Arnold Zable
Arnold Zable is one of sixty authors who attended The Press Christchurch Writers Festival from 4 to 7 September 2008.
Arnold Zable was born in Wellington but grew up in inner Melbourne. He is known as a dynamic and compelling storyteller, with a tremendous ability to engage his audience.
He speaks with passion about memory and history, displacement and community, the experience of the Jewish diaspora, aboriginal issues, indigenous education, and the multiplicity of cultures within Australia. He has run workshops for migrants and refugees, and has recently spent considerable time with refugees held in Australian detention centres.
Zable has written the award winning Jewels and ashes, The fig tree and the novels Café Scheherazade and Scraps of heaven. His latest novel, Sea of many returns, has just been published.
When asked what his most treasured memory of a public library was, he replied: “I have loved writing in the domed reading room of the State Library since university undergraduate days, and more so since the skylights have been restored. Most treasured moments have involved stepping out into a spring night from an evening's work in the domed reading room.”
