In Conversation with Prof. Peter Friedland

(For adults)

Join us as Professor Peter Friedland discusses his book Quiet Time with the President: A Doctor's Story About Learning to Listen with Elizabeth Lewis.

One Sunday in 2001, Peter Friedland received an unexpected call. Nelson Mandela was struggling to hear. Could Peter, an ear, nose and throat specialist visit him at home?

Peter discovered Mandela was using antiquated hearing aids and struggling to maintain them. Soon he became a regular visitor to Mandela’s home where he experienced the statesman alone, in the frailty of old age. He was unsentimental and full of stories, each one bearing a lesson.

With South Africa in the grip of a hijacking epidemic, Peter often found himself moving between Mandela’s tranquil house and the commotion of the emergency room, where he operated as a head and neck trauma surgeon on people who had been shot through their car windows.

In Quiet Time with the President, he explores the forces that drive people out of South Africa and then pull them back - until something snaps. Peter encountered violence on the streets, it entered his home, and when another close friend bled out in his arms, he snapped.

Telling his famous patient that he was leaving for Australia was insurmountably difficult, but Mandela surprised him. He had made a monumental mistake in Australia some 20 years earlier and warned Peter to learn from this.

Soon after arriving in Perth, Peter was told Australians think multiculturalism is inviting people to the party, however, it’s a long time before they ask you to dance. After a few stumbles, he found himself on the dance floor.

Books will be available for purchase on the night courtesy of Dymocks Ellenbrook.

Bookings are essential for this free event. Light refreshments will be available. We suggest you bring your own keep-cup or mug for tea, coffee or water.

Please advise if you have any access requirements.

Please remember to cancel your booking via Humanitix or by contacting the libraries if you are unable to attend so the ticket may be released for someone else to enjoy.

About the authors:

Professor Peter Friedland is a leading ear, nose and throat surgeon in Australia. Most of his career was spent in South Africa, where he was head of ENT at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

Jill Margo is a best-selling author specialising in biography, memoir and health. She is also a multi-award-winning journalist for The Australian Financial Review.

Author royalties will be donated to Derbarl Yerrigan Aboriginal Health Services which provides culturally secure primary health, mental health, and dental services for Aboriginal families living throughout the Perth metropolitan area.