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About The Event
Join Aminata Conteh-Biger in conversation with Juliet Rieden on their co-authored memoir, Rising Heart: the true story of Aminata’s astonishing journey as she travels back to her home country of Sierra Leone with the hope to bring a better life to the women and children who live there. Described by the Hon. Dame Quentin Bryce as ‘searing’ and ‘powerful’, Aminata’s story of courage and hope will stay in your heart long after reading.
There are 20 seats available to see Aminata Conteh-Biger live in conversation at the Royal Oak Hotel Balmain on Tuesday 15 September, 7pm. To win a FREE ticket, make sure you’ve signed up to the Roaring Stories newsletter before 7 September to enter the subscriber-only competition.
The conversation will be simultaneously live-streamed for free via the Roaring Stories Facebook page.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In 1999, Sierra Leone was in the midst of a brutal civil war where mindless violence, vicious amputation and the rape of young enslaved women were the everyday weapons of bloody conflict. It was also where rebel soldiers snatched the young Aminata Conteh-Biger from her father’s arms, then held her captive for months. After she was released, the UNHCR recognised that her captors still posed a serious threat to her safety. So, still in her teens, she was put on a plane and flown to Australia to start afresh as a refugee in a land she knew nothing about. It is here that she has proudly built a life, while never allowing her trauma to define her. Yet it was a near-death experience she suffered during the birth of her child that turned her attention to the women of Sierra Leone – where they are 200 times more likely to die while having a baby than in Australia. So she set up the Aminata Maternal Foundation, then returned to the land of her birth to help. This is her story.
ABOUT AMINATA CONTEH-BIGER
Aminata Conteh-Biger is an author, inspirational speaker, performer, mother and wife, and former refugee turned Founder and CEO of the Aminata Maternal Foundation. Born in Sierra Leone, she now lives in Sydney with her husband and two children.
Watch her feature story on Channel 10’s The Project
ABOUT JULIET RIEDEN
Juliet Rieden has been a journalist for more than 30 years, working between the UK and Australia for a variety of magazines and newspapers as a writer and editor. She is currently Editor-At-Large at The Australian Women’s Weekly where she also works as the Royal Correspondent and the Books Editor. Juliet is also a non-fiction author with Pan Macmillan. Her previous books are The Writing on the Wall and The Royals in Australia.
This event is presented by Roaring Stories Bookshop Balmain with Pan Macmillan
With thanks to our venue partner The Royal Oak Balmain
