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What is the responsibility of the diaspora to their homeland? How do we write fiction and memoir about places being bombed via livestream? And how do Australian writers from Palestine and Lebanon continue to return to the page when their work is relentlessly censored and politicised?In Sara Haddad’s novella The Sunbird, an elderly Palestinian woman in Australia reckons with memories of the 1948 Nakba as she tends the potted plants she can't bear to put in the ground. In the award-winning Find Me at the Jaffa Gate, Micaela Sahhar offers readers an intimate, encyclopaedic portrait of one Palestinian family. In Rebirth: A Love Story From the Depths of War, journalist Antoun Issa draws inspiration from his mother's journey through love, loss and the Lebanese Civil War to a new life in Australia.
Join these generous and courageous authors in conversation with critically acclaimed author and podcast host Sarah Malik.
KEY INFO
Date: Saturday, 31 October 2026
Time: 11:30-12:30pm
Venue: The Ballroom, The Carrington Hotel
Tickets & More Info: https://www.bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au/events/right-of-return
Sara Haddad is the author of two editions of The Sunbird – an adult novella, which she originally self-published, and is self-publishing again. She is also releasing an illustrated chapter book version that she reimagined for middle-grade readers.
Antoun Issa is a Lebanese-Australian journalist and co-founder of Deepcut News. His first novel is Rebirth: A Love Story From the Depths of War.
Micaela Sahhar is an Australian-Palestinian writer and educator whose book, Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family (NewSouth), won the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for non-fiction.
Sarah Malik is a Walkley Award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. She is the host of The Conversation Room podcast and she runs the writing and culture substack Work in Progress. Her books include the critically acclaimed memoir Desi Girl: On Feminism, Race, Faith and Belonging and Safar: Muslim Women's Stories of Travel and Transformation.
This event is part of the 2026 Blue Mountains Writers Festival, head to bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au for more information.
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Event venue
The Carrington Hotel, 15 Katoomba St, Katoomba NSW 2780, Australia, Katoomba
Tickets
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