Sydney Writers' Festival: Iraq
IRAQ
Sydney Writers’ Festival
Thursday 25 May, 6.30-8pm
Riverside Theatres, Parramatta (Lennox Theatre)
Cnr Church & Market Streets, Parramatta
“Death is covering us like fine dust.”
Haifa Zangana, Iraqi writer.
This Sydney Writers’ Festival Event was a partnership between Information & Cultural Exchange and Parramatta City Council / Riverside Theatres Parramatta.
Iraqi writer Haifa Zangana joined Mark Danner in a discussion about the war. Mark Danner’s critical insights into the psychology and approach of the US Administration were rounded out with Haifa Zangana’s heartwrenching and frank exposition of the impact of the war on the daily lives of Iraqis, particularly the lives of women. Jennifer Maiden’s poems provided insightful and quirky bookends to the discussion.
ABOUT THE GUEST WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS
HAIFA ZANGANA (IRAQ/UK)
Painter and writer Haifa Zangana grew up in Iraq. She was imprisoned by the Ba’ath regime during 1971-72, and has lived in London since 1976. She is a frequent contributor to newspapers, and lectures regularly on Iraqi culture, literature, and women’s issues. She has written short stories and novels, including Women on a Journey. She is a contributor to the recently published Not One More Death, a condemnation of the war in Iraq.
JENNIFER MAIDEN
Jennifer Maiden has published fourteen poetry collections and two novels. She has won the NSW Premier’s Award twice, the Victorian Premier’s Award, and the Christopher Brennan Award for a lifetime of achievement in poetry. Her most recent collection is Friendly Fire.
MARK DANNER (USA)
Mark Danner has written on politics and foreign policy for twenty-five years, focussing on war and conflict. Danner is Professor of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley and Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights, Democracy, and Journalism at Bard College. He has covered Central America, Haiti, the Balkans, and Iraq and the Middle East, among many other stories. Danner is the author of several books including Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror and most recently The Secret Way to War: The Downing Street Memo and the Iraq War’s Buried History, Danner speaks and lectures widely on foreign policy and America’s role in the world.
*Presented with Parramatta City Council and ICE.
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