2009 Australian Writers’ Week
This March a selection of Australia’s most renowned authors will arrive in China to participate in the 2009 Australian Writers’ Week. This is the second event of its kind to be held in China to date, following on from last year’s highly successful inaugural Australian Writers Week 2008.
The 2009 Australian Writers Week will be held from 16-20 March, and will showcase a wide variety of contemporary Australian writing with a focus on identity, diversity and the journey of self discovery. Over the week, audiences in Beijing and Chengdu will be given the rare opportunity to meet and hear from five outstanding Australian writers – Mara Moustafine, Kate Grenville, Lucinda Holdforth, Jane Godwin and Henry Reynolds – who will take part in a series of dynamic book talks, workshops, panel discussions and forums at universities, schools, community venues and the Australian Embassy in Beijing.
“I am very excited to have this opportunity to introduce Chinese readers to the very best of Australian contemporary literature,” said Australian Ambassador Dr Geoff Raby. “There is an immensely talented community of Australian writers, all of whom have a unique, and often very Australian, perspective on the world we live in.”
“Our aim with the Australian Writers’ Week is to expose current and potential future Chinese decision-makers and opinion leaders to the unique and independent voice of Australian writers on a range of issues of global interest. We are also keen to raise the profile of Australian writers and their work in an important growing literary market,” Dr Raby said.
The event will also follow on from the success of last year’s Australian Writers Week in developing and strengthening ties between Australian and Chinese literary and publishing communities.
The 2009 Australian Writers’ Week is supported by the Copyright Agency Limited, the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australia China Council, Qantas, Accor, Fortescue Minerals, Dymocks and Weldon Global Consulting. For more information, please visit the Embassy website at www.china.embassy.gov.au.
This event will build on the growing interest in Australian literature across China. Recent years have seen translations of works by a diverse range of Australian authors, including Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks, 2008 Australian Writers’ Week participant Nicholas Jose and 2009 Australian Writers’ Week participant Mara Moustafine.
For program and other information or to arrange an interview, please contact Hannah Skrzynski, Cultural Relations Officer, on Telephone: 010 5140 4225, or Email: [email protected] .
Participating Authors, Australian Writers’ Week Beijing, March 2009
Kate Grenville’s bestselling novel The Secret River has been published in more than twenty countries and received numerous awards, including the 2006 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. It deals with European and Aboriginal first-contact, interrogating Australia’s colonial past and taking cues from research into Kate’s own ancestors. Long interested in the stories we tell, Kate’s earlier novels Lilian’s Story, Dark Places and Joan Makes History, have come to be revered as modern classics – and aim to ‘put women back in’ Australian history. Kate is also the recipient of the Orange Prize for Fiction for her 2004 novel The Idea of Perfection. The Secret River has recently been published in Chinese by Yilin.
Henry Reynolds is one of Australia's most influential and widely read historians. Since the publication of The Other Side of the Frontier in 1981 he has profoundly changed the way in which we understand the history of relations between indigenous Australians and European settlers. He is the author of fifteen books, including the award-winning Why Weren’t We Told? and most recently, Drawing the Global Colour Line, a co-authored study and gripping story of Australia’s historical role in global colonialism. Henry taught in secondary schools in Australia and England and after teaching in the history department of James Cook University, Townsville for many years, he now holds a Personal Chair in History and Aboriginal Studies at the University of Tasmania.
Mara Moustafine was born in Harbin, China into a family with Jewish, Russian and Tatar roots and moved to Australia in 1959. Bilingual in Russian and English, she graduated with an MA in International Relations from the Australian National University and has worked as a diplomat, intelligence analyst, journalist and business executive as well as national director of a global human rights organisation. Her book, Secrets and Spies: The Harbin Files tells the story of her family’s life over 50 turbulent years in China and her quest to uncover the fate of family members who fled the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in the 1930s, only to be caught in Stalin’s purges. The book was awarded a NSW Premier's Literary Award in 2003 and shortlisted in 2004 for the Kiriyama Prize and Australia’s National Biography Award. A Chinese edition of the book, Harbin Dang’an, was published in 2008 by Zhonghua Book Company.
Jane Godwin is the Publisher, Books for Children and Young Adults, at Penguin Books Australia. Jane is also the highly acclaimed author of many books for children and young people. Her work is published internationally and she has received several commendations. Jane’s most recent novel is Falling from Grace, and her most recent picture book is the charming story of a little girl’s big adventure, Little Cat and the Big Red Bus, illustrated by Anna Walker and published in 2008. Jane is currently working on a novel called Minnie and the Shoes of Little Happiness, part of which is set in Harbin and a second picture book with Anna Walker titled All Through the Year.
Lucinda Holdforth is interested in the civilised life and how to achieve it. Her first book, True Pleasures: A Memoir of Women in Paris takes readers on a personal and inspiring journey through the lives of the extraordinary women who have shaped Paris into the world’s most civilised city. Her second book, Why Manners Matter: The Case for Civilised Behaviour in a Barbarous World is a witty and erudite essay exploring the vital role that manners have always played in shaping society. Lucinda draws on history’s great writers and thinkers to argue that manners are essential in preserving our rights and freedoms and expanding the social space. Lucinda has been a career diplomat with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade including a posting to the Balkans; an adviser in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and a speechwriter and consultant.