Queer Life, Love & Identity

Acclaimed Indonesian author Norman Erikson Pasaribu and award-winning Australian writer Dylin Hardcastle explore the joy, tenderness and triumphs of queer storytelling.

Norman, best known for Happy Stories, Mostly, and their latest book My Dream Job, crafts tender yet sharp narratives about identity, faith and belonging, challenging the expectations of queer life in Indonesia. While Dylin, acclaimed for A Language of Limbs, offers an Australian perspective on intimacy, loss and transformation. Together their work embraces and reclaims; highlighting how storytelling becomes an act of survival and resistance for lives too often kept in the margins.

Join Norman and Dylin, alongside UNSW’s Christy Newman, as they explore how literature creates space for voices long silenced – and how the most powerful stories are the ones that heal.

Live Event & Venue Information

The Io Myers Studio is located inside the Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab at UNSW Sydney's Kensington Campus. Please note this is a live event only, and will not be available via livestream.

Access

Wheelchair Access

The closest accessible drop-off point to the Io Myers Studio is via Gate 2, High Street (highlighted pink on this map) and turn right at the roundabout. The entrance is immediately on your left under the concrete steps, opposite the University Terraces Car Park. More information on getting there can be found via our interactive accessibility map available here.

Assisted Listening
The Io Myers Studio, Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab has an infrared hearing loop. Patrons wishing to utilise this need to identify themselves to the front of house team, and a headset will be provided.

Auslan
This talk will be Auslan interpreted. Please select an Auslan ticket when you register for your tickets. Front of house staff can assist in identifying Auslan seats on arrival at the venue.

Captioning
Live captioning can be provided for selected talks upon request.

Contact

To book and discuss access services, please call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485 or email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au.

Parking & Public Transport

The Esme Timbery Creative Practice Lab is easily accessible via public transport. is easily accessible via public transport. For more information please call the Transport Infoline on 131 500 or visit transportnsw.info.

Free parking is also available from 5.30pm in the Western Campus Car Park. For access to free parking, event patrons must park in the UNSW Permit Holder bays. The Western Campus Car Park is located here, on Anzac Parade next to NIDA. This car park can be accessed via Western Campus Drive through Day Avenue.

Paid casual and visitor parking is offered via the CellOPark App and ‘pay by plate meters’ in all other UNSW car parks. For more information head here.

Contact

For all the other enquiries, please email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au or call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485.

The Centre for Ideas is happy to receive phone calls via the National Relay Service. TTY users, phone 133 677, then ask for 02 9065 0485. Speak and Listen users, phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 02 9065 0485. For more information on all other relay calls visit here.

Speakers

Norman Erikson Pasaribu

Norman Erikson Pasaribu (they/them) is a Toba Batak poet and writer. Their first poetry collection, Sergius Mencari Bacchus, won the first prize in the 2015 Jakarta Arts Council Poetry Manuscript Competition, and led them to win the 2017 Sastrawan Muda from the Southeast Asia Literary Council (Mastera). Norman was Harvard University Asia Center's Artist in Residence for 2023 – 2024. They are one of the 2025 fellows for literature of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program. Their latest book My Dream Job juxtaposes the biblical prophet Job with the idea of being employed for queer Indonesians.

Dylin Hardcastle

Dylin Hardcastle (they/them) is an award-winning author, artist and screenwriter. They are the author of four books. Their work has been published to critical acclaim in 11 territories and translated into eight languages. In 2023, their novel, A Language of Limbs won the Kathleen Mitchell Award through Creative Australia and was shortlisted as Dymocks Book of the Year for 2024. The novel has been optioned by Curio (Sony Pictures) and is in development.

Christy Newman

Professor Christy Newman (they/them) is a sociologist of health, gender and sexuality at the Centre for Social Research in Health, and Deputy Dean Research for the faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture at UNSW Sydney. They are also an Associate of the Australian Human Rights Institute and the International Centre for Future Health Systems at UNSW. Christy is also the co-editor of the recently published Elgar Encyclopedia of Queer Studies.