If history is a story, we can change the narrative
What if we could change our future by rewriting our pasts?
For author Amitav Ghosh and researcher Luke Kemp, navigating the present means understanding the past. In two books, The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis and Wild Fictions, Amitav considers human history through our relationship with the environment, while Luke retells the collapse of empires to find solutions for our current existential crises in Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.
Revisit the past to find solutions for the present with Amitav and Luke in conversation with host Clare Wright.
Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh was born in India and attended Delhi University and Oxford. He is the author of four books of non-fiction, two collections of essays and nine novels. His books have won many prizes and he holds eight honorary doctorates. In 2018 he became the first English-language writer to receive India’s highest literary honor, the Jnanpith Award. His work has also been recognised by the Erasmus Prize and the Pak Kyongni Prize. His latest publication is Ghost-Eye: A Novel.
Luke Kemp
Luke Kemp researches the end of the world. He is a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge. He has advised and led foresight studies for multiple international organisations, including the WHO and Convention on Biological Diversity. Luke’s work has been covered by the BBC, The New York Times and The New Yorker. He is the author of the bestselling book Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.
Clare Wright
Professor Clare Wright is an award-winning historian, author, broadcaster, podcaster and public commentator. Her latest book is the highly acclaimed Ṉäku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions, a history of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions and the third instalment of her Democracy Trilogy. The first book in the trilogy, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, won the 2014 Stella Prize. Ṉäku Dhäruk won The Australian Political Book of the Year Award, among other literary prizes, and was shortlisted for a Walkley Award. In 2020, Clare was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for “services to literature and to historical research”. She is Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement at La Trobe University. She is Chair of the National Museum of Australia Council and past board director of the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.
Event and Ticket Details
BMEC Members
Single session: $8
Day Pass: $50 (all events in the selected day)
Festival Pass: $130 (all events in the Festival programme)
Non-Members
Single session: $10
Day Pass: $60 (all events in the selected day)
Festival Pass: $160
*A $3 booking fee applies, BMEC Members do not pay this fee.
Please book ahead as spaces are limited.
Livestreamed event at Bathurst Library with bluetooth headphones provided.
