14th August 2025
HANA ASSAFIRI AT THE NATIONAL WRITERS' CONFERENCE
NWC: Tackling the Big Issues
Event details:
Date: 10am, Sunday 14 September 2025.
Location: The Wheeler Centre, Performance Space (Level 2, ground level)
176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.
Tune in for an in-depth conversation between writers who aren’t afraid to take on the crucial topics of politics, gender, mental health and more. In this discussion, they’ll emphasise the importance of lived experience, deep research and courage, as well as the generative and unifying opportunities that writing presents.
Tickets to this special panel event are $25, book via the website here.
Full day tickets and weekend pass tickets to the Emerging Writers' Festival are also available for purchase via the festival website.
Featuring:
- Hana Assafiri’s life is dedicated to disrupting barriers that prevent women from thriving. She pioneered a unique, dining culture in Melbourne, rooted in generosity, innovation and shaping a hospitality model that fosters community and connection. A fearless advocate for social justice and women’s rights, Hana initiated groundbreaking conversations through Speed Date a Muslim, creating spaces for dialogue on gender, racism, and progressive change. She has been inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, and an Order of Australia Medal. Hana’s work is a balance of bold advocacy and deep compassion. Her memoir Hana: The Audacity to Be Free captures her commitment to women and driving change.
- Jehad Al-Farra was born and raised in Gaza, where stories are not just told — they are acts of resistance. The recent war destroyed his home and dreams, but not his pen. For Jehad, writing is a moral duty to protect truth and memory. Through storytelling, humor, and his daily life under occupation, he teaches Arabic to non-native speakers, building human bridges from the rubble to the world. He believes that words can save memory, restore dignity, and give voice to the silenced. Jehad joins EWF to share his stories as living cultural heritage — of loss, strength, and hope.
- Sanya Rushdi is the middle of three daughters of Ali Ahmed Rushdi and Sultana Rushdi. She completed most of her primary schooling in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and part of her primary schooling in Australia. She completed her secondary and tertiary education mostly in Melbourne, Australia, where she has been living since 1989. Part of her higher education was in Sydney, Australia, where she lived for almost three years. She is interested in developmental psychology and the work of the later Ludwig Wittgenstein. Sanya likes to sketch, do illustrative artwork, listen to music, and engage in philosophical thinking. ‘Hospital’ is her first novel, shortlisted for the Stella prize.
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