Refugees empowered by storytelling

Dhananjaya Karunarathne

Dhananjaya Karunarathne is a published playwright, director and designer working in Sri Lanka and Australia as an independent artist. After moving to Australia, he completed his Master of Creative Arts, Theatre, at the University of Wollongong in 2004. He is currently undertaking a Master of Creative Arts- Research, at the university and is developing a play called A Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seeker’s story as performed by Australian actors under the guidance of a Sinhalese director as part of his studies.

Saleh Khani

Iranian-born Saleh Khani is an IT engineer and emerging writer. Saleh’s father worked on ships and he grew up absorbing experiences that fostered understanding of other cultures and traditions. Saleh was accepted to study an Advanced Diploma of Applied Science (Nautical Science) at the University of Tasmania. While working in Iran to pay for his studies he received news his visa application to Australia was denied. Around this time Saleh had to leave his country and his journey as an asylum seeker began. He arrived on Christmas Island in April 2013 and is writing a book in Farsi called I Am An Asylum Seeker. 

Rosie Scott

Rosie Scott is an award-winning writer who has published six novels, and a collection each of short stories, poems and essays. Her award-winning play Say Thank You To The Lady was the basis for a film which won several international awards. Her novel Faith Singer was on the list of 50 Essential Reads by Contemporary Authors compiled by the Orange Prize committee, the Guardian and the Hay Festival. She and Thomas Keneally co-edited a PEN anthology of writers in detention, Another Country, which earned them a nomination for the Human Rights Medal and helped to gain PEN the Community Human Rights Award. The pair also co-edited the anthology A Country Too Far.

The Settlement Services International’s Speakers’ Series events are talks and panel discussions on current refugee and asylum seeker issues and related topics.

Date: Tuesday June 17
Time: 6:00-7:30pm
Location: SSI Head Office, Level 2, 158 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW
Admission by gold coin donation (monies collected will support SSI’s Arts & Culture program)
RSVP essential: http://speakerseriesstorytelling.eventbrite.com.au