AustLit

'A noir fable for the demons we invite into our hearts.

'The Demon is a physical theatre work which reimagines a dark story in the history of White Australia. A Chinatown for modern Western Sydney written by Michael Mohammed Ahmad, it explores the bond of two detectives who grew up as brother-boys in Bankstown; Arab Australian Jihad (Johnny Nasser) and his Aboriginal Muslim partner Matthew/Muhammad (Kirk Page).

'Alliances and divisions of family, faith and culture are tested as they investigate a crime allegedly perpetrated by a Chinese Australian street fighter Wei (Yvonne Huang) and her gang; The Celestials. Wei draws the detectives on a road trip from Western Sydney out west to Burrangong, site of the Lamming Flat Riots in 1861. To solve this mystery, the brothers must confront the landscape and its hidden demons and ask themselves: does a curse inhabit a land or its people?

'The Demon is an action-packed play with a thriller twist, featuring filmic dance theatre and aerial stunts that push the boundaries of magic realism on stage. Co-created by writer Michael Mohammed Ahmad, director Rachael Swain and choreographer Gavin Webber.

'Co-commissioned by OzAsia Festival and the Sydney Opera House and enabled for the Opera House by New Work Now founding supporter Prof Ross Steele AM.'

(https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/events/whats-on/unwrapped/2022/the-demon.html)

''I only ever asked you for one thing,' my father said, a quiver in his voice. 'Just this one thing.' It was as though I had smashed the Ten Commandments.
'Oh father,' I cried in Arabic, grovelling at his ankles while my mother and siblings looked on. 'The one thing you ask of me - is everything.'

'Bani Adam has known all his life what was expected of him. To marry the right kind of girl. To make the House of Adam proud.

'But Bani wanted more than this - he wanted to make his own choices. Being the first in his Australian Muslim family to go to university, he could see a different way.

'Years later, Bani will write his story to his son, Kahlil. Telling him of the choices that were made on his behalf and those that he made for himself. Of the hurt he caused and the heartache he carries. Of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned.

'In this moving and timely novel, Michael Mohammed Ahmad balances the complexities of modern love with the demands of family, tradition and faith. The Other Half of You is the powerful, insightful and unforgettable new novel from the Miles Franklin shortlisted author of The Lebs.' (Publication summary)

'I didn’t invent the White Australia Policy. White people invented it. And they invented it to distinguish themselves from Aboriginals, Africans, Asians, Arabs and Pasifikas. And they didn’t invent it to distinguish themselves in the negative; only in the positive, with greater rights to the stolen land on which they gathered than the rest of us. And while White people knew that they were not literally the colour white—most of their kind were somewhere between pink and beige—they did not seem confused about the term, fully aware that it referred to them and taking great pride in their sense of superiority over anyone that was ‘not quite White’. White people took no offence in White’s metaphorical nature, no offence in White’s overgeneralisation, and they did not seek out any of their dictionaries to double-check White’s definition.' (Introduction)

'Climate catastrophe, police brutality, white genocide, totalitarian rule and the erasure of black history provide the backdrop for stories of love, courage and hope. In this unflinching new anthology, eleven of Australia’s most daring writers of colour provide a glimpse of Australia in the year 2050. Edited by Michael Mohammed Ahmad, awardwinning author of The Lebs. Featuring Ambelin Kwaymullina, Claire G. Coleman, Omar Sakr, Future D. Fidel, Karen Wyld, Sarah Ross, Zoya Patel, Michelle Law and Hannah Donnelly. Published in partnership with Diversity Arts Australia and Sweatshop Literacy Movement.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

 (Publication summary)

'Sand nigger. I was 15 years old the first time I heard this racial slur. An Aussie with long brown hair and pasty white skin, who was drunk, screamed at me from across the road while I was walking to the local manoush shop for breakfast. It was December 2001 and I was studying at Punchbowl Boys High School-a scrawny second-gen Leb growing up in the ethnoslums of Sydney. Three months earlier, two airplanes hijacked by Muslim terrorists had crashed into the World Trade Centre. Twelve months earlier, Australian news media had been dominated by reports of 'Lebanese-Muslim' gang rapists plaguing Sydney's streets. And three years earlier, I had seen the first reports in Australian newspapers and on TV news networks about local 'Middle Eastern' and 'Muslim' thugs involved in drugs, murders, theft and drive-by shootings. However, despite what the news headlines were saying about people like me at the time, I wasn't interested in terrorism, sexual assault and organised crime. I was interested in reading. I spent my evenings and weekends consuming the great works of Faulkner, Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Hemingway, Joyce, Flaubert, Shakespeare, Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Mary Shelley. My teachers assured me that I would find myself within the pages.'  (Publication abstract)

'Place, Race, Space: Bent Not Broken is a ten year showcase of award-winning stories by young people from the backyards of South Western Sydney.

