Trauma and Healing, Memory and Forgetting: A conversation with Arnold Zable
Thursday 11 April 2024, 12–1pm
Harry Hartog ANU Campus The Australian National University
153-11 University Ave, Acton ACT 2601, Australia
The Humanities Research Centre is delighted to invite you to a conversation between Professor Kim Rubenstein and acclaimed Australian writer, novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate Arnold Zable.
Join the team at Harry Hartog to hear Professor Rubenstein and Arnold discuss his life, and the influences on his writing, his work on refugees and human rights, and how these concerns are portrayed and conveyed through the craft of writing, and the art of story.
Arnold's books include the memoir Jewels and Ashes, three novels: Café Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, and Sea of Many Returns, two collections of stories: The Fig Tree and Violin Lessons, and The Fighter, a work of narrative nonfiction. In 2020, Professor Rubenstein was due to interview Arnold at ANU about his then new book The Watermill, but COVID lockdowns put an end to that. With all that has happened since, this newly arranged discussion will engage with questions about trauma and healing, memory and forgetting.
Kim Rubenstein is an Australian legal scholar, legal practitioner, and Professor in the Faculty of Business Government and Law at the University of Canberra. A graduate of Melbourne University and Harvard Law School she is Australia’s leading expert on citizenship and has been a public policy contributor through running cases in the High Court of Australia, advising on legislation, a member of the Independent Committee that reviewed the Australian Citizenship Test, and through writing books and articles about citizenship law and policy. She was a visitor at the Humanities Research Centre working in 2009 when working on the biography The Vetting of Wisdom: Joan Montgomery and the Fight for PLC (Franklin Street Press, 2021). She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and the Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
Arnold Zable is an acclaimed Australian writer, novelist, storyteller, and the recipient of the 2021 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. His books include Jewels and Ashes, The Fig Tree, Café Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns, Violin Lessons, The Fighter, and most recently, The Watermill. Widely travelled, he is also the author of numerous stories, essays, columns, features, poetry and works for theatre. He has a doctorate from the School of Creative Arts, Melbourne University and has been a lecturer and writer-in-residence, both internationally and in a range of Australian Universities. He has conducted numerous writing workshops throughout Australia and overseas and is acclaimed as an innovative teacher of creative writing. His awards include the Voltaire Prize for Freedom of Expression, the 2017 Australia Council Fellowship for Literature, and a range of Premier’s Awards.
Melanie Poole is the CEO of the Mental Health Community Coalition, the peak body for over 50 mental health services in the ACT. She also serves as a board director for Meridian, the ACT's LGBTIQ health service. Melanie's background encompasses international, national, and local human rights advocacy, law reform campaigns and community development, including work with refugees and internally displaced people in Kenya and Pakistan, and with prisoners in the United States. A Fulbright-Anne Wexler Scholar, Melanie holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University, and Arts and Law degrees from the Australian National University. She is a regular guest lecturer at the Australian National University, Sydney University and the University of Canberra.