For over six years, Kurdish-Iranian journalist and writer Behrouz Boochani bore personal witness to the treatment of refugees in Australia's offshore immigration detention centre on Manus Island. Painstakingly typed out in text messages while he was incarcerated, Boochani’s experiences were recorded in his acclaimed book, No Friend but the Mountains (translated by Omid Tofighian), for which he was awarded the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature, and many other awards. Now, Boochani arrives in Australia for the first time, appearing live in conversation with Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Richard Flanagan at The Capitol for his only Melbourne event to mark the release of his moving, creative and challenging new essay collection, Freedom, Only Freedom (translated by Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi, and published by Bloomsbury). Following an introduction by his long-time translators and collaborators, Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi, Boochani will reflect on his own experiences and those of other refugees, and offer a unique insight into urgent issues of border violence, human rights and creative resistance.
Presented in partnership with Readings. Supported by PEN Melbourne.
This event will be viewable from your Wheeler Centre online account from 7.30pm AEDT Monday 12 December to 11.59pm AEDT Monday 19 December 2022. Log in to your account to watch the live stream.
wheelercentre.com
Closed Captioned
The bookseller for this event is Readings.
Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish-Iranian writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker. Boochani was a writer and editor for the Kurdish language magazine Werya in Iran. He is a Visiting Professor, Birkbeck Law School ...
Moones Mansoubi is a community, arts and cultural development worker based in Sydney. Her work is dedicated mainly to supporting and collaborating with migrants and people seeking asylum in Australia. She has managed ...
Omid Tofighian is an award-winning lecturer, researcher and community advocate, combining philosophy with interests in citizen media, popular culture, displacement and discrimination. He completed his PhD in philosophy at Leiden University, Netherlands, and graduated with a combined honours degree in philosophy ...
