Afternoon Tea with Amy Thunig

The most inspirational and important memoir of 2022  For years, Amy Thunig thought she knew all the details about the day she was born, often demanding that the story of her birth be retold. Years later, heavily pregnant with her own first child, she learns what really happened that day. It's a tale that exemplifies many of the events of her early life, where circumstances sometimes dictated that things be slightly different from how they might seem - including what is meant by her dad being away for 'work' and why her legal last name differs from her family's.  In this remarkable memoir, Amy Thunig narrates her journey through childhood and adolescence, growing up with parents who struggled with addiction and incarceration. She reveals the importance of extended family and community networks when your immediate loved ones are dealing with endemic poverty and intergenerational trauma. In recounting her experiences, she shows how the stories we tell about ourselves can help to shape and sustain us.  Above all, she shows that joy and love exist in spaces that are often dehumanised or overlooked, proving that life can be rich and full of beauty even when things are - in many ways - terrible. Tell Me Again will captivate, move and inspire readers with its candour, lack of self-pity and insight.

About Amy

Dr Amy Thunig (B.Arts, M.Teach, PhD) is a Gomeroi/Gamilaroi/Kamilaroi yinaar (woman) and mother who resides on the unceded lands of the Awabakal peoples. An academic in the field of education, Amy is also a Director at Sydney Story Factory in Redfern, and in 2019 delivered their TEDx talk: ‘Disruption is not a dirty word.’ As well as being on various committee and councils, Amy is a media commentator and panellist, regularly appearing on television programs such as ABC’s The Drum, and writing for publications such as Buzzfeed, Sydney Review of Books, IndigenousX, The Guardian and more. Tell Me Again is their first book.

About Nareen

Nareen Young is Associate Dean (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) at the University of Technology, Business School, Sydney. She also leads Jumbunna's Indigenous People and Work Research and Practice Hub which focuses on robust research and analysis, policy, practice, people and law reform and leads the National Indigenous employment sector. Nareen is one of Australia's leading and most respected workplace Diversity practitioners, thinkers and influencers, lead and managed two Diversity peak bodies (Diversity Council Australia and NSW Working Women's Centre), with enormous impact and success, for over 15 years, and was then Director and Employment Lead at PwC's Indigenous Consulting for three years. She is influenced by both her Indigenous and culturally diverse heritages in this work and has received numerous awards and acknowledgements, including the inaugural Westpac 100 Women of Influence honour for Diversity, has commentated widely, presented both Nationally and internationally, and published. Nareen also has significant governance experience, spent a term as Director, Indigenous Business Australia and currently sits on the boards of Souths Cares, Per Capita and Diversity Arts Australia.