'Climate catastrophe, police brutality, white genocide, totalitarian rule and the erasure of black history provide the backdrop for stories of love, courage and hope. In this unflinching new anthology, eleven of Australia’s most daring writers of colour provide a glimpse of Australia in the year 2050. Edited by Michael Mohammed Ahmad, awardwinning author of The Lebs. Featuring Ambelin Kwaymullina, Claire G. Coleman, Omar Sakr, Future D. Fidel, Karen Wyld, Sarah Ross, Zoya Patel, Michelle Law and Hannah Donnelly. Published in partnership with Diversity Arts Australia and Sweatshop Literacy Movement.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'I had never before considered whether an Aboriginal person could be an Anglophile. Then I came across one, a full-on black Anglophile. I thought being an Anglophile was a kind of paedophile to be honest, which would be an awkward thing to publicly admit so I looked it up later when they left in a cloud of earl grey and spotted dick: it means a person who greatly admires or favours England and all things English. I mean, sure I went through a phase of watching period dramas about rich British ladies yearning for the D, which was a bit of a sadistic habit, but this was a whole other level. ' (Introduction)
At Home with Randa Abdel-Fattah
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2021
23451747
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Randa Abdel-Fattah is a prominent Australian author, academic and human rights advocate.
'She seeks to translate her academic work into creative interventions which reshape dominant narratives around race, human rights and identity in popular culture - and she does this well in her 2021 non-fiction work Coming of Age in the War on Terror.
'Her debut novel Does My Head Look Big in This? has sold more than 100,000 copies in Australia, is published around the world and was performed on the stage in America. Randa is currently adapting the world as an Australian feature film.
'Randa has also published eleven novels across a range of genres. In 2018 and 2019 she was nominated for Sweden's 2019 Astrid Lindgren Award, the world's biggest children's and young adult literature award.
'In this interview Randa mentions the anthology After Australia.'(Production introduction)
At Home with Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2021
23448980
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and editor of the critically acclaimed anthology 'After Australia'. Mohammed's debut novel, 'The Tribe', won the 2015 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelists of the Year Award. His second novel, 'The Lebs', won the 2019 NSW Premier's Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award. 'The Other Half of You' is his third novel.' (Production introduction)
At Home with Omar Sakr
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23454123
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Omar Sakr is a poet and writer who brings the personal and political to life. In this interview, he discusses his writing craft, his foray into speculative fiction and the difference between what he publishes and what he writes for himself.
'Omar is the author of These Wild Houses, a collection of poetry shortlisted for the Judith Wright Calanthe Award and the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, as well as The Lost Arabs, which was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards, the John Bray Poetry Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. In 2020, Omar contributed to the anthology After Australia with the short story White Flu.
'Elsewhere, Omar's articles and essays are published in The Saturday Paper, The Guardian,The Sydney Morning Herald, Archer, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, Going Down Swinging, SBS Online, SBS Life, SBS Comedy, The Wheeler Centre, and Junkee.' (Production introduction)
Acknowledging the limits of Acknowledgments of Country, the Wiradjuri artist Jazz Money once wrote:
whitefellas try to acknowledge things
but they do it wrong
they say
before we begin I’d like to pay my respects
not understanding
that there isn’t a time before it begins
it has all already begun
(Introduction)
'Sydney 2050: Circular Quay has been overrun by mud-encrusted ibises, the city's skyscrapers are mostly underwater, ferries rot in the harbour, and the Sydney Opera House's iconic sails are tipped sideways.' (Introduction)
Michael Mohammed Ahmad : On 'After Australia'
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
19699248
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Michael Mohammed Ahmad is both a writer and editor. He received the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelist Award for his debut novel The Tribe, and the sequel, The Lebs, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.
'In 2020 he is the editor behind After Australia, a collection of short stories about Australia's potential futures, and it is this work that the interview focuses on. The anthology includes works from Ambelin Kwaymullina, Claire G. Coleman, Omar Sakr, Future D. Fidel, Karen Wyld, Khalid Warsame, Kaya Ortiz, Roanna Gonsalves, Sarah Ross, Zoya Patel, Michelle Law and Hannah Donnelly.
'Mohammed is also the founder and director of Sweatshop Literary Movement in Western Sydney.' (Introduction)
At Home with Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2021
23448980
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and editor of the critically acclaimed anthology 'After Australia'. Mohammed's debut novel, 'The Tribe', won the 2015 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelists of the Year Award. His second novel, 'The Lebs', won the 2019 NSW Premier's Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award. 'The Other Half of You' is his third novel.' (Production introduction)
