Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Friday 09 July
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Location
Hansen Hall and Conversation Quarter, State Library Victoria
328 Swanston Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000
Get directions
Presented in partnership with State Library Victoria
Join us for a special celebration of the power of Indigenous storytelling, poetry and music.
This event will honour the 2021 NAIDOC Week theme of ‘Heal Country’, and is the first in a new series of seasonal creative salons presented in partnership with State Library Victoria.
Following a Welcome to Country from Uncle Bill Nicholson Jr, writer and poet Susie Anderson will read from her 2021 black&write! Fellowship winning poetry collection the body country, which explores land, memory, love and art.
Then, David Unaipon Award-winning author and Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt will discuss her extraordinary new novel After Story with Yorta Yorta writer and broadcaster Daniel James. Exploring love and familial secrets, After Story movingly fuses Western literature and Indigenous storytelling.
Rounding out a unique and powerful evening, 22-year-old Kuku Yalanji, Jirrbal and Badu Island songbird Kee’ahn will share a striking performance of her soulful melodies of identity, heartbreak and healing.
Enjoy a drink from our bar, which will be open before, during and after the event.
This event will be Auslan interpreted.
The bookseller for this event is Readings.
Featuring
Larissa Behrendt
Larissa Behrendt AO is the Laureate Fellow at Jumbunna Research, UTS. She is an award winning author and filmmaker and the host of Speaking Out on ABC Radio.
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Daniel James
Born in Melbourne and raised on Taungurong country in North East Victoria, Daniel is a Yorta Yorta Melbourne based writer and broadcaster. He is the winner of the 2018 Horne Prize for his essay Ten More Days. Daniel is ...
Kee'ahn
Kee’ahn is a proud Kuku Yalanji, Jirrbal, Zenadth Kes song woman who has recently ventured from her home town in North Queensland, to pursue her dream in the Kulin Nation (Melbourne, Australia).
With a name coming from the Wik people, meaning to dance, to sing, to play, Kee’ahn aims to honour her name and Ancestors through her soulful music that weaves lush melodies and words reminiscent of heartbreak and healing.
At 22 years of age, Kee’ahn already has an impressive number of performance credits to her name including: featuring at St Kilda Festival and at the Laneway Festival 2019 alongside Courtney Barnett, Cry Club, Jungle Cuffs, Kalyani amd Thelma Plum; as a feature artist with the Homelands Collecitve at National, Woodford and Cygnet Folk Festivals and Yirramboi First Nations Festival; and with DRMNGNOW at Golden Plains, St Kilda Festival, BIGSOUND, Splendour In The Grass Forum and Dark Mofo.
2021 sees Kee’ahn in the studio working on her first album ‘In Full Bloom’. Debut single ‘Better Things’ is out now.
Susie Anderson
Susie Anderson writes from the nexus of compassion and resistance. Her poetry and nonfiction are widely published online and in print, such as in Archer, Artist Profile, Artlink, un magazine, Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia and ...
Uncle Bill Nicholson Jr
Uncle Bill Nicholson Jr is passionate about sharing his extensive cultural knowledge with the broader community. He is deeply committed to Wurundjeri Woi wurrung traditions and cultural practise and continuously advocates for the rights of contemporary Wurundjeri Woi wurrung people to access and practise culture on traditional Country. Uncle Bill is Wurundjeri Woi wurrung Corporations Principal adult cross-cultural educator for the corporate, not-for-profit and university sectors. A former Winston Churchill Fellowship recipient (2015), Uncle Bill’s fellowship explored cultural practice and maintenance amongst First Nation communities in urban environments. Uncle Bill was also amongst the Victorian delegates nominated to attend the First People’s Assembly which resulted in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.