Inner city Sydney bookshop, Glebe Books was packed at the launch of ‘A Country Too Far’ (Penguin) – a collection of writings on asylum seekers by some of Australia’s most renowned authors – edited by Tom Keneally and Rosie Scott.
I sat between Professor Elizabeth Webby, who is at the heart of Australian literature, and Sharon Rundle editor of the anthology ‘Alien Shores’ published by Brass Monkey. I had the privilege of contributing a story to ‘Alien Shores’ which also welcomes discussion and debate.
Rosie Scott and Tom Keneally were moving as they spoke about A COUNTRY TOO FAR:-
Elliot Pearlman writes: -’It took me almost six years to research and write… The Street Sweeper’, a novel that deals with … racism.’
‘Tom Keneally writes: One hundred and seventy thousand displaced persons came to Australia between 1947 and 1952, bearing their United Nations Displaced Persons/Refuge identity cards.’
Geraldine Brooks writes: ‘I am pretty sure that for much of his life my father was an illegal immigrant.’
Bella Vendramini.writes: ‘I was seventeen years old when I got locked up in a Spanish jail.’
It’ll make you think, cry, hope, feel in this powerful and moving anthology which opens debate about escape 
from terror to find a safe place.
The post Thomas Keneally, Rosie Scott, Debra Adelaide, Elliot Pearlman ~ launches ‘A Country Too Far’ appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.
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