City Program
Boisbouvier Oration: Tony Birch
Fri 10 Sep, 6pmThe Wheeler Centre, Performance Space
Delivering this year’s Boisbouvier Oration, celebrated writer Tony Birch illuminates the struggles and successes of some of the great unsung heroes of Australian history: Aboriginal women living on government reserves early last century, who waged a little-known campaign of resistance to protect their culture and community, under threat of losing their children and homes. The bestselling author of The White Girl and first Indigenous winner of the Patrick White Literary Award for his contributions to literature, Birch is joined by Miles Franklin winner Alexis Wright (Tracker), who presents closing remarks.
Supported by the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne
Duration
1 hour
Categories
Tickets
Event artists
Tony Birch’s releases for 2021 are the poetry collection, Whisper Songs and the short story collection, Dark As Last Night. His previous books are the novels The White Girl, Ghost River and Blood, and the short story collections Shadowboxing, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People.
Alexis Wright is a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The author of the prize-winning novels Carpentaria and The Swan Book, Wright is the only author to win both the Miles Franklin Award (in 2007 for Carpentaria) and the Stella Prize (in 2018 for Tracker).