Our Stories: Biography Book Group

Libraries ACT - ACT Heritage Library
2pm Saturday 11 February 2023

Every Canberran has a story to tell. In 2023, The ACT Heritage Library is partnering with the Australian Centre for Biography and MARION (previously the ACT Writers Centre) to bring you a different kind of book group.

This monthly program will explore the diversity of Canberrans through biography, autobiography and memoir by local authors. We look forward to you joining us for some home baking while you join in the conversation, exploring the stories that make Canberra.

We are thrilled to invite Subhash Jaireth and Jacqui Malins to discuss Spinoza's Overcoat.

Subhash Jaireth was born in Punjab, India. Between 1969 and 1978 he spent nine years in Russia studying geology and Russian literature. In 1986 he migrated to Australia. He has published poetry in Hindi, English and Russian. His published works include Yashodhara: Six Seasons Without You (Wild Peony, 2003), Unfinished Poems for Your Violin (Penguin Australia, 1996), Golee Lagne Se Pahle (Before the Bullet Hit Me) (Vani Prakashan, 1994), To Silence: Three Autobiographies (Puncher & Wattmann, 2011), After Love (Transit Lounge, 2012), Moments (Puncher & Wattmann, 2014) and Incantations (Recent Work Press, 2016). A Catalan translation of the novel After Love was published in October 2018 in Valencia. He has also published English translations of Russian, Japanese and Persian poetry, and has translated poems of Indigenous Australian poets into Hindi.

Jacqui Malins is a poet and multidisciplinary artist working across text, spoken word, performance and the visual arts. Her first poetry collection, 'F-Words', was published by Recent Work Press in 2021. She has performed at events including Poetry on The Move, the Woodford Festival and the National Folk Festival. Jacqui co-founded Canberra's Mother Tongue Multilingual Poetry in 2015 and was its organiser/producer until 2021. She directed and produced Canberra's 2021 Poetic City Festival.

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