Events
Imagination, innovation and the art of the possible
What role does the creative, the imaginary play in technological and scientific development? Can imagination help us navigate disruption?
As we struggle to reconcile the new realities of our hyper-connected world, the futures invoked by Orwell and Huxley loom large. But literary imaginings go way beyond utopias and dystopias to foreshadow breakthrough inventions and their potential impacts on humanity. Mary Shelley animated Frankenstein’s monster with bioelectrical currents that foreshadowed the defibrillator, and Jules Verne imagined a world powered by hydrogen almost 150 years before we reached the threshold of making this most commonplace element into a vital fuel-source. More recently, Orson Scott Card forecast the future of humanity would be dependent on global communication systems, hand-held computer tablets and intellectual avatars to influence political debates.
How does innovation spring from an idea? Can creative thinking help us shape and negotiate this ever-evolving world?
In Griffith Review‘s latest ‘In conversation’, Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan... Read more
Lightning Talk: The New Disruptors
Digital disruption is viewed with suspicion. We are better connected than ever but feel on edge. What are the ethical, moral and social consequences of our enmeshed online world? With tech revolutions rocking the foundations of society, how can we allay these fears?
Is the enjoyment in your life slipping away under a morass of Facebook notifications and Twitter mentions? Worried your personal information was compromised by Cambridge Analytica to swing an election? Do you enjoy memes but hate when they’re co-opted to sell products? And what are influencers anyway?
Join Griffith Review and Griffith Library at the latest Lightning Talk, featuring The New Disruptors contributors Ian Townsend and Margaret Gibson, as well as Griffith University academics Assoc Prof Ingrid Burkett and Dr Dinesh Palipana.
When: 12–1 pm, Thursday 23 May 2019
Where: The Collaboratory – Logan Library, Griffith University, Logan Campus
Tickets: FREE – no registration necessary
Science in the City: The New Disruptors
As the digital revolution keeps unleashing radical change on industries, economies, politics and institution – and on our lives. What future will this disruption shape? What upheavals are to come? evolution is being driven by technological rather than biological forces: within a century, we may meet our first ‘non-biological offspring’. Is the brave new world of Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google and Uber one of decentralisation, anti-elitism and individual freedom – or surveillance, monopoly and control?
Join contributors Ellen Broad, Mark Pesce and Elise Bohan to discuss all this and more with Ashley Hay at Science in the City: The New Disruptors.
When: 5.30 pm, Tuesday 14 May 2019
Where: The Women’s Club, Level 4, 179 Elizabeth St, Sydney
Tickets: $22.50–30 (contact The Women’s Club directly)
Sydney Writers Festival
Griffith Review 64: The New Disruptors
The digital revolution continues to unleash change on industries, economies, politics and institutions – and remake personal lives. What shape will the future take in the wake of this disruption? Will the brave new worlds of Facebook, Amazon, Google and Uber create decentralised, anti-elite utopias where all individuals are free? Or will they produce dystopic monopolies, characterised by surveillance and control?
Scott Ludlam, Bronwyn Carlson, Mark Pesce and Frances Flanagan talk to editor Ashley Hay at Sydney Writers Festival.
When: 4.30 pm, Friday 3 May 2019
Where: Carriageworks, Track 12, Eveleigh NSW
Tickets: $15–$20 (online)
The economics of conservation – World Science Festival Brisbane
The economics of conservation – What price nature?
The past two decades have seen increasing emphasis on the economic benefits of conservation and biodiversity, attributing value to environmental goods as natural capital: discussions about ecology on the one hand and conservation on the other are increasingly couched in dollar terms.
This panel discussion – a World Science Festival Brisbane affiliate event – will examine how these frameworks impact on how we view the natural world. Hosted by Paul Barclay and featuring Hugh Possingham, Jane Gleeson-White and Charles Massy.
When: 6–8 pm,Thursday 21 March
Where: Ian Hanger Recital Hall, Queensland Conservatorium, 140 Grey Street, South Brisbane
Tickets: From $18 for concession holders and Griffith Review subscribers (book online)
Cover image: James Tylor, Turralyendi Yerta (Tindo Kakirra Yerta), 2017 [detail]
Writing the Country – Adelaide Writers’ Week
Contributors Jane Gleeson-White, Tom Griffiths and James Bradley will discuss their contributions to Writing the Country with Griffith Review editor Ashley Hay at the 2019 Writers’ Week during Adelaide Festival.
When: Wed 6 March, 3.45–4.45 pm
Where: West Stage, Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, King William Road, Adelaide
Tickets: Free (no RSVP necessary)
Writing the Country – Avid Reader
The natural environment is under threat. Seabirds consume plastic, glaciers in East Antarctica are melting, species’ habitats are disappearing (as are so many species themselves) and Australia’s greenhouse emissions continue to rise. As the potential for intervention appears to be tangled up in political and economic agendas, the need to renew our approach to our relationship with our world becomes more urgent.
Griffith Review 63: Writing the Country is a passionate and timely exploration of the connections between humans and the Earth. This edition maps the stories of our places; it charts the decline of their flora and fauna, and of our connection to the land, while also presenting stories of hope, adaptation and recovery. Drawing on a far-reaching set of perspectives to examine new ways of thinking, these stories analyse what’s at risk and what can be learnt.
Join editor Ashley Hay to launch Writing the Country and discuss the issues... Read more
Stories beyond ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
This free interactive event, presented by Griffith Review and Griffith Libraries, will celebrate the publication of Griffith Review 62: All Being Equal – The Novella Project VI. Our expert panel will answer your questions and explore the social, political and personal impacts of the marriage equality postal survey, bringing to life the big issues and the stories around them.
Our panelists include: Award winning author and Griffith Review editor Dr Ashley Hay (facilitator); acclaimed writers and Griffith Review contributors Benjamin Law and Erin Gough; and Griffith researchers and staff Dr Heather Faulkner and Dr Michael Carden.
When: 12–1 pm, Monday 10 December 2018
Where: G42 4.23, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus
Tickets: FREE (register here)
Long form and long distance – Asia Pacific Writers and Translators
Join Mirandi Riwoe, Lucy Neave, Sally Breen and editor Ashley Hay as they explore the art and craft of evoking place in long-form fiction and narrative non-fiction. How does research feed into settings? How do writers bring places near and far – in terms of time as well as geography – to life? And what are the freedoms, the potentials and the responsibilities involved in realising place as a character in long-form work, as opposed to shorter formats?
When: 10–11.15 am, Friday 7 December
Where: G.11 Gold Coast Griffith University Campus
Tickets: $15–18 (program passes also available)
George Town Literary Festival
Conversations: Imperial Amnesia – The Legacy of the Commonwealth
What are the unspoken horrors of British ‘benevolence’ in the countries of the Commonwealth? What are the scars and legacies that remain? This session at the George Town Literary Festival will see Ali Cobby Eckermann, Bernice Chauly and Salil Tripathi approach these themes as moderated by Commonwealth Now co-editor Jane Camens.
When: 11.15 am–12.15 pm, Sunday 25 November
Where: Earth (Level 1), Bangunan UAB, George Town, Malaysia
Tickets: FREE
