Event Type: Video

What do these experiences all have in common? They are times when uninvited introspection and reflection rise from the shadows to unsettle us. These are the deep waters in which British author and journalist Marina Benjamin bathes. Senior editor at Aeon, a digital magazine of ideas and culture, her insightful and lyrical writing deftly explores themes such as identity and memory. Her latest book is A Little Give. Marina will be in conversation with physician and author Leah Kaminsky, whose most recent novel is Doll’s Eye.

Since time immemorial, people in power have sought to take advantage of their innocent subjects. This is no more prevalent than within religious institutions, where the semblance of piety, coupled with the naivety of the young and faithful, provides a perfect cloak and cover for child sexual abuse. Michael Visontay discusses the ultimate betrayal with survivors from within the ultra orthodox Jewish community, Dassi Erlich and Manny Waks, as well as Anne Manne whose research covers a particularly sinister, pedophilic network within the Anglican church.

All of us go through good times and bad and develop coping mechanisms through life’s experience. But how much of our resilience is in-built and how much can be learnt with positive behavioural techniques, self-care and mindfulness? Hear from the experts about the power of laughter, the importance of alone time, and the ability to rebuild our foundations when rocked by a crisis, perhaps even coming back stronger as a result.

Israeli novelist Hila Blum will speak to Tali Lavi about love and literature. Delving into How to Love Your Daughter, a masterful story of intense psychological suspense which dissects a fractured relationship between a mother and daughter, they will further explore the profound relationship between readers and literature and the ways upon which stories might work upon us.

Few Australian authors are as greatly loved or widely revered as Arnold Zable. Recently recognised with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, he continues to chart new territory on the map of our national consciousness. Join Arnold in conversation with Bram Presser as they discuss his storied life at the forefront of Australian literature and human rights advocacy.

When Hilton Koppe was diagnosed with PTSD, the much-loved country doctor had no choice but to retire from general practice. In this session Hilton chats with courageous authors, Roz Bellamy and Jonathan Seidler about their own personal and familial experience with mental health, as well as with social worker, Romi Grossberg whose work with street kids in Phnom Penh has informed her holistic counselling approach, in view of family, culture, society, religion and nationality.

How does our sense of self form, and how much of our identity is shaped by our genes, by the imprint of our forebears and by our own life experience?

In this session, Debbie Lee speaks with Hilton Koppe, Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo and Michelle Scheibner, three authors who follow different paths but find common ground in the process of writing memoir and revealing the soul.

The scale of history can be overwhelming. Fiction allows us to focus on the individual. Our panel of Australian Jewish authors has recently published four acclaimed novels all with Jewish protagonists. A life in middle-class Vienna upended by the Great War; a woman leading an extraordinary spy ring in Palestine; a self-effacing Japanese diplomat saving Jews in the next war; a thriller set during the Cold War in the Soviet Union.

Supported by Golda’s Girls – in memory of Golda Isaac

Unflinching, raw, honest. Hear from three of the hottest new voices on the contemporary literature scene, Nadine J. Cohen, Elise Esther Hearst and Jonathan Seidler, in conversation with Elissa Goldstein. They will be discussing their latest novels, books which don’t shy away from the beauty and the heartache of the human condition.

Three authors, three very different books. But one common thread: families in the 21st century. From parenting together and apart, to how the concept of “family” has changed, to what happens when pregnancy doesn’t end with a baby, this session -featuring Katia Ariel, Isabelle Oderberg, Marina Kamenev, and Roz Bellamy as moderator – delves into familial themes, some comforting, some confronting and some unspoken.