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image of person or book cover 4900907771535926835.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
y separately published work icon The Marsh Birds single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2005... 2005 The Marsh Birds
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Dhurgham As-Samarra'i is a twelve-year-old boy, the youngest child in a middle-class Baghdadi family. He finds himself at the Great Mosque in Damascus in Syria, not knowing what has happened to his parents and sister who fled Baghdad with him. The only thing he knows is that he was told that if the family became separated they were to meet at the Mosque. Alone, he waits and waits. This is the story of what befalls Dhurgham after he realises his family won't be turning up; it is the story of his journey into adulthood, his journey through bitterness to forgiveness, and his journey from Iraq to Syria, to Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and beyond. Detained after arriving in Australia, Dhurgham, resilient yet unable to deal with his past, becomes an untried criminal existing in limbo as his file is processed. Fleetingly, New Zealand offers a refuge, family and affection but he is caught again in a nightmare of red-tape and confinement until his hope turns into anger and his past must be faced and resolved. What do you do when you belong nowhere, with no family, no homeland, and no hope for the future? Who do you become?' (Source: publisher website.)

Exhibitions

Notes

  • Dedication: For the boys I love, especially Roger and Rafael.
  • Featured by the BIG Book Club , an initiative supported by The Advertiser in partnership with Arts SA, The Australia Council for the Arts, Channel 7 and FIVEAA to promote a love of reading, discussion and literature, June 2005.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2005 .
      image of person or book cover 4900907771535926835.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 252p.
      ISBN: 1741146003

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.

Works about this Work

Work in Progress : Multicultural Writing in Australia Wenche Ommundsen , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Modern Australian Criticism and Theory 2010; (p. 243-257)
y separately published work icon Witnessing Australian Stories : History, Testimony and Memory in Contemporary Culture Kelly Jean Butler , Melbourne : 2010 6037495 2010 single work thesis

'This book is about how Australians have responded to stories about suffering and injustice in Australia, presented in a range of public media, including literature, history, films, and television. Those who have responded are both ordinary and prominent Australians–politicians, writers, and scholars. All have sought to come to terms with Australia's history by responding empathetically to stories of its marginalized citizens.

'Drawing upon international scholarship on collective memory, public history, testimony, and witnessing, this book represents a cultural history of contemporary Australia. It examines the forms of witnessing that dominated Australian public culture at the turn of the millennium. Since the late 1980s, witnessing has developed in Australia in response to the increasingly audible voices of indigenous peoples, migrants, and more recently, asylum seekers. As these voices became public, they posed a challenge not only to scholars and politicians, but also, most importantly, to ordinary citizens.

'When former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his historic apology to Australia's indigenous peoples in February 2008, he performed an act of collective witnessing that affirmed the testimony and experiences of Aboriginal Australians. The phenomenon of witnessing became crucial, not only to the recognition and reparation of past injustices, but to efforts to create a more cosmopolitan Australia in the present. This is a vital addition to Transactions critically acclaimed Memory and Narrative series.' (Publisher's blurb)

The 'Third Space' as Void : Exile and Self-Destruction in Eva Sallis's 'The Marsh Birds' Dianne Schwerdt , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Landscapes of Exile: Once Perilous, Now Safe 2008; (p. 135-148)
The Interview: Eva Sallis Susan Errington (interviewer), 2008 single work interview
— Appears in: Wet Ink , Winter no. 11 2008; (p. 24-26)
Escape and Acceptance Alison Singer , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 21 no. 2 2007; (p. 185-186)

— Review of The Marsh Birds Eva Sallis , 2005 single work novel
Dhurgham's Dream Irene Drumm , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 271 2005; (p. 46)

— Review of The Marsh Birds Eva Sallis , 2005 single work novel
Message Hits Home Katharine England , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 7 May 2005; (p. 12)

— Review of The Marsh Birds Eva Sallis , 2005 single work novel
Fictional Truths Elizabeth Meryment , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 May 2005; (p. 15)

— Review of The Marsh Birds Eva Sallis , 2005 single work novel
A Boy Lost as Justice is Set Adrift Natasha Cica , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7-8 May 2005; (p. 23)

— Review of The Marsh Birds Eva Sallis , 2005 single work novel
Escape from Loss and Left in Limbo Diane Stubbings , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 21 May 2005; (p. 13)

— Review of The Marsh Birds Eva Sallis , 2005 single work novel
The Good Neighbour Nikki Barrowclough , 2005 single work biography
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 7 May 2005; (p. 24-26, 30)
Life Through the Eyes of a Teen Boy in Detention Bridget Sheridan , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 June 2005; (p. 24)
A Voice for the Lost Souls Samela Harris , 2005 single work biography
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 25 June 2005; (p. 11)
The Year's Work in Fiction Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 50 no. 2005; (p. 56-67)
Shortlisted books for the 2004-2005 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
In the Wake of the Tampa : Multiculturalism, Cultural Citizenship and Australian Refugee Narratives Wenche Ommundsen , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Dislocations 2006; (p. 21-35)
Through the concept of cultural citizenship, Ommundsen comments on recent literary portrayals of asylum seeking and refugee experiences and how they might speak to contemporary views on multiculturalism in Australia.
Last amended 16 Oct 2014 16:59:15
Settings:
  • c
    Iraq,
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    Middle East, Asia,
  • c
    Syria,
    c
    Middle East, Asia,
  • c
    Australia,
    c
  • c
    New Zealand,
    c
    Pacific Region,
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