Growing Up Indian in Australia panel discussion

Next date: Thursday, 30 October 2025 | 06:30 PM to 07:30 PM

Aarti Betigeri leads a panel of Indian-Australian authors to discuss the relationship between family, community and country.

The 'Growing Up... in Australia' anthology series continues to explore different perspectives on the Australian experience with a remarkable collection of Indian-Australian voices. Given the depth and richness of diversity of the Indian subcontinent, it is fitting that its diaspora is similarly varied.

Growing Up Indian in Australia reflects and celebrates this vibrant diversity. It features contributions from Australian-Indian writers, both established and emerging, who hail from a wide range of backgrounds, religions and experiences.

This energetic anthology offers reflections on identity, culture, family, food and expectations, ultimately revealing deep truths about both Australian and Indian life. The book's editor Aarti Betigeri visits Gordon Library to host a panel discussion with esteemed contributors Elana Benjamin, Rachael Jacobs and Sharon Verghis.

Bring your own experiences or just come to listen as we hear vibrant, moving and diverse stories of shape-shifting between cultures.

Contributors

Aarti Betigeri (editor) is a journalist and former foreign correspondent based in Canberra. She spent almost a decade living in New Delhi, from where she reported across South Asia for publications around the globe. She is a correspondent for Monocle, a columnist with the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter, and contributes to various other local and foreign media outlets.

Rachael Jacobs is a lecturer in arts and creativity at Western Sydney University. She conducts research on racial justice education and the benefits of arts education. She is also a climate justice activist, aerial artist, South Asian choreographer and she runs an intercultural dance company. As a community artist, Rachael facilitates projects in community settings, mostly working with migrant and refugee communities.

Elana Benjamin is a Jewish-Australian writer of Indian-Iraqi heritage and the author of Indian-Jewish Food: Recipes and Stories from the Backstreets of Bondi and My Mother's Spice Cupboard: A Journey from Baghdad to Bombay to Bondi. Her writing has also appeared in a range of publications including Good Weekend, the Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Life and SBS Voices.

Sharon Verghis is a journalist and lawyer. Her work has appeared in The Weekend Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Good Weekend, The Guardian, SBS, BBC.com, TIME magazine and many others. Her story A Tale of Three Beaches was inspired by her experiences as a Manly local, and her lifelong love-hate relationship with the beach.