Worlds Within Worlds

Nowadays there is growing awareness about the importance of more inclusive and ‘diverse’ voices and perspectives across all modes of storytelling. This is a welcome change, but at times it seems forces of ‘elite capture’ are also at play, oversimplifying expectations about how such stories ought to be told and consumed, celebrating ‘difference’ in a facile, fetishised way. How does inclusive and ‘diverse’ storytelling enhance literary richness and nuance? How does it recalibrate power and transform our understanding of the world?

In this discussion, novelist Suneeta Peres da Costa speaks with Addi Road Writers’ Festival artistic co-director Sheila Ngoc Pham about how we can progress Australian writing to be more truly culturally representative.