Local Author: John Ogden

Join local author John Ogden for a chat about his book, Whitewash – The Lost Story of an African-Australian, which has been shortlisted by the Australian National Maritime Museum and the Australian Association for Maritime History for the 2022 Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History Book Prize.

Whitewash – The Lost Story of an African-Australian is a true story of breathtaking scope that follows a family’s journey across several centuries, from First Peoples genocide and the transatlantic slave trade to flight and freedom in a new land, punctuated by some of the most significant conflicts in human history. It is also the story of race, identity and the whitewashing of Black and Indigenous history. 

Books will be available for purchase on the day. Payment via card transaction. 

Free, bookings required.

Tea & coffee on arrival.

Enquiries: 8495 5028 or libraryprograms@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

John Ogden is a photographer, cinematographer, author, publisher, and educator based in Sydney, Australia. Ogden’s career began as a photojournalist in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, before becoming a correspondent for the infamous Tracks magazine and other counter-culture publications. In 1977 he commenced studying literature, anthropology and filmmaking at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, graduating in 1979. Over the next three decades he worked as a Director of Photography in multiple genres of filmmaking, and is an accredited member of the ACS. After losing his right eye in a surfing accident in 1998, he established Cyclops Press, an independent publishing company dedicated to telling Australian stories. He is the author of nine books -

• Australienation – Portraits from a Bi-cultural Country (1999) 
• Portraits from a Land Without People (2008) 
• Saltwater People of the Broken Bays (2011) 
• Saltwater People of the Fatal Shore (2012) 
• Slightly Dangerous – The Cyclop’s Cypher (2013)
• Woke – Volume One of the Shibboleth trilogy (2018)
• Will – Volume Two of the Shibboleth trilogy (2019)
• Whitewash – The Lost Story of an African Australian (2020)
• Waterproof – Australian Surf Photography Since 1858 (2021)