

Family Sagas: Japan, Hong Kong and Australia
Sun
26
Sun 26 Oct 2:00 PM
Terrace Room | National Portrait Gallery
Wheelchair
General Admission
60 Mins
October
These authors reach out through family connections and history to bring us great intergenerational novels about women surviving war, loss and disconnection. Join Alli Parker (Until the Red Leaves Fall) and Emma Pei Yin (When Sleeping Women Wake) here in conversation with Kate Evans from ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf, to discuss their personal connections to the books they have written, and to Hong Kong and Japanese WW2 history. They will reflect on the stories we want to tell... and the pressure to eventually let the truth out.
Alli Parker is a Japanese-Australian author and screenwriter, with a background in script editing and script co-ordinating. Her debut novel, the bestselling At the Foot of the Cherry Tree, was based on the true story of Australia's first Japanese war bride, who was Alli's grandmother. It was shortlisted for the 2023 Dymocks Book of the Year and the 2024 ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writers, and longlisted for the 2024 Indie Book Awards. Her credits as a script editor and co-ordinator include Irreverent, Jack Irish series 1, 2 & 3, Shantaram, Secret Bridesmaids' Business, Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries, Ride Like a Girl, Please Like Me and Utopia. Her latest novel is Until the Red Leaves Fall.
Emma Pei Yin is an Australian Chinese writer and editor. She is the author of When Sleeping Women Wake, a historical novel set during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, exploring resilience, complicity and the cost of survival. She is also the founder of yinfluence editorial, an agency that works with PoC, queer and neurodivergent writers, connecting them with editors and mentors who understand the stakes of telling stories from the margins. She has been featured in The Canberra Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Mekong Review and The Hong Kong Review.
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Concession Tickets apply for children under the age of 16, full-time students, Commonwealth Health Care Card holders, Commonwealth Seniors Card Holders and Commonwealth Pensioner Concession Card holders. Please have your eligible card with you at the venue.
Alli Parker is a Japanese-Australian author and screenwriter, with a background in script editing and script co-ordinating. Her debut novel, the bestselling At the Foot of the Cherry Tree, was based on the true story of Australia's first Japanese war bride, who was Alli's grandmother. It was shortlisted for the 2023 Dymocks Book of the Year and the 2024 ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writers, and longlisted for the 2024 Indie Book Awards. Her credits as a script editor and co-ordinator include Irreverent, Jack Irish series 1, 2 & 3, Shantaram, Secret Bridesmaids' Business, Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries, Ride Like a Girl, Please Like Me and Utopia. Her latest novel is Until the Red Leaves Fall.
Emma Pei Yin is an Australian Chinese writer and editor. She is the author of When Sleeping Women Wake, a historical novel set during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, exploring resilience, complicity and the cost of survival. She is also the founder of yinfluence editorial, an agency that works with PoC, queer and neurodivergent writers, connecting them with editors and mentors who understand the stakes of telling stories from the margins. She has been featured in The Canberra Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Mekong Review and The Hong Kong Review.
_______________________________________________________________
Concession Tickets apply for children under the age of 16, full-time students, Commonwealth Health Care Card holders, Commonwealth Seniors Card Holders and Commonwealth Pensioner Concession Card holders. Please have your eligible card with you at the venue.