Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 12 June
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM
No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.
For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.
Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.
This week, it’s The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif co-authored by Robert Hillman and Najaf Mazari, both of whom will be joining us for this session.
Featuring
Robert Hillman
Robert Hillman is the author of more than 80 works of fiction and non-fiction. His memoir, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the Australian National Biography Award for 2003.
Other works have been shortlisted for Premiers’ Awards and the Prime Minister’s Award. His 2008 collaboration with Najaf Mazari, The Rugmaker of Mazari Sharif, tells the story of Najaf’s escape from Afghanistan and his journey to Australia. The book has become a set text in many Australian secondary schools.
Ruby Murray
Ruby J Murray is a writer and researcher whose work appears regularly in Australian magazines, journals and newspapers. Her first novel, Running Dogs, is out now through Scribe.
Ruby is a regular moderator and host at public events and writers festivals including the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Emerging Writers Festival, The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and the Melbourne Free University.
Najaf Mazari
Najaf Mazari is the co-author (with Robert Hillman) of 2008 novel The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif, which eloquently tells the story of his journey as a refugee from Afghanistan to Australia. Also written with Hillman, 2011 follow-up The Honey Thief is a collection of stories in the tradition of Afghan folktales.
Mazari fled upheaval in Afghanistan in 2001 and made his way to Australia, where he now lives with wife, Hakeema, and his daughter, Maria. He is a successful businessman with a shop in Melbourne’s antique precinct, selling traditional Afghan rugs.
He is deeply involved in creating a better climate for asylum-seekers in Australia and in charity activities that provide medical and educational assistance to some of the poorest villages in Afghanistan. Each year, Najaf sponsors an Afghan Evening of traditional song, dance and cuisine that highlights the achievements of Afghans in Australia.