Bathurst Refugee Support Group Public Lecture 2026

Bathurst Refugee Support Group supported by Charles Sturt University host a free public lecture welcoming Ms Mij Tanith, a renowned author, playwright and refugee advocate with a career spanning over four decades 

Mij has written plays, short stories, poetry and articles for a number of magazines and on-line publications, and her talk will focus on the power of networking and advocacy, and how her real-life work with refugees shaped her latest book, ‘Laila’s Story’.

Mij Tanith began her literary career as a playwright in 1985, when Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company staged Blind Circumstance, a play about the Vietnam war and inter-country adoption.  This was followed by a handful of other plays commissioned by theatre companies in South Australia, each with a strong focus on social justice. Issues explored included adult literacy, the fragile environment of Antarctica, the ethics of advertising, and violence in the schoolyard. Throughout the 1990s she taught creative writing in TAFE, and in other areas, notably focussing on women, immigrants and members of the LGBTIQ+ community. In the early 2000s she began writing regular feature articles for Blaze, Adelaide’s queer newspaper, while continuing to teach. At the same time, Mij began working as a long-term advocate for refugee rights.

During this period she continued to write across a number of genres. Pastiche, a play written in 2006, features a group of gay circus performers. It is set in a bleak, apocalyptic future, and blends fragments of old songs and half-remembered sonnets with dialogue that is pure poetry.

A novel, Three Seasons, was published online in 2010 by Lesbian E-books. Set in the mid-eighties, before the advent of mobile phones and the internet, it explores the relationship between ESL teacher Gloria and real estate agent Jane, and between these women and their children.

Stories From a Garden, a unique blend of local history, fiction and non-fiction, was published in 2012. This epic tale, told in rhyming couplets, explores the power of community, amid themes of climate change and food shortage.

Laila's Story, written in both prose and poetry, draws on her considerable experience of working with refugees. It is an account of her unexpectedly close relationship with an Afghan woman, a single mother with five young children.

Join us for an informative evening in Bathurst and stay for light refreshments and networking afterwards.