'Outspoken' series in Maleny

Outspoken conversations continue

Outspoken is Maleny’s extended literary festival that takes the form of on-stage interviews with writers. On Tuesday, June 25 the second Outspoken event for 2019 will be held at the Maleny Community Centre featuring the author of ‘Stasiland’ and ‘All that I am’, Anna Funder, and will introduce local Maleny author Mary Garden.

Before turning to writing full time in the late 1990s, Anna worked as an international lawyer for the Australian Government focusing on human rights, constitutional law and treaty negotiation.

‘Stasiland’ describes the period Anna spent in the former East Germany after the wall came down. It tells the stories of people who heroically resisted the communist dictatorship of East Germany and of people who worked for its secret police, the Stasi.

Shortlisted for many awards in Australia and Britain, in 2004 ‘Stasiland’ won the world’s most significant prize for non-fiction, the Samuel Johnson Prize.

‘All that I am’ is set in pre-war Britain. When Hitler comes to power in 1933, a tight-knit group of friends and lovers become hunted outlaws overnight. United in their resistance to the madness and tyranny of Nazism, they find refuge in London.

Here they take breath-taking risks to continue their work in secret but England is not the safe haven they think it is. A single, chilling act of betrayal will tear them apart. The book is based on real people and events.

Mary has recently released her latest novel ‘Sundowner of the skies’, a memoir/biography of her father, a famous aviator who achieved notoriety when he became the youngest and most inexperienced pilot to fly solo from England to Australia.

Fellow pilots ranked his 1930 flight with the achievements of Charles Kingsford Smith and Amy Johnson. Writing the book was a journey of discovery for Mary. Until she started her research she knew little of her father’s life and his extraordinary history.

The Outspoken event is at 5.45pm for 6.30pm. Tickets are $22 and students $15 and can be purchased online from www.outspokenmaleny.com on the upcoming events page.