Love, regardless is a collection of poetic narratives that celebrate love that endures. As a culture we are inundated by romantic narratives which dramatise the passionate beginnings of young love and/or detail its devastating, torturous endings. But what about couples who survive the years together and remain committed, devoted? What do we know about their stories outside stereotypes of the stale, faithful or boring? Written by Barbara Kamler and directed by Romi Kupfer, Love, regardless presents a theatrical reading of three narratives taken from Barbara’s collection, exploring these intimate stories of passion and pathos in live performance. Following the readings, there will be a Q and A with Tali Lavi and Barbara Kamler.
Event Type: MJBW2022
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Possibilities For Dialogue in Polarised Times
This event has replaced with ‘William Cooper: A life of activism’, featuring Daniel James.
Sarah Krasnostein will be appearing in ‘The Passenger: Unearthing a Dunera Boy’s Story‘, at 10.00am on Sunday May 29.
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Memory, Music, Poetry and Prose
Famed concert pianist, Simon Tedeschi, and New Zealand poet, Bryan Walpert, discuss the place of memory, music, poetry and prose in their creative and personal lives, in conversation with popular ABC RN radio presenter, Sarah Kanowski.
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Telling Authentic Stories Through Food
Alice Zaslavsky, the friendliest voice in Australian food, leads the discussion with this team of highly respected culinary figures. How do we write about food? Who gets to write about food? What is it like being a caretaker of a cuisine?
Alice Zaslavsky (moderator), Dani Valent, Joanna Hu, Tony Tan
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Reporting in Times of Crisis
Whether it’s Covid 19, domestic and international politics, war or fake news, conspiracy theories and rumours have abounded over the past two years. This panel of scientists and journalists examines reportage in times of crisis.
Deborah Stone (moderator), Peter Doherty, Margaret Simons, Norman Swan, Zoya Sheftalovich
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Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch: A Conversation With Novelist Rivka Galchen
Join Elissa Goldstein as she chats with Canadian-American novelist, essayist and New Yorker contributor Rivka Galchen. Her range as a writer is vast and brilliant, encompassing everything from wry, psychological literary fiction to ruminations on motherhood, to reporting from the COVID frontlines in a New York City hospital. Galchen’s most recent novel, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch, explores the life of Katharina Kepler (mother of the astronomer Johannes Kepler), who was accused of witchcraft in the early 17th century. Set during a time of turmoil — as a plague is spreading and the Thirty Years’ War is about to begin — the story is replete with meaning for this moment in the 21st century.
Rivka Galchen is an international guest and will be appearing via live video-link.
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Not a Pity Party: On Grief, Trauma, Storytelling and Surrender
Natasha Sholl’s recently published memoir Found, Wanting, tells the story of Natasha’s attempt to rebuild her life in the wake of her partner’s sudden death, stumbling through the grief landscape and colliding with the cultural assumptions about the ‘right way’ to grieve. Natasha will be in conversation with Dalit Kaplan, who has had a few essays published in which she reflects on loss, trauma, the Holocaust, and other sunny topics. Together they discuss grief, shame, the body, living in contradictory spaces and why writing trauma needs to come from scars, not wounds. They talk about why stories matter (or do they?) and why we shy away from uncomfortable conversations (until now!).
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Climate Turning Point: Challenge or Opportunity?
What can writers and stories contribute in our collective response to climate change? In what direction do they point us?
Rebecca Forgasz (moderator), Danielle Celermajer, Daniel Sherrell, Mireille Juchau
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The Passenger: Unearthing a Dunera Boy’s Story
Two recent books have offered new insights into the remarkable exploits and achievements of the ‘Dunera Boys’. Leah Garrett’s X Troop recounts the story of a secret commando group made up of Jewish refugees in Australia and elsewhere, who returned to Europe to liberate concentration camps. The Passenger, a lost novel by Ulrich Boschwitz, a Dunera Boy, describes the descending cloak of Nazi atrocities in Germany, and has been translated and published to universal acclaim. Sarah Krasnostein and Gideon Haigh discuss the enduring legacy of the Dunera Boys.
Jonathan Pearlman (moderator), Sarah Krasnostein, Gideon Haigh
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Opening Night Gala: In Our Nature
Join us as Melbourne Jewish Book Week presents In Our Nature – an opening night of original storytelling featuring writers, musicians and performers live on stage at Melbourne’s Memo Hall.
Travel to landscapes near and far, real and imagined, thriving and disappearing. Meet creatures of flight, fur, and fancy from places urban and remote, vast and infinitesimal. Hear private encounters with the living world that brought with them inexorable change. And peer into those geographies of the soul – landscapes we carry inside us that guide our engagement with the outside world.
Featuring writers Mireille Juchau, Marina Benjamin (UK), Simon Tedeschi, Daniel Sherell (US), Byran Walpert (NZ), Karen Hitchcock, Kyra Maya Phillips, multidisciplinary artist and musician Anita Lester, pianist, composer and songwriter Gideon Preiss and shadow artist and theatre director Lynne Kent. Hosted and produced by writer and audio maker Jaye Kranz.