The Stories We Carry Within:
Author Conversation for Refugee Week

Woden Library

Celebrate Refugee Week with Libraries ACT and Canberra Writers Festival at an engaging in‑person conversation with Emma Pei Yin, Aarti Betigeri and Andra Putnis, and moderated by Qin Qin.

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Reflecting the theme A Million Stories, this 60‑minute session brings together voices shaped by cultural connections to Hong Kong, India and Latvia. The discussion explores storytelling, identity, belonging, and how inherited memory informs creative practice, alongside insights into their journeys as writers. The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and conclude with book sales and signings, facilitated by Paperchain Bookstore. 

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About the Authors

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Emma Pei Yin is an award-winning writer, editor and literary advocate. Her debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake, is published internationally and translated into multiple languages. She founded Yinfluence, an agency supporting persons of colour, queer and neurodivergent writers through editor and mentor connections. Emma is an Author Advocate for Room to Read and an Ambassador for Chapters for Change. She co-hosts Served With Rice Poddy and is writing her second novel with her extremely barky dachshund, Lady, by her side.

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Aarti Betigeri is a multi-platform journalist and former foreign correspondent based in Canberra. She is a correspondent for Monocle, a columnist with the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter, and contributes to various other local and foreign media outlets. She is the editor of Growing Up Indian In Australia and speaks regularly about the Indian diaspora, India-Australia relations and the need for more cultural diversity in the Australian media landscape.

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Andra Putnis is an Australian writer creating powerful stories that deepen understanding of our world and each other. Her debut book, Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me, explores her Latvian grandmothers’ survival of WWII and migration to Australia. Published by Allen & Unwin in 2024 and Zvaigzne ABC in 2025, it won the Canberra Critics’ Circle Award and was shortlisted for ACT Book of the Year. She writes widely and is Artistic Director of the Canberra Writers Festival 2026.

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Qin Qin is a local writer, regular interviewer, and literal tree hugger. As a former unfulfilled overachiever, her memoir Model Minority Gone Rogue (shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year and ACT Book of the Year Award) explores choosing love over fear. She is committed to living consciously for a more peaceful and sustainable world.