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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In early 2011, Safdar Ahmed visited Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre for the first time. He brought pencils and sketchbooks into the centre and started drawing with the people detained there. Their stories are told in this book.
'Interweaving journalism, history and autobiography, Still Alive is an intensely personal indictment of Australia’s refugee detention policies and procedures. It is also a searching reflection on the redemptive power of art. And death metal.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Review] Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s Immigration Detention System
2022
review
— Appears in: Kalliope X , Spring no. 3 2022;
— Review of Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel'‘What do you call what I am doing now? What is the name for it in English?’ asks one of the refugees sitting beside Mazhar, and across Safdar Ahmed, as he fiddles with tangled earphones.' (Introduction)
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Holding The Line : Against the Pornography of ‘Deterrence
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2022;
— Review of Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel'In the week before the May 2022 general election, decks of playing cards depicting a boat in distress were distributed to children at the Cisarua refugee learning centre in West Java. The cards show the small boat lurching dangerously, as waves pile high above it. Tiny brown figures hang over the sides at risk of falling or jumping overboard. One clings to a shaky mast. A woman lies prone on the deck. The cards are stamped with the Australian coat of arms and a link to the government’s Zero Chance campaign. The visuals echo those of a previous scare campaign directed at asylum seekers, titled No Way: You will not make Australia home. No Way included a short film that culminated with a scene of a boat engulfed by the ocean, accompanied by the soundtrack of a desperate heartbeat fading into silence.' (Introduction)
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Refugee Advocate Safdar Ahmed Wins Book of the Year with Graphic Novel Still Alive at NSW Premier's Literary Awards
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , May 2022; -
Small-press Gems
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 18 December - 7 January 2021;
— Review of Homework 2021 selected work essay ; Second City : Essays from Western Sydney 2021 anthology essay ; Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel ; The Open 2021 selected work poetry ; Theory of Colours 2021 selected work poetry art work ; Dropbear 2021 selected work poetry essay
-
Small-press Gems
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 18 December - 7 January 2021;
— Review of Homework 2021 selected work essay ; Second City : Essays from Western Sydney 2021 anthology essay ; Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel ; The Open 2021 selected work poetry ; Theory of Colours 2021 selected work poetry art work ; Dropbear 2021 selected work poetry essay -
Holding The Line : Against the Pornography of ‘Deterrence
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2022;
— Review of Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel'In the week before the May 2022 general election, decks of playing cards depicting a boat in distress were distributed to children at the Cisarua refugee learning centre in West Java. The cards show the small boat lurching dangerously, as waves pile high above it. Tiny brown figures hang over the sides at risk of falling or jumping overboard. One clings to a shaky mast. A woman lies prone on the deck. The cards are stamped with the Australian coat of arms and a link to the government’s Zero Chance campaign. The visuals echo those of a previous scare campaign directed at asylum seekers, titled No Way: You will not make Australia home. No Way included a short film that culminated with a scene of a boat engulfed by the ocean, accompanied by the soundtrack of a desperate heartbeat fading into silence.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s Immigration Detention System
2022
review
— Appears in: Kalliope X , Spring no. 3 2022;
— Review of Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel'‘What do you call what I am doing now? What is the name for it in English?’ asks one of the refugees sitting beside Mazhar, and across Safdar Ahmed, as he fiddles with tangled earphones.' (Introduction)
-
Refugee Advocate Safdar Ahmed Wins Book of the Year with Graphic Novel Still Alive at NSW Premier's Literary Awards
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , May 2022;
Awards
- 2022 joint winner Comic Arts Awards of Australia — Gold Award
- 2022 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Young Adults' Fiction
- 2022 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Book of the Year
- 2022 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Multicultural NSW Award
- 2022 winner CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Eve Pownall Award for Information Books