Video Series: Book Chats

Sue Silberberg is a historian, curator and arts administrator who also studied at the International Centre for the Conservation of Cultural Material (ICCROM), an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide. She holds a doctorate in History from the University of Melbourne, where she has been a research fellow at the eScholarship Research Centre.

In her book chat, Sue Silberberg explores the cultural diversity that made up colonial Melbourne. Sue gives a new slant to Melbourne’s development and connects Melbourne Jewry into wider historical themes and experiences such as space and place, urbanisation, imperial networks and diaspora.

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.

Joanne Fedler is a mentor, retreat leader and the bestselling author of 12 books which have been translated into several languages and have sold over 750,000 copies globally. She also presents online writing courses for aspiring writers. Her thirteenth and recently published book Unbecoming unravels the secrets of the wild country called ‘midlife’.

In her book chat, Joanne explores what motivates her to write about motherhood, and how one’s identity as a mother is challenged as children grow and no longer want or need to be ‘mothered’ — and explains why she celebrates mid-life and menopause as a freeing relief.

Rick Held has had a long career as a TV screenwriter. In the 1980s he joined Crawford Productions and later Channel Seven, where his skill for plot, character and dialogue across dramas  (All Saints, A Place To Call Home and Packed To The Rafters) proved perfect preparation for writing fiction. Night Lessons in Little Jerusalem is Rick Held’s first novel.

In his chat, Rick explores the difficult decision to fictionalise his father’s extraordinary story, and takes us on a journey through the Romanian (now Ukranian) city of Czernowitz — his father’s hometown and the setting of Night Lessons in Little Jerusalem.

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.

Dr Joe Reich AM is an ophthalmologist whose professional roles have included Chairmanship of The Senior Medical Staff at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and being a current board member of Vision Eye Institute. He is also an accomplished artist and author who has previously published three works of fiction and a biography. Ein Stein: A Novel is his fifth book. 

In his book chat, Joe discusses the process of melding fact and fiction in creating the protagonist of his latest work, and how his career as an ophthalmologist led him to the story of Ernst Leitz II — creator of the Leica, and the “photography industry’s Schindler”.

Leon Piterman AM is a Professor of General Practice at Monash University and is one of the world’s leading GP educators. He has published widely on clinical and educational issues related to general practice with a particular interest in mental health and chronic disease. His first book “There is a lot of it going around” — A GP’s Odyssey was published in 2019.

In his book chat, Leon discusses Living in COVID Times, an exploration of Australia’s COVID-19 experience through a variety of lenses — from the political and economic components of the pandemic, to its effects on our shared social and religious practices — and explores what he considers might be involved in the final shift toward ‘Covid normal’.

In ‘Soldiers and Aliens’, June Factor explores the forgotten history of the remarkable contribution of non-British subjects to Australia in World War II.

In this Book Chat, June discusses the ‘Employment Companies’, a uniquely multicultural force in the Army long before the term ‘multicultural’ was coined.

Leah Kaminsky is a physician and award-winning writer. Her debut novel, The Waiting Room, won the Voss Literary Prize. The Hollow Bones won both the Literary Fiction and Historical Fiction categories of the 2019 International Book Awards, and the 2019 American Book Fest’s Best Book Award for Literary Fiction. She is the author of ten books and holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Meg Keneally has worked as a public affairs officer, sub-editor, freelance feature writer, reporter and talkback radio producer. She is co-author with her father Tom Keneally of The Monsarrat Series of historical crime novels. Fled, Meg’s first solo novel, was published in 2019. Her most recent novel is The Wreck.

In their book chat, Leah and Meg discuss what inspired them to undertake the creation of Animals Make Us Human, a book about the connections of humans with animals in the natural world — and the process of selecting and working with the incredible authors that contributed to the anthology.

Proceeds of their book Animals Makes Us Human go to the Australian Marine Conservation Society and Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

Lisa Emanuel is a lawyer and writer who has studied at the Faber Writing Academy in Sydney, completed a mentorship with the novelist Kathryn Heyman, and in 2016 was awarded Highly Commended in the ASA Mentorship Prize. Lisa was shortlisted for the 2019 KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award. The Covered Wife published in 2021 is her first novel.

In her book chat, Lisa discusses The Covered Wife, a fictional examination of the choice made by a young woman choosing to shift from secularism to living by the Torah — and a parallel exploration of why a group of believers might shift from openness to insularity.