Bearing Witness
ABOUT THE SHOW
Justine E Hausheer, Durkhanai Ayubi, Eva Phillips & Edwina Shaw in conversation with Simon Cleary
A crime that’s haunted a family for generations. A fight against the extinction crisis. A homeland that’s long been misunderstood and misrepresented. An intervention into the history of Australian art. These potent and probing narratives – which span fiction, poetry, science writing and memoir – capture the costs of emotional, physical and cultural incursions, revealing the weight of silence and the value of witnessing.
PART OF BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Justine E Hausheer is an award-winning science writer and author. Her favourite stories take her into the field, where she’s followed logging elephants through Myanmar and tagged leatherback sea turtles. Her first book, The Vanishing Wild, explores the harsh reality of Australia’s threatened species crisis.
Durkhanai Ayubi is an Afghan-born writer. Her first book, Parwana: Recipes and Stories from an Afghan Kitchen received global acclaim. Her new book She Who Tastes, Knows is a sweeping repositioning of shared identity and possibility, through a lens of her inherited food ways.
Eva Phillips was born and raised in Magandjin, and now lives and teaches on unceded Wangal land. She was the recipient of the 2024 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Award, and has been published in Cordite, Rabbit, and Sick Leave.
Edwina Shaw is a Queensland author and editor of fiction, memoir and screenplays. She is the author of Dear Madman, A Guide Through Grief, Thrill Seekers, In the Dark of Night and editor of Bjelke Blues and Queersland. Dear Madman is the story she was born to write.
Simon Cleary is the author of three novels, including The Comfort of Figs (2008), which was published after the manuscript was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. His second novel, Closer to Stone (2012), was inspired by his experiences in North Africa at the commencement of the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. It went on to win the Queensland Literary Awards People’s Choice Award. Simon’s third novel, The War Artist, was published in 2019. Everything is Water (2024) is his first work of non-fiction. He is a life-long walking and environmental enthusiast, and lives in Brisbane.
PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES
VENUE
TICKETS
DURATION
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Suitable for all ages
18 months and under free on the knee; all other ages must hold a valid ticket
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Justine E Hausheer is an award-winning science writer and author. Her favourite stories take her into the field, where she’s followed logging elephants through Myanmar and tagged leatherback sea turtles. Her first book, The Vanishing Wild, explores the harsh reality of Australia’s threatened species crisis.
Durkhanai Ayubi is an Afghan-born writer. Her first book, Parwana: Recipes and Stories from an Afghan Kitchen received global acclaim. Her new book She Who Tastes, Knows is a sweeping repositioning of shared identity and possibility, through a lens of her inherited food ways.
Eva Phillips was born and raised in Magandjin, and now lives and teaches on unceded Wangal land. She was the recipient of the 2024 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Award, and has been published in Cordite, Rabbit, and Sick Leave.
Edwina Shaw is a Queensland author and editor of fiction, memoir and screenplays. She is the author of Dear Madman, A Guide Through Grief, Thrill Seekers, In the Dark of Night and editor of Bjelke Blues and Queersland. Dear Madman is the story she was born to write.
Simon Cleary is the author of three novels, including The Comfort of Figs (2008), which was published after the manuscript was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. His second novel, Closer to Stone (2012), was inspired by his experiences in North Africa at the commencement of the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. It went on to win the Queensland Literary Awards People’s Choice Award. Simon’s third novel, The War Artist, was published in 2019. Everything is Water (2024) is his first work of non-fiction. He is a life-long walking and environmental enthusiast, and lives in Brisbane.
