This year’s Melbourne Writers’ Festival has some strong and influential South Asian voices to share. The line-up of writers includes Vidya Rajan, Pankaj Mishra, Sarah Malik, Mohsin Hamid, and Sami Shah and they delve into their life experiences, writing inspiration, and even confess to some life-defining mistakes.
International writers
- Pankaj Mishra:
Digital interview
Join Pankaj Mishra, acclaimed Indian essayist and writer whose non-fiction work is provocative, thought-provoking and sheds light on significant accounts of history. He is returning to fiction-writing following a 20-year hiatus and Tasneem Chopra is going to tell us why. Mishra’s new novel, Run and Hide, follows three friends who will do anything to succeed and deals with issues on caste, class, and the test of time.
2. Mohsin Hamid:
Author talk: The Last White Man
Take the opportunity to learn about Mohsin Hamid, a British Pakistani acclaimed writer whose past work includes Exit West, and Moth Smoke. His novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist tells a cross cultural narrative of a Pakistani man and an American stranger. Hamid uses the second-person narrative (using ‘You’) to address his readers and allow them to be part of the narrative. Why is this important? He interacts with strong ideas of patriotism and the politics of a post-9/11 world to subconsciously use the reader’s own values and preconception to decide what is happening in the novel. Following this vein, Hamid will be discussing his new novel The Last White Man, which is set in a world where the skin colour of white people begins to darken. In conversation with award-winning journalist Osman Faruqi, Hamid will share insights on issues of race and social injustice.
Local writers
3. Sarah Malik:
Author talk: Desi Girl: On Feminism, Race, Faith and Belonging
Sarah Malik is an award-winning journalist, and we get the chance to hear her discuss her debut essay collection Desi Girl. This memoir-style account deals with her second-generation Pakistani-Australian Muslim experience of identity and belonging and is fascinating. Find out how growing up in a post-9/11 world impacted her coming of age identity and relationship with religion and family in conversation with Alice Pung.
Workshop: Shaping Your Memoir
Versed in the world of media and writing, Malik is well-equipped to teach us her tips on how to put your life experiences on paper and write your own memoir. In her words, you will learn how to ‘excavate’ yourself and use different mediums, such as photos, diary entries and much more, to capture your memories with their real-life essence
Panel: Beyond the Margins
Writing as minority voices in white newsrooms can be daunting. Joined by media expert Tasneem Chopra, Sarah Malik and fellow Australia journalist and writer Antoinette Lattouf (How to Lose Friends and Influence White People) discuss how they stood their ground in their careers to instill change with their craft of writing.
Panel: Who Decides What News Is Worthy?
On the topic of newsrooms and the power of words, Sophie Black (journalist and co-chair of Right Now) is in conversation with Sarah Malik, Bridget Brennan (ABC Indigenous Affairs Editor), and Amy Remeikis (Guardian Australia’s political reporter, The Reckoning). They discuss the possible commercial motives of news outlets, if public interest is honoured, and how to avoid news fatigue. Find out the decisions behind what news outlets decide to report on and how they approach it.
4. Sami Shah:
Panel: Mistakes Were Made
Tune in to hear what defining mistakes this line-up have made in their personal life and careers. Some anecdotes will be light-hearted and hilarious, and others jaw-dropping. The panel will feature comedian and broadcaster Sami Shah, doctor Norman Swan (this sounds surprising), Sally Seltman (singer) and authors Eda Gunaydin and Sinéad Stubbins. After all, they’re all human, so mistakes will be made, but sit back and enjoy these confessions.
5. Vidya Rajan:
Panel: Up Late
To end your festival experience, tune into this late-night panel hosted by Jess McGuire and be entertained by the latest bits of pop culture and current affairs with the witty voices of Vidya Rajan, Liz Duck-Chong and Patrick Lenton. Vidya Rajan is an award-winning screenwriter, comedian, and theatre performer, who recently performed in a reimagining for Looking for Alibrandi.
View the full 2022 program at Melbourne Writers’ Festival
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