This month our book club read and discussed Afghan-American author, Nadia Hashimi’s, The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. A book about two women’s desire for freedom to control her own fate and the feeling of powerlessness she wishes to overcome. The book instigated interesting conversations on ‘naseeb’ or destiny and whether we believe in the concept.
our blog & events
This month our noses were buried in Untold: defining moments of the uprooted, an anthology of 31 stories and personal essays by South-Asian female-identifying authors reflecting on their experience growing up in America, Canada and the United Kingdom. This collection exceeded our expectations and we were fortunate enough to host a QnA with three of the authors, Neha Patel, Nisha Singh and Apoorva Verghese.
Australia’s writing arena, like most of its other public spaces, is predominantly occupied by white men. Through our personal research we found few published Australian South-Asian female authors. We hope this list broadens your literary horizons, especially those of us in the Australian-South Asian community looking for inspiration, because as the saying goes ‘you can’t be, what you can’t see’. We thought ‘homeward-bound’ captured the essence of this list as these books engage with a variety of transitionary life phases in the pursuit of finding acceptance, belonging and being at home in oneself, as well as, migration.
In July our book club members read Mira Sethi’s Are You Enjoying, a collection of seven short stories about life, love, intimacy and intrigue in contemporary, urban Pakistan. While our members observed that the stories didn’t offer as much insight into the lives of ordinary people, the book allowed for interesting conversations about power dynamics in the workplace. Read to find out what we thought of the book and the insightful conversation we had.
South Asian women are far and few in the Australian art scene. Their magnificent work does not get the recognition nor the prestige it deserves. We’re proud to share the journey of our former artists in residence Priyanka Kaur and Avneet Singh in producing a series of art depicting South Asian women, one of which ‘Dancing Rani’ was sold recently.
To commemorate the first anniversary of the Australian South Asian Centre (ASAC), our founders, Daizy Maan Kaur and Sehar Gupta share what they’ve learned on this journey so far and what’s planned for the future of ASAC.
A few weeks ago we hosted an Opoortunity for Emerging Writers where 3 South Asian female wrirers would receive feedback on their writing from one of our experienced mentors. Meet our winners and learn about their writing journey
In July our book club members read Mira Sethi’s Are You Enjoying, a collection of seven short stories about life, love, intimacy and intrigue in contemporary, urban Pakistan. While our members observed that the stories didn’t offer as much insight into the lives of ordinary people, the book allowed for interesting conversations about power dynamics in the workplace. Read to find out what we thought of the book and the insightful conversation we had.
We, ASAC, have a contact who can help get women, children and their families onto a live list endorsed by a senator for a US visa, ASAP. Learn how you can help evacuate people.
With the escalating situation in Afghanistan many of us want to help our Afghan brothers and sisters through monetary means. However, people on ground are unable to access their bank accounts. Here’s what you need to know about sending money to Afghanistan.