“Paki, Writer, Cripple: Who Am I Now?”

Hanif Kureishi was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1984 film My Beautiful Laundrette, while his screenplays for The Mother (2003) and Venus (2006) were both directed by Roger Michell. The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, and his first collection of short stories, Love in a Blue Time, appeared in 1997. He has also written non-fiction, including his memoir My Ear at His Heart: Reading My Father (2004). His works have been translated into 36 languages. 

Dr Michelle Johnston is a consultant Emergency Physician who works at an inner-city hospital. Mostly her days consist of trauma and mess. Also, she writes. 

She studied medicine at UWA, and gained her Fellowship with the Australian College for Emergency Medicine in 1998. 

She believes there is a beating heart of humanity, art, and beauty within the sometimes brutal reality of the Emergency Department, and she has dedicated her career to finding that sweet spot between creativity and critical care medicine. 

Books are her other oxygen, and writing her sustenance. 

Julia Baird is a Sydney-based author and journalist. She writes columns for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the ABC. She is the former co-host of The Drum on ABC TV and senior editor of Newsweek. Julia’s latest book, Bright Shining, is shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Award for Non-Fiction Book of the Year.