Santilla Chingaipe
Santilla Chingaipe is a Zambian-born filmmaker, historian and author whose work interrogates mobility, memory and erasure.
Chingaipe's debut book of non-fiction, Black Convicts, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and longlisted for the prestigious Cundill History Prize.
The critically acclaimed documentary inspired by the book, Our African Roots, made history as the first time an African-Australian host interrogated the nation's colonial past on Australian television.
A former SBS World News journalist, she spent nearly a decade reporting across Africa, interviewing some of the continent's most prominent leaders while also covering Australia's diverse African diasporic communities.
Chingaipe's influence extends well beyond Australia's borders. In 2019, she was recognised at the United Nations as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world under 40. She has delivered the annual E.W. Cole Lecture at the Wheeler Centre.
Chingaipe is a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper and a columnist for The Monthly. She is also a committed champion of inclusive storytelling and created Behind The Screens, a VicScreen-supported program increasing representation for people historically excluded from the Australian film industry.
Chingaipe hosts two monthly cultural events: the literary series First Chapter and its sister event, No Skips: A Listening Party. Because she loves reading. And dancing.
She lives and works in Melbourne.
Coinciding with Melbourne Theatre Company’s Destiny, playwright Kirsty Marillier, writer and advocate Carly Findlay and poet Grace Yee explore personal and political histories through a diasporic lens.
