The first plenary to be announced for The 12th Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS2022) and The 12th Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS2022) is a keynote presentation titled “The Agony of Limbo and the Imprisonment of the Innocent: Tales from the Frontline, The Ongoing Saga of Australia’s 'Pacific Solution'”, by Arnold Zable, acclaimed Australian writer, novelist, storyteller, and human rights activist.
More details regarding the content of this keynote presentation will be announced soon. Please follow the IAFOR social media pages for updates (Facebook / Instagram).
The ACAS/ACCS2022 Organising Committee is currently calling for papers to be presented at the event. Submit your abstracts by March 25, 2022 to participate.
To participate in ACAS/ACCS2022 as an audience member, please register for the conference.
The presentation will also be available for IAFOR Members to view online. To find out more, please visit the IAFOR Membership page.
Speaker Biography
Arnold Zable
Writer, Australia
Arnold Zable is an acclaimed Australian writer, novelist, storyteller, and human rights activist. His books include Jewels and Ashes, Café Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns, The Fig Tree, Violin Lessons, The Fighter, and most recently, The Watermill. He has published numerous stories, features, essays, columns, in a range of literary journals and papers, and works for theatre. He has a doctorate from the School of Creative Arts, Melbourne University, titled ‘The Immigrant Experience’, and for the past two decades he has written widely on the journeys, and the detention of refugees, and people seeking asylum in Australia. Zable has lectured widely on the art of story, literature, and human rights issues and was appointed a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne from 2012 to 2014. He has conducted numerous workshops for refugees, bushfire survivors, the deaf, the homeless, problem gamblers, and other groups focusing on story as a means of self-understanding. His awards include the 2013 Voltaire, and the 2017 Australia Council Fellowship for Literature, and The 2021 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. He is the immediate past president and current patron of PEN International, Melbourne.