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We need new stories
Nesrine Malik in conversation with Tim Soutphommasane
Has political correctness gone mad? Is everyone really a snowflake now? And is it the case that no one can express themselves anymore? Join us for this exclusive event in partnership with the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
Event information
| Date and time | Thursday 30 April, 6.30pm – 7.30pm |
| Location | Charles Perkins Centre Auditorium (Google map) The University of Sydney (Camperdown campus) |
| Accessibility | Wheelchair access and hearing infrared system |
| Entry | Free and open to all with online registrations essential |
In the absence of measured leadership and the tumult of global unrest, democracies around the world find themselves mired in prolonged, increasingly toxic culture wars. As dangerous myths advance, corroding public discourse and warping national agendas, the notion of a truly civil society has never seemed more remote.
It’s time to dismantle the narratives that divide us. Now more than ever: we need new stories. Join two of our most incisive minds, The Guardian’s Nesrine Malik and former Race Discrimination Commissioner, Professor Tim Soutphommasane, for this bracing Sydney Ideas event, as they pick apart fictious “facts”, challenge contemporary prejudices and debunk the foundational myths that continue to inform the status quo today.
This event is co-presented with Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in partnership with Sydney Writers' Festival. This year’s Festival will be held from 27 April – 3 May.
The speakers
Nesrine Malik is a British Sudanese columnist and features writer for The Guardian. She was born in Sudan and grew up in Kenya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. She received her undergraduate education at the American University in Cairo and University of Khartoum, and her post graduate education at the University of London.
Alongside her journalism career she previously spent ten years in emerging markets private equity. She was named Society and Diversity Commentator of the Year at the 2017 Comment Awards and in 2019 was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain's Social Evils. We Need New Stories is her first book.
Tim Soutphommasane is Professor of Practice (Sociology and Political Theory). He is also Director, Culture Strategy at the University.
A political theorist and human rights advocate, from 2013 to 2018 Tim was Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner. His thinking on patriotism, multiculturalism and national identity has been influential in debates in Australia and Britain.