Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Colin Roderick Memorial Lecture

Colin Roderick Memorial Lecture

In 2023 the Colin Roderick Memorial Lecture was presented in Townsville and Cairns by award-winning author, Jock Serong.

The lecture 'Historical Crime is Our One True Genre' brought together ideas about colonialism, environmental degradation and the need for truth-telling about both. You can listen to the recording here.

Jock Serong is a novelist, screenwriter and the founding editor of Great Ocean Quarterly. His feature writing appears in the surfing media and in publications such as The Monthly, Roaring Journals and The Guardian, while his six novels have been awarded here and overseas. In 2018, his novel about asylum seekers, On the Java Ridge, won the Colin Roderick Literary Award and H.T. Priestley medal.

Jock has a PhD in Creative Writing from La Trobe University and is a board member of Melbourne's Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.

The Foundation of Australian Literary Studies hosts an annual public lecture in memory of the late Professor Colin Roderick, CBE.  The event series provides a platform for celebrated Australian authors to share their stories that have influenced their writing.

The lecture is typically held in Winter each year and members of the public are encouraged to attend.

The series has hosted the likes of Henry Reynolds, Tony Birch, Alexis Wright and Drusilla Modjeska. See the full list of previous visitors.

The event series is proudly supported by:

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