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The Stories We Carry Within:
Author Conversation for Refugee Week
Saturday 20 June | 11am
Woden Library
Celebrate Refugee Week with Libraries ACT and Canberra Writers Festival at an engaging in‑person conversation with Emma Pei Yin, Aarti Betigeri and Andra Putnis, and moderated by Qin Qin.
Reflecting the theme A Million Stories, this 60‑minute session brings together voices shaped by cultural connections to Hong Kong, India and Latvia. The discussion explores storytelling, identity, belonging, and how inherited memory informs creative practice, alongside insights into their journeys as writers. The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and conclude with book sales and signings, facilitated by Paperchain Bookstore.
About the Authors
Emma Pei Yin is an award-winning writer, editor and literary advocate. Her debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake, is published internationally and translated into multiple languages. She founded Yinfluence, an agency supporting persons of colour, queer and neurodivergent writers through editor and mentor connections. Emma is an Author Advocate for Room to Read and an Ambassador for Chapters for Change. She co-hosts Served With Rice Poddy and is writing her second novel with her extremely barky dachshund, Lady, by her side.
Aarti Betigeri is a multi-platform journalist and former foreign correspondent based in Canberra. She is a correspondent for Monocle, a columnist with the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter, and contributes to various other local and foreign media outlets. She is the editor of Growing Up Indian In Australia and speaks regularly about the Indian diaspora, India-Australia relations and the need for more cultural diversity in the Australian media landscape.
Andra Putnis is an Australian writer creating powerful stories that deepen understanding of our world and each other. Her debut book, Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me, explores her Latvian grandmothers’ survival of WWII and migration to Australia. Published by Allen & Unwin in 2024 and Zvaigzne ABC in 2025, it won the Canberra Critics’ Circle Award and was shortlisted for ACT Book of the Year. She writes widely and is Artistic Director of the Canberra Writers Festival 2026.
Qin Qin is a local writer, regular interviewer, and literal tree hugger. As a former unfulfilled overachiever, her memoir Model Minority Gone Rogue (shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year and ACT Book of the Year Award) explores choosing love over fear. She is committed to living consciously for a more peaceful and sustainable world.
At Sea with
Y.M. Abdel-Magied
Friday 26 June | 4pm
via Zoom
In Partnership with The Australia Institute, join Y.M. Abdel-Magied as she discusses her book, At Sea.
Being one of the boys was one thing. Being the boss of the boys was something else altogether.
Expert driller Zainab is called to take charge of a high-stakes oil rig operation. Unable to resist the opportunity, she leaves behind her pregnant sister and heads offshore for the job of her life. But there's a catch. The rig is teetering on the edge of disaster - and Zainab is the only woman amongst a crew of hardened men who want absolutely nothing to do with her.
At the helm but forced to prove herself at every turn, Zainab labours to investigate the rig's imminent collapse. She quickly grasps that the real danger lies in the cold calculations and base desires of the men she is forced to spend every waking moment with.
As tensions rise and secrets unravel, Zainab races to uncover the truth bubbling below and fend off the looming catastrophe. Explosive and thought-provoking, At Sea is an exhilarating story about the clash of ambition, principle and prejudice, and the unexpected consequences of our choices.
About the Author
Born in Sudan and raised in Australia, Y.M. Abdel-Magied's first job as a teenager was in a coal mine in rural Australia. After graduating with first class honours in Mechanical Engineering, Y.M. trained and worked as a MWD (Measurement While Drilling) contractor and drilling engineer across Europe, Australia, Asia and the US.
Shifting to a career in writing and the media, Y.M. has presented TV and podcasts in Australia, Britain and the US, including ABC current affairs show Australia Wide and Hijabistas, a series on the modest fashion scene in Australia, and ground-breaking SBS documentary The Truth About Racism.
ANU Meet The Author:
Getting Murdoched -Andrew Dodd & Matthew Ricketson
Thursday 2 July | 6pm
Cinema, Cultural Centre Kambri, ANU
Andrew Dodd and Matthew Ricketson will be in conversation with Mark Kenny on their new book Getting Murdoched.How Murdoch’s Media Wields Power and Punishment.
For decades, Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire has shaped political landscapes, influenced elections, and fuelled public opinion. But behind the headlines lies a darker story - of targeted campaigns, smear tactics, and relentless attacks on those who don’t fit the Murdoch mould. From LGBTQI communities and women’s rights advocates to progressive politicians, human rights defenders, and even conservatives deemed ‘not right enough’, Getting Murdoched: How Murdoch’s Media Wields Power and Punishment exposes how dissent is silenced and reputations destroyed. Drawing on insider accounts, investigative research, and case studies spanning Australia, the UK, and the US, this book reveals how News Corp turns disagreement into a declaration of war.
Powerful, unsettling, and meticulously documented, Getting Murdoched is both a warning and a call to defend truth in an age of weaponised media. Including interviews and international examples, Getting Murdoched also analyses the damaging effect that this has on democracy in the US, the UK and Australia.
About the Authors
Andrew Dodd is a professor of journalism at the University of Melbourne, where he was the director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism between 2017 and mid-2026. He was a broadcaster and reporter at ABC TV and Radio National, where he presented many of the network's programs and founded the Media Report. He is also a former media and business writer at The Australian
Matthew Ricketson has been Professor of Communication in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University since 2017. He has worked on staff at The Age, The Australian and Time Australia magazine. He has written or edited seven books, including with Patrick Mullins, Who Needs the ABC? Why Taking it for Granted Is No Longer an Option.