
Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Roderick Memorial Lecture
Roderick Memorial Lecture
- Courses
- Future Students
- Current Students
- Research and Teaching
- Partners and Community
- About JCU
- Celebrating 50 Years
- ALTAR
- Anton Breinl Research Centre
- Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre
- Living on Campus
- Advanced Prawn Breeding Research Hub
- Advanced Analytical Centre
- Applying to JCU
- Alumni
- AMHHEC
- AusAsian Mental Health Research Group
- ARCSTA
- Area 61
- Australian/NZ Students
- Australian Lions Stinger Research
- Boating and Diving
- ATSIP
- Australian Tropical Herbarium
- Careers at JCU
- Association of Australian University Secretaries
- Careers and Employability
- Australian Quantum & Classical Transport Physics Group
- CITBA
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology
- Chancellery
- CMT
- CASE
- College of Business, Law and Governance
- College of Healthcare Sciences
- WHOCC for N&M Education and Research
- College of Medicine and Dentistry
- College of Science and Engineering
- CPHMVS
- COVID-19 Advice
- Centre for Disaster Solutions
- CSTFA
- Cyclone Testing Station
- The Centre for Disaster Studies
- Daintree Rainforest Observatory
- Diploma of Higher Education
- Discover Nature at JCU
- Division of Research and Innovation
- Division of Services and Resources
- Division of Student Life
- Division of Tropical Environments and Societies
- Division of Tropical Health and Medicine
- Economic Geology Research Centre
- eResearch
- ERC
- Estate
- JCU Events
- Financial and Business Services Office
- Fletcherview
-
Foundation for Australian Literary Studies
- About FALS
-
News & Events
- MEDIA RELEASE: First FALS writing residency announces attendees
- EVENT: 2022 Writers Residency
- MEDIA RELEASE: 'Splendid' novel wins 2021 Colin Roderick Literary Award
- MEDIA RELEASE: Women and fiction dominate the 2021 Colin Roderick Literary Award Shortlist
- MEDIA RELEASE: Children’s picture book among the 2021 Colin Roderick Award Longlist announced
- Margaret & Colin Roderick Literary Award
- Publications
- Roderick Memorial Lecture
- FALS Book Club
- Support
- Contact Us
- PF Rowland Memorial Fund
- Gender Equity Action and Research
- GetReady4Uni
- Give to JCU
- Governance
- Information for JCU Cairns Graduates
- Graduate Research School
- Graduation
- JCU Ideas Lab
- Indigenous Education and Research Centre
- Indigenous Legal Needs Project
- IsoTropics Geochemistry Lab
- IT Services
- International Schools
- International Students
- JCU Connect
- JCU Contact Information
- JCU Eduquarium
- JCU Global Experience
- JCU Motorsports
- JCU Prizes
- JCU Sport
- JCU Turtle Health Research
- Language and Culture Research Centre
- LTSE
- LearnJCU
- Library
- Mabo Decision: 30 years on
- MARF
- Marine Geophysics Laboratory
- New students
- Off-Campus Students
- Office of the Provost
- Office of the Vice Chancellor and President
- Virtual Open Day
- Orpheus
- Outstanding Alumni Awards
- Parents and Partners
- Pathways to university
- Planning and Performance
- Planning for your future
- Placements
- Policy
- PAHL
- Publications
- Professional Experience Placement
- Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Rapid Assessment Unit
- RDIM
- Researcher Development Portal
- Safety and Wellbeing
- Scholarships
- Contextual Science for Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
- Staff
- State of the Tropics
- Strategic Procurement
- Student Equity and Wellbeing
- Student profiles
- SWIRLnet
- TARL
- TESS
- TREAD
- TropEco
- TQ Maths Hub
- TUDLab
- Unicare Centre and Unicampus Kids
- UAV
- VAVS Home
- Work Health and Safety
- WHOCC for Vector-borne & NTDs
- Media
- Copyright and Terms of Use
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine
On 14th October the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies proudly presented the 2021 Colin Roderick Memorial Lecture. The Lecture featured a conversation with author Tony Birch and JCU academic Roger Osborne.
‘What did you do in the boat’: the universality and cultural specificity of writing and story’
Tony will initially focus on the influences of his development as a reader and the impact of literature from other places. ‘I want to talk about my reading history as a means of developing my interests in writing and storytelling. I also want to discuss the vital need to ensure that stories about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people need to be owned and told by specific nations and local mob. I want to provoke a discussion, not of censorship or 'culture wars', but of ethics and the potential for cooperation and mutual respect.’
Tony Birch is the author of three novels: the bestselling The White Girl; Ghost River , which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. He is also the author of Shadowboxing and three short story collections, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award. Tony is a frequent contributor to ABC local and national radio, a regular guest at writers’ festivals, and a climate justice campaigner. Tony has recently released a new poetry collection, Whisper Songs, with a new book of short stories, Dark As Last Night, due out in August 2021(both with UQP).
Roger Osborne is a Senior Lecturer in English and Writing at JCU. His research on the trans-national nature of Australian print culture has been published widely, and his co-authored book, Australian Books and Authors in the American Marketplace 1840s-1940s, the first of two projected volumes, was published by Sydney University Press in 2018. His textual and cultural history of Joseph Furphy's Such is Life will be published by Sydney University Press in 2021.
In conversation with Tony Birch
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 Bri Lee, Anna Goldsworthy, Drusilla Modjeska and Graeme Blundell. See the full list of previous visitors.
The event series is proudly supported by: