Seumas Spark – författare

Ernst Kitzinger was one of the great art historians of the twentieth century, and a refugee incarcerated in Hay, New South Wales during WWII. As a German Jew he had sought refuge in Britain in 1935, but in 1940 was one of 2,500 men arrested as ‘enemy aliens’ and deported to Australia aboard the HMT Dunera. Kitzinger rallied his fellow internees to communicate their peculiar circumstances. In powerful and often deeply moving prose and poetry, they mused on their lot and the misfortunes of refugees. Never before published, their words remain strikingly relevant today.

In September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany, and the life of Uwe Radok, a young German-born engineer working in Scotland, changed forever. Classified as an ‘enemy alien’, Uwe was deported to Canada on the Arandora Star. When the ship was torpedoed, drowning more than 800, Uwe and his brothers survived – only to be marched onto the infamous Dunera, bound for Australia. From 1940 to 1943 Uwe kept a series of diaries. Their pages offer a remarkable account of the effects of displacement. The harrowing voyage and the tedium of indefinite detainment are rendered with clarity. Over time, this gives way to an exploration of the contours of love, as Uwe formed a sustaining connection with another male internee. Edited by Uwe’s daughter Jacquie Houlden and historian Seumas Spark, the diaries offer a fascinating insight into life in wartime internment. In depicting the barriers to homosexual and bisexual love in the 1940s, they reveal a new element to the Dunera story that has gone unexplored. Vivid and poignant, Shadowline is a powerful portrait of a man torn between his feelings and society’s expectations. Editor royalties from this book will be donated to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, to help protect and support those seeking asylum in Australia today.

A timely essay collection on injustice in Australia Australians love to talk about a ‘fair go’. Yet inequality has been part of this sunburnt country since colonisation. From Australia’s treatment of its First Nations peoples to its refugees, from the prejudice suffered by the LGBTIQA+ community to the lack of support for returned soldiers, our country has not always treated its citizens with compassion and care. We have undervalued the land, causing damage to soil and waterways. What can this unenviable history teach us? With a dazzling line-up of contributors including acclaimed thinkers Sheila Fitzpatrick, Joy Damousi, Jennifer Nadel, Uncle Russell Mullett, Leigh Boucher, Katie Wright and Justin Zobel, this collection asks: how can we make a fairer and more inclusive Australia?