Seminars

Jerome Rothenberg spoke as part of the 2017 seminar program on Writing Through: Translation and Othering as Forms of Composition.

Our Next Seminar

Hybrid seminar series 2023

'On Adaptation: from the page to the stage and screen (and back again)'

Vivian Pham and Kim Pham in conversation with Felicity Castagna

Friday 21 April 2023

11:00am – 12:00pm  

Vivian Pham, Kim Pham, and Felicity Castagna talk about the business of taking a book from the page to the stage and screen, sharing their experiences of adapting novels The Coconut Children and Girls in Boys' Cars, as well as the process of adapting the screenplay Bird Hands Beaver a Fishmint Bouquet into a novel.

VENUE: Parramatta City campus, Peter Shergold Building, 169 Macquarie St, Parramatta, Level 9, Conference room 2, morning tea provided

IN PERSON registrations: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/on-adaptation-from-the-page-to-the-stage-and-screen-and-back-again-tickets-615365463667? (morning tea provided)

ONLINE Zoom registrations: https://uws.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkc--upzwvGNQ-wEuTpzGjkU0z_baudbFC

All welcome!

VIVIAN PHAM is a novelist, essayist, poet and aspiring folklorist from southwestern Sydney. In high school she wrote a novel called The Coconut Children, which was published in March 2020 by Penguin Random House. She has twice been a delegate to the International Congress of Youth Voices, and delivered a keynote speech in San Francisco’s Nourse Theatre for the Congress in 2018. She is now writing the stage and screen adaptations of The Coconut Children. She also teaches creative writing workshops with Story Factory, the same not-for-profit creative writing centre for young that gave her her literary start. She studied a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Creative Writing.

KIM PHAM is a writer and filmmaker from Western Sydney. Kim is currently co-writing the screen adaptation for Vivian Pham’s debut novel, The Coconut Children. The duo go by “The Sisters Pham”. Kim is also working on a second draft of Bird Hands Beaver a Fishmint Bouquet, her screenplay which is a dark coming-of-age comedy; imagine if The Breakfast Club was directed by Bong Joon Ho and based in Bankstown. Supported by CuriousWorks, she has directed a short proof of concept film based on her screenplay of the same name. In 2022, Kim won the Heyman Mentorship Award for her novel adaptation of the same name which will provide her with 1 year of mentorship with Dr Kathryn Heyman and a full editorial report from HarperCollins with the publisher holding the first option to publish the work.

FELICITY CASTAGNA has published four novels for adults and young adults including her most recent book, Girls In Boys’ Cars which won the Victorian and Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and is now being adapted for stage and screen. Her previous novel, No More Boats was a finalist in the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Awards and her YA novel The Incredible Here and Now received The Prime Minister’s Award as well as The IBBY. She also writes for stage and radio, creates collaborative work for many festivals, talks and writes about books all over the place and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Western Sydney University

---

Our seminars are free and open to visitors from outside the university. If you want to come along to one of our seminars simply register using the links above  or send an email to S.Gapps@westernsydney.edu.au

^ Back To Top