Book Launch
2026 Immersia - Spies and Other Pigeons
4-6pm, Wednesday 16 September
Coombs Tea Room, HC Coombs Building
9 Fellows Road, Acton ACT
Celebrate the launch of Spies and Other Pigeons, a captivating new book that follows pigeon flyers across Pakistan and the remarkable birds at the heart of their communities.
Across Pakistan, pigeon flyers devote enormous care and labour to birds that soar the skies, compete in races and bring together people across divisions of caste, class, language and ethnicity. But when these cherished pigeons cross the militarised India–Pakistan border, they are recast as intruders and "spies", revealing the fragile line between welcome and suspicion, hospitality and hostility.
Blending compelling storytelling with original research, Spies and Other Pigeons traces the journeys of birds and their people across Pakistan's four provinces, offering fresh insights into borders, belonging, identity and the meaning of home. Meet the author, hear the stories behind the book and discover how something as ordinary as a pigeon can illuminate extraordinary questions about culture, politics and human connection.
This Immersia flagship book launch is a collaboration between the ANU School of Culture, History & Language and the ANU South Asian Research Institute, both within the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.