Writing as Activism
About
WRITING AS ACTIVISM: Dennis Altman and Garry Wotherspoon in conversation with Jeremy Fernandez. And a tribute to the great booksellers of The Bookshop Darlinghurst.We are delighted to offer you the opportunity to hear Dennis Altman and Garry Wotherspoon (author of Gay Sydney: A History) in conversation with Jeremy Fernandez to talk about books, history and memory, and to pay tribute to the great booksellers of Bookshop Darlinghurst.
Altman’s latest book, Righting my World is a collection of his writings over the past half-century. It captures the sense of Australia and the wider world as it was and as it is, charting the course of a conversation about civil rights and cultural change, while at the same time highlighting the persistence of prejudice and the value of art. Interspersed with personal essays reflecting on Altman’s cultural heritage, grief and ageing, Righting My World is a powerful and illuminating chronicle.
Wotherspoon's Gay Sydney: A History is an updated version of his 1991 classic, City of the Plain: History of a Gay Sub-culture, written in the midst of the AIDS crisis. In this vivid book Wotherspoon traces the shifts that have occurred since then, including majority support for marriage equality and anti-discrimination legislation. It also tells the story of gay Sydney across a century, looking at secret, underground gay life, the never-ending debates about sex in society and the role of social movements in the '60 and '70s in effecting social change.
About the Speakers
Dennis Altman AM is the author of numerous books, including Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation, which has been described as the first serious analysis to emerge from the gay liberation movement. He is a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow and Professorial Fellow in the Institute for Human Security at La Trobe University. In 2008, Dennis was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for service to education as an academic, social and political commentator, to the community through raising awareness of human-rights issues and to the development of HIV/AIDS policy. He is a patron of the Australian Queer Archives and the Pride Foundation.
Garry Wotherspoon is a writer and historian, a former academic and a former NSW History Fellow, and a Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Lesbian and Gay Research at the University of Sydney, 1995-1996. He was awarded Australia’s Centenary of Federation Medal in 2001, for his work as an academic, researcher, and human rights activist. His political journalism has appeared in Online Opinion and New Matilda, and he has worked as a speechwriter for several progressive politicians. He is a ‘78er’, and he has long been involved in LGBTQI community politics and activities.
Jeremy Fernandez is an Australian journalist and television news presenter with the ABC. Fernandez is the main anchor of ABC NSW 7pm News.
Potts Point Bookshop will be selling books at the event.
This event is free, but please book tickets.
Location
The Loading Dock Theatre Qtopia Sydney
301 Forbes St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
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Writing as Activism
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