Mieko Kawakami: Sisters in Yellow
Mieko Kawakami | Michaela Kalowski
Award winning novelist, Mieko Kawakami, has made a name for herself highlighting the voices of women in Japan and dispelling with the cliches that have permeated fiction about the country for over a century. Her unique voice is built on life experience that is unconventional to her literary contemporaries. She grew up in a working-class family in Osaka, and when a career as a singer/songwriter didn't pan out, her big break came through her immensely popular blogs on her candid experiences of life as a woman, love, loneliness and gendered expectations in Japan. What started as an online phenomenon has evolved into an internationally acclaimed body of work, translated into over twenty languages. Kawakami’s prose is renowned for taking the everyday and imbuing it with poetry and intrigue.
For one night only, join Kawakami for an evening of conversation with presenter Michaela Kalowski. They’ll discuss the latest book, Sisters in Yellow, a novel heavily based on Kawakami’s early years in sunakku, neighbourhood bars run by women.
Mieko Kawakami (Japanese) will be in conversation with Michaela Kalowski (English), with live, on-stage interpretation provided by a translator.
LIVE EVENT & VENUE INFORMATION
The Science Theatre is located at UNSW Sydney's Kensington Campus. Please note this is a live event only, and will not be available via livestream.
TICKETS
ACCESS
Wheelchair Access
The Science Theatre is located at UNSW Sydney's Kensington campus (highlighted red on this map). The closest accessible drop-off point to the Science Theatre is towards the rear of the building, with access via Gate 2, High Street. Vehicles can drop off patrons directly adjacent to the Business School west wing which is then a 200 metre walk approximately. More information on getting there can be found via our interactive accessibility map available here.
Assisted Listening
The Science Theatre has hearing assistive technology available. Patrons wishing to utilise this service must collect a Roger™ inductive neck-loop receiver from the venue staff, and this system can be used with a hearing aid or cochlear implant with a T-coil, or with headphones.
Auslan & Captioning
Auslan interpreting services and/or live captioning can be provided for selected talks upon request.
Contact
To book and discuss access services, please call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485 or email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT & PARKING
The Science Theatre is easily accessible via public transport and the closest light rail stop is UNSW Anzac Parade (L3 line). The closest bus stop is UNSW Gate 2, High Street (348, 370). For more information please call the Transport Infoline on 131 500 or visit transportnsw.info.
Free parking is also available in the Barker St Car Park (Gate 14) from 5.30pm. For access to free parking, event patrons must park in the UNSW Permit Holder bays, available on all levels. The Barker St Car Park (Gate 14) parking station is located here.
Paid casual and visitor parking is offered via the CellOPark App and ‘pay by plate meters’ in all other UNSW car parks. For more information head here.
PROGRESS FOR ALL
At UNSW, we’re working to ensure more people live longer, healthier lives. Building on our strengths in research and education – from eliminating cervical cancer to training many of NSW’s doctors – we’re tackling the factors that shape health, from access to healthcare and medicine to the environments we live in.
By collaborating across disciplines and with expert partners, we’re preparing a workforce and driving innovations that improve health and wellbeing in communities here in Australia and around the world.
You can read more about our objectives in our UNSW Strategy: Progress for All.
CONTACT
For all enquiries, please email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au or call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485.
The Centre for Ideas is happy to receive phone calls via the National Relay Service. TTY users, phone 133 677, then ask for 02 9065 0485. Speak and Listen users, phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 02 9065 0485. For more information on all other relay calls visit here.
Mieko Kawakami
Mieko Kawakami is the acclaimed author of the international bestseller Breasts and Eggs and the Booker prize shortlisted novel Heaven. Born in Osaka, Kawakami made her literary debut as a poet and published her first novella, My Ego, My Teeth, and the World in 2007. Her poetic prose has been translated into over 20 languages, and centres on themes of the female body, ethics and modern society. Kawakami's literary awards include the Akutagawa Prize, the Tanizaki Prize, and the Murasaki Shikibu Prize. The most recent of her novels to be translated into English is All the Lovers in the Night which was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Awards in 2023. The 2022 translation of All the Lovers in the Night, was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Awards in 2023. Sisters in Yellow is her most recent work translated into English.
Michaela Kalowski
Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator & curator for writers and ideas festivals. Highlight interviews include Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Bora Chung, Tim Winton, & Stan Grant. She was curator of Big Weekend of Books, ABC RN’s annual on-air writers’ festival for five years, until it finished in 2024. She produces & hosts a monthly books conversation event for Petersham Bowling Club. Michaela has conducted radio interviews and presented programs across ABC radio & TV. She's co-presenter & co-writer of a two-part podcast for ABC RN, tracing part of her family’s history, called Laya’s Way Home.
