This event is sold out! If you didn’t get a ticket, you can still watch the event as it is livestreamed from the Roaring Stories Facebook page (accessible on the Home page and from the Live tab). A recording will also be available to view later as an upload on the Roaring Stories YouTube channel.

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Are we an egalitarian, generous, outward-looking country? Or is Australia a place that has retreated into silence and denial about the past and become selfish, greedy and insular?

Professor Julianne Schultz, former publisher of Griffith Review and Chair of The Conversation, challenges our notions of what it means to be Australian and asks timely and urgent questions about our national identity in her new book, The Idea of Australia.

Join her this March 22 as she discusses the work and its themes in a conversation with Stan Grant, one of Australia’s most respected and awarded journalists and currently the ABC’s International Affairs Analyst.

Attendees are asked to arrive at 6.30pm or earlier for a 7pm start upstairs at The Royal Oak Balmain. Seating is unallocated – another reason to arrive early to secure an optimal spot. Why not make a full evening of it, too, by booking a meal at the Royal Oak before or after the event? One of Balmain’s oldest and best-known pubs, it serves a delicious range of food and beverages.

The Idea of Australia will be available for purchase at the venue through Roaring Stories, with book signings from Schultz following the discussion.

For those who can’t make it in person, the event will be livestreamed from Roaring Stories Facebook page (accessible on the Home page and from the Live tab), and available to view later as an upload on the Roaring Stories YouTube channel.

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ABOUT THE IDEA OF AUSTRALIA

What is the ‘idea of Australia’? What defines the soul of our nation? Are we an egalitarian, generous, outward-looking country? Or is Australia a place that has retreated into silence and denial about the past and become selfish, greedy and insular?

A lifetime of watching Australia as a journalist, editor, academic and writer has given Julianne Schultz a unique platform from which to ask and answer these critical questions. The global pandemic gave her time to study the X-ray of our country and the opportunity for perspective and analysis. Schultz came to realise that the idea of Australia is a contest between those who are imaginative, hopeful, altruistic and ambitious, and those who are defensive and inward-looking. She became convinced we need to acknowledge and better understand our past to make sense of our present and build a positive and inclusive future. She suggests what Australia could be: smart, compassionate, engaged, fair and informed.

This important, searing and compelling book explains us to ourselves and suggests ways Australia can realise her true potential. Urgent, inspiring and optimistic, The Idea of Australia presents the vision we need to fully appreciate our great strengths and crucial challenges.

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ABOUT JULIANNE SCHULTZ

Professor Julianne Schultz AM FAHA is the publisher and founding editor of Griffith Review and Professor of Media and Culture in of the Griffith University Centre for Social and Cultural Research. She is a non executive director of The Conversation and chairs its Editorial Advisory Board. She is an acclaimed author of several books, including Reviving the Fourth Estate (Cambridge) and Steel City Blues (Penguin), and the librettos to the award-winning operas Black River and Going Into Shadows. She became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to journalism and the community in 2009 and an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities the following year. She is a thought leader on media and culture and an accomplished public speaker and facilitator. She has served on the board of directors of the ABC, Grattan Institute and Copyright Agency, and chaired the Australian Film TV and Radio School, Queensland Design Council and National Cultural Policy Reference Group and a member of advisory boards with a particular focus on education, journalism, innovation and culture.

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ABOUT STAN GRANT

Stan Grant is the Vice Chancellor’s Chair of Australian/Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University. He was formerly ABC’s Global Affairs and Indigenous Affairs Analyst. He is one of Australia’s most respected and awarded journalists, with more than 30 years experience in radio and television news and current affairs, and has won multiple awards for his work, including a Peabody. Stan has a strong reputation for independence and integrity and has interviewed international political and business leaders, including our own prime ministers and senior ministers. Prior to taking up his latest role Stan served for a decade at a Senior International Correspondent for CNN in Asia and the Middle East, broadcasting to an audience of millions around the world. He has interviewed numerous world leaders including Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Condoleezza Rice, Yasser Arafat and Bill Clinton. Stan is an award winning and best selling author of several books and has contributed articles to many major Australian newspapers, magazines and journals.

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TERMS & CONDITIONS

a) COVID Safety

This is a COVID Safe event. Attendance is conditional on compliance with current and relevant NSW Heath COVID Safe guidelines.

b) Refunds

Please note that tickets are non-refundable unless the event is cancelled or postponed due to extenuating circumstances.

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This event is presented by Roaring Stories Bookshop Balmain and Allen & Unwin

With thanks to our venue partner The Royal Oak Balmain