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Event Details

Anjum Hasan: History's Angel

29 February 2024
6.30pm – 7.30pm AEDT
Io Myers Studio, Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab, UNSW Kensington
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Anjum Hasan

Anjum Hasan | Roanna Gonsalves

Against the frenetic energy and colour of Delhi, a Muslim school teacher is caught between his love of history and contemporary India. Anjum Hasan’s work sheds light on the complexities of life, love, writing history, and how national and patriotic myths can be maliciously subverted. 

Author Anjum Hasan’s latest book, History’s Angel, is a darkly funny portrait of one of Australia’s most important neighbours. Mild mannered teacher Alif feels the burden of his own time pressing down, but his wife is focused on a bigger house, his son wants to quit school and strike it rich, and his colleagues begin to question a Muslim teaching Indian history. 

Hasan and fellow Indian fiction luminary, and UNSW academic, Roanna Gonsalves talk about how we understand ourselves, how we reflect on our histories, and drawing inspiration from others in a time of suspicion and indifference.  

This event is presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and supported by Adelaide Writers’ Week
 



LIVE EVENT & VENUE INFORMATION

The Io Myers Studio is located inside the Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab at UNSW Sydney's Kensington Campus. Please note this is a live event only, and will at UNSW Sydney's Kensington Campus. Please note this is a live event only, and will not be available via livestream.  



TICKETS 

 


 



ACCESS

Wheelchair Access
The closest accessible drop-off point to the Io Myers Studio is via Gate 2, High Street (highlighted pink on this map) and turn right at the roundabout. The entrance is immediately on your left under the concrete steps, opposite the University Terraces Car Park. More information on getting there can be found via our interactive accessibility map available here.

Assisted Listening
The Io Myers Studio, Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab has an infrared hearing loop. Patrons wishing to utilise this need to identify themselves to the front of house team, and a headset will be provided.

Auslan & Captioning 
Auslan interpreting services and/or live captioning can be provided for selected talks upon request. 

Contact
To book and discuss access services, please call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485 or email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au
 



PUBLIC TRANSPORT & PARKING

The Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab is easily accessible via public transport and the closest light rail stop is UNSW Anzac Parade (L3 line). For more information please call the Transport Infoline on 131 500 or visit transportnsw.info.

Free parking is available from 5.30pm in the Western Campus Car Park. For access to free parking, event patrons must park in the UNSW Permit Holder bays. The Western Campus Car Park is located here, on Anzac Parade next to NIDA. This car park can be accessed via Western Campus Drive through Day Avenue. 

Paid casual and visitor parking is offered via the CellOPark App and ‘pay by plate meters’ in all other UNSW car parks. For more information head here.
 


 



CONTACT 

For all the other enquiries, please email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au or call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485.

The Centre for Ideas is happy to receive phone calls via the National Relay Service. TTY users, phone 133 677, then ask for 02 9065 0485. Speak and Listen users, phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 02 9065 0485. For more information on all other relay calls visit here.

Speakers
Anjum Hasan

Anjum Hasan

Anjum Hasan is the author of four novels and two short story collections, which have been shortlisted for the Indian Academy of Letters Prize, the Sahiya Akademi Award, the Hindu Best Fiction Award and the Crossword Fiction Award, as well as being longlisted for the Man Asia Literary Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in New York Review of Books, Granta, Paris Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, among many others.

Roanna Gonsalves

Roanna Gonsalves

Roanna Gonsalves is an award-winning writer and educator with an interdisciplinary practice. She is the author of the critically acclaimed collection of short fiction, The Permanent Resident. Her series of radio documentaries about contemporary India, On the tip of a billion tongues, and her social-satirical radio essay Doosra: The life and times of an Indian student in Australia were commissioned and broadcast by ABC RN. She works as a Lecturer in Creative Writing at UNSW Sydney.

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