We Are Here: Stories of Home, Place and Belonging
Date:
With:
Meg Mundell, Claire G. Coleman, Ayub Abdi-Barre, Jody Letts, Roderick Waller
Rating:
ALL
Summary:
Presented in partnership with the Wheeler Centre. Homelessness can take many guises – sleeping rough, yes, but also couch-surfing, squatting, or staying in a refuge, boarding house or caravan park. The same can be said of the people who experience homelessness. Not defined simply by their predicament, they’re a diverse group. They may be siblings, parents, grandparents; people who study or work; people who’ve moved or migrated, yet to find their feet. People with full lives, and much to offer.
Details
A new profit-for-purpose book from Affirm Press, We Are Here: Stories of Home, Place and Belonging, is a testament to the unique insights of people who’ve known homelessness in Australia. Edited by novelist, homelessness researcher and former Big Issue deputy editor Meg Mundell, it offers a bounty of extraordinary true stories from a wide range of writers – prominent names, emerging voices and first-timers – who have themselves experienced homelessness. Behrouz Boochani, Krissy Kneen and Claire G. Coleman appear alongside undiscovered talents, exploring the idea of place – and how our sense of it changes when homeless.
Hosted by Mundell, and presented in partnership with the Wheeler Centre, we’ll hear from contributors about their stories, their places and their writing. Hear readings from the book – and learn about the process of putting it together – at this celebration of survival, place and belonging.
About Ayub Abdi-Barre
Ayub came to Australia as a six-year-old refugee from Somalia. Placed in foster care, he later became homeless. Now living in a share house in Carlton North, he’s happy to call Melbourne home. Passionate about social justice, he works as a political advisor on topics such as the Australian–African community and the environment, and assists people from low socioeconomic situations to find safe housing. He’s obsessed with sports (watching or playing) and will strike up a conversation about climate change if the chance arises.
About Claire G. Coleman
Claire is a Wirlomin Noongar woman whose ancestral country is in the south coast of Western Australia. Her debut novel Terra Nullius – published in Australia and the USA, and written on a second-hand iPad in a caravan – won the Norma K. Hemming Award and a black&write! Fellowship, and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and an Aurealis Award. A popular speaker and storyteller, Claire has written essays, short stories, reportage and poetry for multiple national platforms. The Old Lie (Hachette, 2019) is her second novel.
About Jody Letts
Jody is a former defence force worker who found herself living out of a van in the Melbourne CBD while suffering from work-related injuries, illnesses and mental health issues. Jody is committed to sharing her lived experiences through the Peer Education and Support Program (PESP), run by the Council to Homeless Persons. Working with PESP, she educates the public around homelessness and advocates for positive change. She also contributes to consumer participation with Dental Health Services Victoria and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
About Roderick Waller
Roderick was born in Yorkshire in 1948 to a working-class family of ship builders. In 1971 he immigrated to Australia. He has worked as a jackaroo, a UN economist and a consultant in developing Asia–Pacific countries. Two passions are nature and creative writing. Rod has read his writing publicly at The Wheeler Centre, Yorkshire Winter, Apollo Bay Writers Festival, and Roomers magazine events. Founder of the Port Vila Poetry Society (Vanuatu), he is gregarious by nature and inherited from his father the dry wit of Yorkshire humour. A staunch AA member, he’s had four years of happy sobriety.
About Meg Mundell
Meg is a novelist, journalist and academic from Aotearoa New Zealand. She lives in Melbourne with her partner and son. The author of The Trespassers (UQP, 2019), Black Glass (Scribe, 2011) and Things I Did for Money (Scribe, 2013), she has published in Best Australian Stories, The Age, The Guardian, The Monthly, Meanjin and elsewhere. Meg is the We Are Here: Stories of Home Place & Belonging. She has worked in homelessness policy and is a former deputy editor of The Big Issue Australia. (Photo credit: Joanne Manariti.)