Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and World Affairs Editor at The Guardian, Julian Borger in conversation with Rachelle Unreich, author of ‘A Brilliant Life’. They will be discussing Julian’s breakthrough, investigative memoir, ‘I Seek a Kind Person: My Father, Seven Children and the Adverts that Helped Them Escape the Holocaust’.
Event Topic: History & Memory
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Writing Lives: Ruth Weiss & Michael Cohen
First in our Writing Lives series, is an interview with Ruth Weiss, human rights campaigner, journalist, and activist in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. As a child, Ruth fled Nazi Germany with her family, arriving in South Africa only to witness oppression of a different kind. Ruth remains an outspoken voice against hatred in any form and, at 98, is finally receiving international public recognition for a lifetime of activism.
Ruth will be interviewed by South African born educator and historian Michael Cohen.
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Book Chat: Nina Bassat on ‘Take the Child and Disappear’
In this Book Chat, Nina Bassat not only explores her family’s experiences before, during and after the Shoah, and contemplates how being a child survivor has shaped her life, she also discusses the process of writing a memoir, and how it draws in other family members.
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Book Chat: Suzanne Leal on ‘The Deceptions’
In Suzanne Leal’s book chat, the writer discusses the responsibilities an author has when writing a novel about the Holocaust, and whether it’s ever really possible for an author to leave one’s stories and characters behind.
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Book Chat: Mark Dapin on ‘Australia’s Vietnam: Myth vs History’
Mark Dapin is the author of Jewish Anzacs: Jews in the Australian Military (2017) and the crime novel, King of the Cross (2009). For many years, Mark was a popular columnist in The Age’s Good Weekend magazine. He recently presented the series Myths of War for ABC Radio National.
In Mark’s book chat, the author discusses his latest work, Australia’s Vietnam: Myth vs History. Was Vietnam a case of Australia fighting ‘other people’s wars’ — and how did the real experiences of veterans differ from our ‘official’ account of their treatment as returnees?
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Book Chat: Anna Epstein on ‘Melekh Ravitsh’
Born in Melbourne to Yiddish-speaking Polish Jews of the Holocaust generation, Anna Epstein’s interest in the plight of those fleeing misfortune was awakened early. Anna worked for twenty years as editor and curator at the Jewish Museum of Australia. Lately she has worked mainly for the Yiddish cultural centre, Kadimah.
In her book chat, Anna explores her work of non-fiction — Melekh Ravitsh: The Eccentric Outback Quest of an Urbane Yiddish Poet from Poland. What was Melekh Ravitsh’s outback quest, and how much did the How much did the modernist art of Yosl Bergner, Ravitsh’s son, influence her decision to write the story?
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Book Chat: Daniel Lee on ‘The SS Officer’s Armchair’
Daniel Lee is a British historian of the Second World War and a specialist in the history of Jews in France and North Africa during the Holocaust. He taught at Queen Mary, University of London. Lee’s first book, Pétain’s Jewish Children, examined the experiences of Jewish youth under the Vichy regime. As a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker, Daniel Lee is a regular broadcaster on radio.
In his book chat, Daniel shares the fascinating story of the piece of furniture that serves as the focal point of his latest book, ‘The SS Officer’s Armchair’ — and explores the complexity of historians who find themselves inadvertently part of the stories they’re trying to tell.
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Book Chat: David Slucki on ‘Sing This at My Funeral: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons’
David Slucki is an author and historian based in Melbourne. He is the Loti Smorgon Associate Professor in Contemporary Jewish Life and Culture in the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University. He teaches classes on the Holocaust, on genocides, on modern Jewish history, on popular culture, and on comedy.
In his book chat, David Slucki explores what brought him to write his memoir, ‘Sing This at My Funeral: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons’, and shares the history of the Bundists — a Jewish socialist movement, still active in Melbourne, centered on the concept of ‘Doikayt’ or ‘hereness’.
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Book Chat: Ashley Browne on ‘A Season Like No Other: AFL 2020’
Ashley Browne has spoken, written and edited books and contributed articles about AFL football for The Age, Slattery Media and various radio platforms for over 30 years. He was the joint editor of ‘People of the Boot: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Australian Jews in Sport’ in 2018. A Season Like No Other: AFL 2020 is his most recent publication.
In his book chat, Ashley discusses the AFL’s restricted 2020 pandemic season, the unique challenges faced by an author writing about recent events — and muses about the lasting legacy the events of 2020 may have on the future of Australian rules.
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Book Chat: Gabby Leibovich on ‘Catch of the Decade’
Gabby Leibovich and his brother Hezi are the sibling founders of Catch Group who revolutionised the retail, services, food and travel industries with their iconic businesses and built an empire of digital businesses which they sold for over $1 billion. Catch of the Decade showcases their business acumen. One hundred percent of the profits from this book go to the following charities Good360.org and secondbite.org.
In his book chat, Gabby discusses the importance of building a strong workplace culture, hiring ‘intrapreneurs’, and explores the role of trust in business and family life.