Name Arnold Zable Role Writer | ||
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Books Cafe Scheherazade, Jewels and ashes, The fig tree, Violin Lessons, Scraps of Heaven | ||
Education University of Melbourne | ||
The shtick s40 07 seg 2 arnold zable author storyteller refugee advocate
Arnold Zable (born 1947) is an award winning Australian writer, storyteller, educator and human rights advocate, particularly in the area of migrant education. His writings focus primarily on migrant experience.
Contents
- The shtick s40 07 seg 2 arnold zable author storyteller refugee advocate
- John marsden and arnold zable short reflections on language and literacy
- Life
- Themes and style
- Awards and nominations
- Works
- References
John marsden and arnold zable short reflections on language and literacy
Life
Zable was born on 10 January 1947 in Wellington, New Zealand to Polish-Jewish refugee parents. They moved early in his life to Australia and he grew up in Carlton, Victoria.
Themes and style
Zable is known as a storyteller - through his memoirs, short stories and novels. Australian critic Susan Varga says that Zable's award-winning memoir, Jewels and Ashes, "was a ground-breaking book in Australia, one of the first of what has since become a distinct auto/biographical genre: a second-generation writer returns to the scene of unspeakable crimes to try to understand a fraught and complex legacy, and, in so doing, embarks on a journey into the self."
In an interview Zable explained that the rights and experiences of refugees and asylum seekers underpins his work:
The current generation of refugees are experiencing the intense challenges faced by previous generations. We tend to forget, or fail to imagine, how difficult it is to start life anew far from the homeland. We forget also that nostalgia, the longing for the return to homeland, is a deep and enduring aspect of the refugee experience.
In the same interview he said about his language that "I am drawn to the quirky sayings and observations that define a person or a culture".