In this episode, we return to Roland Barthes’ famous 1967 essay, The Death of the Author. This influential text is often taught as an anti-authoritarian gesture, shifting the power of meaning from the author to the reader. But what happens when we consider Barthes’ ideas alongside the voices of anticolonial writers who, at the same historical moment, were mobilising literature to galvanise communities against oppression?

We explore what these debates reveal about contemporary writing’s tendency to blur authorial fact with fiction, and why questions of agency still matter today. The conversation is sparked by Michael Griffiths’ new book, The Death of the Author and Anticolonial Thought, and was recorded live at UTS’ Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges.

Michael Griffiths – Author of The Death of the Author and Anticolonial Thought, Michael is a scholar whose work explores intersections between literary theory and postcolonial studies.

Ben Etherington – Academic and writer with expertise in world literature and cultural theory.

Elizabeth McMahon – Scholar and author focusing on literature, identity, and critical theory.

Graham Akhurst – Academic and author whose work engages with Indigenous storytelling and creative practice.

Credits

This live event was recorded on Gadigal land, live, at UTS’ Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges on November 27.

Fully Lit is an Impact Studios podcast, made in collaboration with the Sydney Review of Books.

Its producer is Regina Botros.

Executive producers are Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded at the UTS Writers’ Festival on Friday, 7 November 2025, this episode of Fully Lit Live brings you Rebel Daughters, where you’ll hear acclaimed poet Anne Casey share readings from her latest collection, followed by a Q&A with award-winning poet and critic Sarah Holland-Batt, newly appointed Professor and Head of Creative Writing at UTS. Together, they explore themes of resilience, heritage, feminism, and the rebellious spirit that shapes contemporary Australian writing.

Anne Casey

Anne Casey is an award-winning Irish-Australian poet and writer whose work spans themes of identity, heritage, and resilience. Her poetry has been widely published internationally and translated into multiple languages. Anne is known for her evocative style and fearless exploration of social and cultural issues.

Sarah Holland-Batt

Sarah Holland-Batt is an acclaimed Australian poet, critic, and academic. She is the newly appointed Professor and Head of Creative Writing at the University of Technology Sydney. Sarah is the author of several award-winning poetry collections and a leading voice in contemporary literature. Her work often interrogates memory, mortality, and the complexities of human experience, earning her recognition as one of Australia’s most influential literary figures.

In December 2023, the Sydney Review of Books and Western Sydney University's Writing and Society Research Centre were delighted to announce renowned fiction writer, Yumna Kassab, as the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature, a program delivered in partnership with the City of Parramatta.

The program, now in its second iteration, recognises the unique and vital work of writers as contributors to narratives of place – through storying, remembering histories, and shaping a creative vision for our shared future.

As the inaugural Laureate, Kassab has composed Parramatta: A Dictionary of Place and Memory. She writes in the introduction to her work: 'It was my idea that a dictionary could tell the story of a person (me) in connection with a place (Parramatta) with enough flexibility to take in detours, digressions, musings, and general quirkiness. I knew at the outset that the entries would be placed under titles and it would be fragmentary in spirit.'

Extracts from the Parramatta Dictionary are free to read on the Sydney Review of Books website.

Author note:

Yumna Kassab is a Parramatta-based novelist and short fiction writer, a high school teacher, and a staunch supporter of the Western Sydney Wanderers.

The Lovers (2023) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, and the Victorian Premier’s Award for Fiction. She has also authored The House of Youssef (2019), Australiana (2022), Politica (2024), and Theory of Everything (2025).

Guests

Host: Kate Fagan - Director of the Writing and Society Research Centre Western Sydney University

Interviewer: James Jiang - Editor at The Sydney Review of Books

Credits

Recording engineer Sevan Dermelkonian recorded this episode on the 30th October, 2025 at PHIVE, Active Wellness Studios, Parramatta.

Fully Lit is a collaboration between Impact Studios, UTS, and the Sydney Review of Books. Its producer is Regina Botros, and its executive producers are Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.