Last year, I worked with a group of students from migrant and refugee backgrounds in a series of creative writing workshops at Maroondah Secondary College.
The project called Living Between Cultures, was organised by Cassy Polemini who has worked tirelessly to bring it all together.
The students amazed me with their stories which ranged from life in a Karen refugee camp, to playground love in Sudan. With the aid of their teacher, Lynne Dyer, their stories and essays came to life in the written word.
Journalist, writer and editor, Daan Spijer also worked with another group of refugee students.
The stories cover themes of freedom and belonging, love, loss and lessons learned from parents. These tales have winged their way to Australia via Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Sudan.
And now it will be launched at THE WHEELER CENTRE by ALICE PUNG on Thursday 5 August.
Event Details:
6.15pm, for 6.30pm
Thursday 5 August
The Perfomance Space
The Wheeler Centre
176 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne
Guest speaker: Alice Pung
Free, but booking is essential. Contact cassy.polimeni@gmail.com by Thurs 29 July.
Note: As the project was primarily about raising awareness, the collection is not currently for sale, however if you are (or know of) an organisation or media outlet that would be interested in this project, either to adapt it, or to write about it or help spread the word in any way, please let us know here and we’ll do our best to get a copy to you.
Wow. Sounds like an amazing project. Congratulations to everyone involved and all the best for the launch.
It was amazing because these young adults are incredible. To think how much they have seen and experienced at such a young age. Before they came to Australia, many had only known life in a refugee camp.