No one to talk to: the decline of conversation

In his Miegunyah Lecture, Professor Ian Williams examines the social, technological, and political contradictions that threaten open conversation across our campuses and democracies.

Drawing on the thinking behind his 2024 CBC Massey lectures (published as What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time, Toronto, Anansi Press, 2024), Professor Williams considers the conundrum of how despite constant connectivity, we find ourselves in an epidemic of loneliness. Political activism is met with moral paralysis, diversity initiatives with terror of the stranger.

‘No One to Talk To: The Decline of Conversation’ is an invitation to address the divide and rethink conversations—personal, online, and political—as an antidote to polarisation and alienation.

About the speaker

Professor Ian Williams is the author of six acclaimed books, including Disorientation, an essay collection on race, selected as a best book of the year by the Boston Globe. His poetry collection, Word Problems, considers the ethical and political issues of our time as math and grammar problems. His novel, Reproduction, won of the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award for the best work of global fiction. Reproduction was published in Canada, the US, and the UK, and translated into Italian. His poetry collection, Personals, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award. His short story collection, Not Anyone's Anything, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction in Canada. His first book, You Know Who You Are, was a finalist for the ReLit Poetry Prize. CBC named him as one of ten Canadian writers to watch. He is a trustee for the Griffin Poetry Prize.

Professor Williams completed his PhD at the University of Toronto. After several years teaching poetry in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, Professor Williams returned to the University of Toronto as a tenured full professor of English, director of the Creative Writing program and academic advisor for the Massey College William Southam Journalism Fellowship. He was a former Canadian Writer-in-Residence for the University of Calgary’s Distinguished Writers Program and has held many other posts, including Visiting Fellow at the American Library in Paris.

Photo Credit: Justin Morris

About the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Program

The Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Program arose from a recommendation by the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund Committee - the body responsible for the management of the Russell Grimwade bequest.

Sir Russell Grimwade was an industrial chemist by training and a man of wide-ranging interests, including forestry, native timbers and Australia’s settler history, and was the author of two books. He was a member of the University Council for 20 years from 1935, including a period as Deputy Chancellor.

Miegunyah (a word from an Aboriginal language, possibly Dharuk (Sydney), that includes the meaning 'house') was the Grimwades’ home from 1911, and where Lady Grimwade lived following Sir Russell’s death in 1955. Sir Russell's art collection and funds were bequeathed to the University of Melbourne, to which Lady Grimwade added her house Miegunyah and further funds, which were received after her death in 1973.

Their art collection is housed by The Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University Archives and the Baillieu Library.

The Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund also supports the prestigious Miegunyah Press imprint of Melbourne University Publishing.

Post-event Reception

Please join us for light refreshments following the conclusion of the lecture where there will be an opportunity to meet the speaker.

Enquiries

Please send your enquiries to arts-engage@unimelb.edu.au