Book Launch: The Prime Minister's Potato and Other Essays by Anne-Marie Condé

Join us as we celebrate the launch of historian and curator Anne-Marie Condé's book of short essays on historical themes, The Prime Minister's Potato and Other Essays.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Go on a curator's journey to uncover the stories behind everyday objects and preserve history for the common good.

After thirty years confined within museum walls, a restless history curator steps out for air. In this book of essays, Anne-Marie Condé grants herself freedom to ask fresh questions about the significance of objects and places within the lives of ordinary people. Cemeteries, junk shops, war memorials. Stones and scraps and scrawls. These are where this author goes for inspiration.

Whether it's a wet greasy pavement in Hobart or a message in chalk in Sydney- Condé can coax a historical narrative out of the most meagre sources. Along the way she asks why anyone would offer a potato as a gift to a prime minister? How could this humble vegetable help us think about Australia's past?

Throughout, Condé casts a patient and gently curious gaze over her subjects. Many writers are fascinated by unrecorded lives, but where there are records, Conde is sure to find them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anne-Marie Condé grew up in Hobart and after completing Honours in history at the University of Tasmania, moved to Melbourne to study for a Masters in Public History at Monash University. A summer internship at the Australian War Memorial led eventually to a long career in Canberra, working in three further national cultural institutions: the National Museum of Australia, the National Archives of Australia and (currently) the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.

As a historian-curator, Anne-Marie has long been fascinated by archives and museum objects. Now, in her first book, The Prime Minister's Potato and Other Essays, she goes further. She explores encounters between people, artefacts and places outside institutional walls. There’s as much history in a row of trees or old shops as in a row of books in a library. This is where Anne-Marie has the most fun these days.