Join Kurdish-Iranian journalist, activist and award-winning writer Behrouz Boochani live in-conversation with Arnold Zable for his last public appearance in Australia.

For over six years, Kurdish-Iranian journalist and writer Behrouz Boochani bore personal witness to the treatment of refugees in Australia’s offshore immigration detention centre on Manus Island.

Painstakingly typed out in text messages while he was incarcerated, Boochani’s experiences were recorded in his acclaimed book, No Friend but the Mountains (translated by Omid Tofighian), for which he was awarded the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature, and many other awards.

Now, Boochani arrives in Australia for the first time, appearing live in conversation at The Capitol for his only Melbourne event to mark the release of his moving, creative and challenging new essay collection, Freedom, Only Freedom (translated and edited by Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi, and published by Bloomsbury).

Following an introduction by his long-time translators and collaborators, Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi, Boochani will reflect on his own experiences and those of other refugees, and offer a unique insight into urgent issues of border violence, human rights and creative resistance.

Presented in partnership with Readings. Supported by PEN Melbourne.