IN CONVERSATION AT MUSE
Growing Up Torres Strait Islander in Australia
3—4pm Sunday, Sunday, May 19, 2024
Muse, East Hotel, Kingston Canberra ACT
Tickets: $10 (entry only) // $40 (includes a discounted copy of the book RRP $32.99)
Meet the editor Samantha Faulkner, in conversation with MARION Chair, Emma Batchelor.
A book to treasure and share, this groundbreaking collection provides a unique perspective on the Torres Strait Islander experience.
Hear from emerging and established writers from both today and the recent past, including Eddie Mabo, Thomas Mayo, Lenora Thaker, Ellie Gaffney, Jillian Boyd-Bowie, Aaron Fa'Aoso and Jimi Bani. These and many more storytellers, mentors, traditional owners, doctors and teachers from the Torres Strait share their joy, culture, good eating, lessons learned and love of family, language and Country.
Black Inc., 2024
"My people are expert navigators, adventurers, innovators, ambassadors, teachers, storytellers, performers, strategists, chefs and advocates for change. The blood runs deep when I reflect on the past and the present and imagine what our future might look like."
— Leilani Bin-Juda
Discover stories of going dugong hunting and eating mango marinated in soy sauce. The smell of sugar cane and frangipani-scented sea breeze. Family, grandmothers and canoe time. Dancing, singing, weaving hats and making furniture from bamboo. Training as a doctor and advocating for healthcare for the Torres Strait. The loneliness of being caught between two cultures. Mission life, disconnection and being evacuated to the mainland during World War II. "Is that really your mum? Why is she black?". Not being Islander enough. Working hard to reconnect to your roots, and claiming back land and culture.
Samantha Faulkner is a Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal woman, from Badu and Moa Islands in the Torres Strait and the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi peoples of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Her poetry and short stories have been published nationally and internationally, and she is the proud author of Life Blong Ali Drummond: A Life in the Torres Strait, and editor of Pamle: Torres Strait Islanders in Canberra. She also is a member of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network, MARION and the treasurer of First Nations Australia Writers Network and Us Mob Writing Group. In 2023, she was the Torres Strait Islander curator for the Brisbane Writers Festival.
Emma Batchelor is a queer writer and author from Kamberri/Canberra. Her first novel Now That I See You was the winner of the Australian/Vogel Literary Award. Emma regularly writes on the arts, gender and sexuality, mental illness and identity and is the Chair of MARION, a centre dedicated to elevating writers and their art.
Venue
Muse, East Hotel
69 Canberra Ave, Kingston ACT
T: (02) 6178 0024