the systems that enable them) under a magnifying glass. See What You Made Me Do is an exploration into the abuse so many women and children experience – abuse that is often reinforced by the justice system they trust to protect them. The investigation itself uncovers that we can drastically reduce domestic violence not in generations to come, but today.
A mix of forensic research and incredible storytelling, See What You Made Me Do radically rethinks how to confront the national crisis of fear and abuse in our homes.
Join her in conversation with Danae Gibson discussing her new book and moving beyond ‘toxic masculinity’ to talk about men’s shame, humiliation and fury.
SUN 23 FEB, 1PM @ THEATRE AUDITORIUM
FASCISTS AMONG US
What lies at the heart of (online) darkness?
Jeff Sparrow is a writer, editor and broadcaster. He writes a regular column for The Guardian and contributes regularly to many other Australian and international publications.
In Fascists Among Us: online hate and the Christchurch massacre, the first book to trace the massacre’s fascist roots, Sparrow traces the history of the far right, showing how fascists have adapted to the new politics of the twenty-first century.
Burgeoning in dark places online, contemporary fascism exults in violence and picks its targets strategically.
With imitative massacres already occurring around the world, Christchurch must be a wake-up call. This book makes a compelling, urgent case for a new response to an old menace.
Sparrow speaks to Maria Tumarkin about Fascists Among Us and what it represents.
SAT 22 FEB, 9.30AM @ BANQUET HALL
BOOK NOW to hear these (Un)Quiet Australians hold our society under the microscope.
WHILE YOU'RE AT (UN)QUIET AUSTRALIANS...
Meet Bella Burgmeister, the teen changing the face of WA.
Bella is 13 and comes from Bunbury, Western Australia. She is author and presenter of her book Bella’s Challenge, a kid’s take on the 17 UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development that outlines the goals in kid’s speak and sets out simple challenges kids can do help their communities and the planet. She has presented her book to over 7,000 students and over 7,000 adults around Australia. All proceeds from the book sales have gone back into sustainable development projects like Homeless lockers in Bunbury.
Burgemeister is co-president of Millennium Kids, a kid-lead environmental organisation working on ways to help the planet and was co-organiser of the School Strike 4 Climate.
Astounded as we are by her achievements? Hear the youngest voice speak the loudest at the group chat on Sun 23 Feb.