'Featuring prose and poetry by Donna Wilson, Christine Wu, Anneliese Joy, Seini Fuko, Mohamad Al- Abdallah, Frances An, Rebecca Nguyen, Sarah Hoang, Peviula Taotua, Duc Luu, Tiana Munro, Angeliki Georgakopoulou, Indiana Dinh, Lydia Villavarayen, Christophine Demetrios, Dan Nguyen, Amir Harris, Daniel Kabbara, Yoosuf Mohamed, Maria Rulloda, Danielle Nguyen, Alex Driessen, Filip Stempien, Mehek Fatiha Rahman, Ushna Bashir, Peta Murphy, Brooke Mansell, Isabella Whitcher, Mary Tran, Anita Grassy, Sheza Khan, Talia Walker, Amanda Yeo, Luke Lancaster, Rayanne Elhgar, Moslimah Zoud, Dorothy Kamal, Daniel Bishara, Paul Boustani, Rebekah Bijkovska and Arthur Wang'  (Publication summary)

'The Big Black Thing: Chapter. 2 is the second issue in a new series of prose and poetry by emerging and established writers from Indigenous, migrant and refugee backgrounds.'  (Publication summary)

'When Abu and X return, all six of us sit in a circle in the centre of the rehearsal studio, surrounded by the graffiti quotes on the walls. I try to forget that the quote about Muhammad is up there too, but to me it sticks out and throbs like a cold sore. Jo stands and slips her hands into her pockets. She’s put her casual voice back on, the one that makes her sound like a Black boy from Redfern, and she says, ‘So, yeah, um, hope you enjoyed lunch. Here’s what we’ve got planned for the afternoon . . .’ She instructs each of us to take one of the cameras she’s lined up and go out onto the plaza pretending to be a character from a movie or book or a story we’ve made up. She’d like us to film our character’s interactions with the community. I want to know what’s the point of this but it seems that every time I ask a question I reveal my ignorance and simply get a scoff or a wince or a sarcastic remark in return. I blame Punchbowl Boys – how uncivilised that place made me. If only I’d gone to a school in Newtown or in North Sydney, then I’d understand art. Maybe Jo wants video footage that explains how mundane interactions escalate into violence, which always seems to happen on the streets of Bankstown.' (Introduction)

'Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s confronting new novel The Lebs (Hachette Australia) is out this month. As far as Bani Adam is concerned, Punchbowl Boys is the arse end of the earth. Though he’s a Leb and they control the school, he is a romantic in a sea of hypermasculinity and soon this conflict will reach an unavoidable tipping point. Bani must come to terms with his place in this hostile, hopeless world, while dreaming of so much more.'  (Introduction)

''Bani Adam thinks he's better than us!' they say over and over until finally I shout back, 'Shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, I have something to say!'

'They all go quiet and wait for me to explain myself, redeem myself, pull my shirt out, rejoin the pack. I hold their anticipation for three seconds, and then, while they're all ablaze, I say out loud, 'I do think I'm better.'

'Bani Adam is a student at Punchbowl Boys High School, which seems like the arse end of the earth, and the students don't seem to care. The Lebs control the school, and Bani feels at odds - a romantic in a sea of hyper-masculinity.

'Bani must come to terms with his place in a world of hostility and hopelessness - while dreaming of having so much more.'  (Publication summary)

'The Big Black Thing: Chapter. 1 is the first issue in a new series of prose and poetry by emerging and established writers from Indigenous, migrant and refugee backgrounds.

'Featuring Peter Polites, Winnie Dunn, Stephen Pham, Shirley Le, Jason Gray, Maryam Azam, Louisa Badayala, Jessicca Mensah, Nitin Vengurlekar, Monikka Eliah, Socorro Cifuentes, lina Kastoumis, Ricky Tran, Alex Aditia, Masen Guerreiro, Teddy William Owuor, Hisham Mallah, Eteroma Hunt, Mohamed Lababidi, Nancy Huynh, Kyaw Kyaw Phyo, Kelvin Yu, Ali Haydar, Jessica Tran, Kane Harrington, Kiarna Evans, Mark Streeter, Courtney Miller, Hamani Tanginoa, Adina Aslett-Robertson, Shanae Hajsinger, Taylah Hansen, Mary Al-Nashy, Omar El-Ali, Dani Mejbel, Samer Mejbel, Gilbert Tran, Breeze Makiri, Hanane Elnajjar, Matati Hunt, Maryian Nagib and Idarosareen Sooalo.' (Publication summary)

'After seeing its acclaimed debut season at the 2015 Sydney Festival, we were keen to bring Urban Theatre Projects’ The Tribe from the streets of Sydney’s west into our own backyard in Surry Hills. Not figuratively either: it actually is a show for the intimacy of the humble back garden, and that’s where we’ll present it – in an assortment of Surry Hills backyards.

Performed by the inimitable Hazem Shammas (Mother Courage and Her Children, Scorched), this is a story of belonging, told by Bani as a small boy finding his way in a young country by recounting tales of an old country – and at the heart of it all, his love for his grandmother. She’s the core presence in Bani’s life, carrying all the truths of "The Tribe" – a small Muslim sect who fled to Australia from Lebanon. Hazem’s Bani is like a visionary child channelling a Bedouin storyteller – all amongst the Hills Hoists, paling fences, frangipani and jasmine of the Sydney yard. Don’t miss this very special event' (production summary).