Cirrus@Austlit

Arnold Zable, the child of Polish-Jewish refugee parents, grew up in Carlton, Victoria. He lectured in social sciences and environmental studies at the University of Melbourne during the 1970s, and travelled and worked in the United States, India, Papua-New Guinea, Europe and South-East Asia. He also acted as a visiting lecturer in creative writing at a number of Melbourne Universities.

Zable has been involved in various aspects of migrant education, including conducting writing workshops for migrant children and adults. His autobiographical novel, Jewels and Ashes, received considerable literary attention and a number of awards. Zable's work has been heard in English and Yiddish on Radio 3EA and Radio 3ZZ, and he has read at the Kadimah Cultural Institute and on Jewish Writers Day in 1990 at B'nai B'rith House, Melbourne. He has been a member of the Victorian Storytellers Guild, a member of the Victorian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW), and president of International PEN Melbourne.

Together with his writings for Victoria's Immigration Museum and membership of the Immigration Museum Advisory Committee, his novels, columns, articles, reviews, and essays clearly demonstrate his devotion to human rights advocacy. Bridging Two Worlds: Jews, Italians and Carlton (1993), the publication based on the Museum of Victoria's exhibition text, was co-written by Zable and he also was involved in the production of The Final Solution: An Attempt at Genocide (1981?). Zable continued his advocacy activism when he wrote the cultural representation section of Professional Writing and Editing Industry Overview (2000) for the Victorian TAFE. Amongst his works for theatre is a play he co-wrote about the refugee experience, Kan Yama Kan (Once Upon a Time), which was first produced and performed by the Fitzroy Learning Network's refugee performers in 2002 at Trades Hall in Melbourne. In October 2004, Kavisha Mazzella, after working with Zable on The Fig Tree: A Musical Companion to Arnold Zable's Book (2003), collaborated with him again in the two-man show Anytime the Wind Can Change, to dramatise inspiring tales of Australia's indigenous people, immigrants and refugees. His involvement with film includes directing Glenn's Story (1979), script writing for the film that accompanied the planning report he edited called The Industrial Yarra (1976), and co-writing a study guide for the film Squizzy Taylor. As a photographer, he has supplied his own illustrations to his and other authors' children's picture books.