Hear from Miles Franklin Award–winning Carpentaria novelist and Waanyi Nation woman Alexis Wright as she introduces her keenly awaited novel, Praiseworthy. Set in a small Australian town beset by a haze cloud that heralds both an ecological catastrophe and a gathering of ancestors, the story is rendered with the richness of language and scale of imagery for which Alexis is renowned. Alexis speaks with author and activist Sisonke Msimang about a timely fable for the end of days.
Alexis Wright appears thanks to the support of Sam Meers AO.
This event is Auslan interpreted.
Alexis Wright (Australian)
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 has published three works of non-fiction: Take Power, an oral history of the Central Land Council; Grog War, a study of alcohol abuse in the Northern Territory; and Tracker, an award-winning collective memoir of Aboriginal leader, Tracker Tilmouth. Her books have been published widely overseas, including in China, the US, the UK, Italy, France and Poland. She held the position of Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne between 2017–2022. Wright is the only author to win both the Miles Franklin Award (in 2007 for Carpentaria) and the Stella Prize (in 2018 for Tracker). Her third novel, Praiseworthy, will be published by Giramondo in April 2023.
Sisonke Msimang (Australian)
Sisonke Msimang is the author of two books: Always Another Country: a memoir of exile and home (2017); and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela (2018) and has written for a range of publications including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian and Newsweek.
