This episode of the Art, Design And Media podcast is part of a special RMIT Culture and student produced series, Literature and Ideas.Authors Shokoofeh Azar and Zana Fraillon explore cross-sections between the refugee experience and literature. They share their experiences writing about migration, detention and border policies.Shokoofeh Azar is an Iranian-Australian author and journalist, who sought political asylum in Australia in 2011. Her first novel The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.Zana Fraillon is a multi-award winning author of books for children and young adults. Her novel The Bone Sparrow explores a refugee child’s experience in an Australian permanent detention centre.This first episode has been drawn from On Migration and Detention, a live panel hosted by Astrid Edwards, presented as part of RMIT Culture's Salon series.Hosts: Anthea Yang and Else FitzgeraldProducers: Anthea Yang, Chris Alphonso, Hayden Spurrell and Lauren WebsterSupervising producer: Carly Godden

This episode aims to unpack the genre of narrative nonfiction, observing the traits and tricks of reading and writing this exciting and growing genre. With the help of industry experts including Arwen Summers, Emma Shortis, Emily Hart, Youjia Song and Emily Clements, the ideas and understandings of narrative nonfiction unfold.Thanks to our guests:RMIT alumni, author and editor Emily Clements published her memoir, The Lotus Eaters, in 2020. Her nonfiction has been shortlisted for the Feminazi Memoir Prize, the Ada Cambridge Prize and highly recommended for the Scribe Nonfiction Prize. Her fiction has been twice shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize and earned the Melbourne Young Writers Award.Emily Hart is the commissioning editor at Hardie Grant Books in Melbourne, working on a variety of non-fiction titles.Emma Shortis is a historian and lecturer at RMIT. Emma is the author of the narrative nonfiction title Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States.Youjia Song is the 2020 Spark Prize recipient, awarded for her narrative nonfiction proposal 'The Pursuit of Impossible Dreams'. This is the story of a woman’s defiant decision to have a second child at the start of China’s One-Child Policy, told by the daughter who inherited her mother’s fearlessness.Arwen Summers is Hardie Grant Books' nonfiction publisher. She has over 13 years' experience in publishing and has a particular interest in narrative nonfiction. She's published authors, both established and debut, including Alanna Hill, Malcolm Turnbull, Emily Clements, Clive Hamilton and Ginger Gorman. Discovering and nurturing fantastic emerging writers of narrative nonfiction is one of the highlights of her job.Host: Joel Humphries and Sophie NewnhamProducers: Callie Beuermann, Joel Humphries, Sophie Newnham, and Mia PurvisSupervising Producer: Carly Godden

Learn how to write a winning pitch for your narrative nonfiction proposal. Writers and publishers, Ronnie Scott, Arwen Summers and Emily Clements, take you through the most important steps: how to write a synopsis and chapter outline, what to include in your sample chapter, how to stand out with your title and biography, and how to finish it off (formatting and polishing).Guest BiographiesRonnie Scott is an author and academic. He is a senior lecturer in the writing and publishing discipline at RMIT University and program manager of the Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing). He's a lead researcher on Folio: The Story of Australian Comics 1980-2020. His novel The Adversary (2020) was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Award and the ALS Gold Medal.Arwen Summers is Hardie Grant Books' nonfiction publisher. She has over 13 years' experience in publishing and has a particular interest in narrative nonfiction. She's published authors, both established and debut, including Alanna Hill, Malcolm Turnbull, Emily Clements, Clive Hamilton and Ginger Gorman. Discovering and nurturing fantastic emerging writers of narrative nonfiction is one of the highlights of her job.RMIT alumni, author and editor Emily Clements published her memoir, The Lotus Eaters, in 2020. Her nonfiction has been shortlisted for the Feminazi Memoir Prize, the Ada Cambridge Prize and highly recommended for the Scribe Nonfiction Prize. Her fiction has been twice shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize and earned the Melbourne Young Writers Award.Host: Callie BeuermannProducers: Callie Beuermann, Joel Humphries, Sophie Newnham and Mia PurvisSupervising producer: Carly Godden

How do writers come up with their nonfiction ideas? And what role does research play in the writing process? Join writers and publishers, Ronnie Scott, Arwen Summers and Emily Clements, in this illuminating and insightful discussion about how emerging writers find ideas, how to know when an idea is a good one, how peers can help you develop your ideas, and the role of research in narrative nonfiction.Thanks to our guests:Ronnie Scott is an award-winning author and academic. He is a senior lecturer in the writing and publishing discipline at RMIT University and program manager for the Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing). He's a lead researcher on Folio: The Story of Australian Comics 1980-2020. His novel The Adversary (2020) was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Award and the ALS Gold Medal.Arwen Summers is Hardie Grant Books' nonfiction publisher. She has over 13 years' experience in publishing and has a particular interest in narrative nonfiction. She's published authors, both established and debut, including Alanna Hill, Malcolm Turnbull, Emily Clements, Clive Hamilton and Ginger Gorman. Discovering and nurturing fantastic emerging writers of narrative nonfiction is one of the highlights of her job.RMIT alumni, author and editor Emily Clements published her memoir, The Lotus Eaters, in 2020. Her nonfiction has been shortlisted for the Feminazi Memoir Prize, the Ada Cambridge Prize and highly recommended for the Scribe Nonfiction Prize. Her fiction has been twice shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize and earned the Melbourne Young Writers Award.Host: Callie BeuermannProducers: Callie Beuermann, Joel Humphries, Sophie Newnham and Mia PurvisSupervising producer: Carly Godden

RMIT Gallery's latest exhibition Future U (29 July–23 October 2021) explores what it means to be human during a time of rapid technological acceleration. In this accompanying podcast, co-curators Dr Evelyn Tsitas and Associate Professor Jonathan Duckworth discuss the exhibition with artists Dr Pia Interlandi and Alexi Freeman. Interlandi talks about designing garments for the grave and what might change when death happens on another planet, like Mars.Freeman discusses his practice using biowaste to make textiles, a sustainable practice likely to be increasingly necessary in the future.Duckworth talks about his interactive work, 'Disruptive Critters', which uses artificial intelligence to provide a humorous exploration of future creativity and digital disruption.Hosted by Aeden Ratcliffe.

: Dr. Evelyn Tsitas, engagement manager at RMIT, talks to the Bluestone Collection Chair Bin Dixon-Ward and Treasurer Robyn Phelan. The recent donation of the Bluestone Collection of contemporary craft to the RMIT Art Collection reflects the university’s own commitment to the act of making and the creative application of skills. Built by a group of craft practitioners, writers and supporters dedicated to raising the profile of makers over the last decade, the Bluestone Collection features 20 works by as many artists, many of whom are RMIT alumni. The collection will be displayed from 18 March at RMIT’s newly refurbished Carlton Library, Level 3, Building 94, 23-27 Cardigan Street, Carlton.

From embellishment and exaggeration to identity, gender and desire: RMIT Gallery’s latest exhibition ‘Pleasure’ (29 November–7 March) presents the work of a diverse group of artists who used the body as a personal, provocative and at times political canvas. In this accompanying podcast, listen to Co-Curator Evelyn Tsitas and Communications Specialist Aeden Ratcliffe talk with artists John Pastoriza-Piñol, Ciara Murphy and Judith Glover about their works.