Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Michael Mohammed Ahmad is a writer whose novels explore Australia’s smouldering tribalism – found as much within its communities as between them – eschewing clichés and easy, feel-good conclusions.
His first novel, The Tribe, introduced readers to the complex family life of protagonist Bani Adam, a young boy from a religious Lebanese Muslim family in western Sydney. In The Lebs, Bani is a teenager grappling with a different set of conflicts – about superiority, sexuality, violence and faith – played out against the backdrop of high school and graduation.
Ahmad’s writing stings and sparks; it’s tense, insistent and unsettling, deploying a hungry, confrontational vernacular. Bani’s narration doesn’t present a worthy, heartwarming model of Lebanese Australian-ness. Instead, we’re offered a provocative, complex and sometimes brutal portrait – take or leave it.
In conversation with host Elizabeth McCarthy, Michael Mohammed Ahmad comes to Montalto to discuss multicultural identities, coming of age and the disorienting power of language.
Presented in partnership with Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove.
Antipodes Bookshop and Gallery will be our bookseller at this event.
Featuring
Featuring
Elizabeth McCarthy is a Melbourne-based radio producer and presenter. Her book reviews can be heard on ABC Radio Melbourne. She was a judge for the 2021 Stella Prize, and was convenor of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction 2019. She interviews writers and artists at live events and ... Read more
Michael Mohammed Ahmad is an Arab-Australian writer, editor, teacher and community arts worker. He is the founder and director of Sweatshop, a literacy movement in Western Sydney devoted to empowering culturally and linguistically diverse artists through creative writing. Mohammed’s essays and... Read more
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