Right Now spoke to Nicole Watson, author of The Boundary. [Right Now] Congratulations of the success of your crime novel – The Boundary. Would you mind giving us a brief outline of the story, and what inspired you to write such a novel? [Nicole Watson] The story begins with a native title claim, over a […]
This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. Reko Rennie is a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi man, born in Melbourne, Australia. He received no formal artistic training but as a young man discovered graffiti, which would become an all consuming passion. Rennie […]
[RN] Bolton (the coastal town depicted in Blue) seems pretty true to life. Where did you grow up, and when did you start to feel that racism was an issue in the community around you? Was it only after you’d moved away, or had you always been aware of it? [Pat Grant] Bolton is a fictional […]
“When Hitler came to power I was in the bath.” Whenever I convince someone to read this book, I can think of no easier way than to quote its opening sentence. Hitler is right there, second word, so you know it’s not going to be an overly cheerful read. But the fact that our narrator, […]
This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. The Indigenous Electoral Participation Program (IEPP) is using art to encourage Indigenous people to enrol to vote on the 50th Anniversary of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders winning the right to […]
This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. The Ngaanyatjarra lands stretch west some 1,000 kilometers from Alice Springs. They’re some of the remotest lands in the country and are home to 2,000 Aboriginal people spread across ten tiny […]
In May, Read and Rights discussed What is the What by Dave Eggers, a book which explores the human rights abuses in Sudan and the discrimination faced by the Sudanese Diaspora. Sonia Nair spoke to Sophie Tolich from SAIL (Sudanese Australia Integrated Learning) about how they are aiding Sudanese immigrants through literacy and community programs. […]
Samaya Chanthaphavong spoke to Antony Loewenstein, author of The Blogging Revolution about the use of the internet, in particular blogging, as a communicative tool to promote self-representation, democracy and human rights in areas where excessive regimes impose strict censorship over most forms of communication. RN: We know that as part of your book The Blogging Revolution […]
Refugee advocate Julian Burnside AO QC recently opened two exhibitions at RMIT Gallery, Melbourne addressing the ongoing plight of Afghani refugees. The collections express two interlinked, yet distinct understandings of Afghani people. The first exhibition, Unsafe Haven: Hazaras in Afghanistan, depicts the systematic religious and ethnic persecution of Hazara people in light of the Australian […]
Ten to thirty million people have disappeared. It’s the enigma of our time, how people embedded into their families and communities can simply slip away from society’s eye into a nightmare of never ending abuse and exploitation. The trafficking of men, women and children for sexual, domestic and labor exploitation is a problem that […]
On the afternoon of Saturday 21 April, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, emerging and established comedic talent came together at the Melbourne Town Hall in Deadly Funny, Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comedy showcase. For just under two hours the audience was entertained by Cy Fahey, Jay Wymarra, Eshua Bolton, Tristan […]
A cacophony of excited murmurs and joyful laughter erupted throughout obscured sections of theatres, diminutive rooms nestled in covert bars and auditoriums packed to the rafters on 22 April as 2012’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival drew to a close. While audiences were left satiated with the broad spectrum of comedy the festival had put on […]
