Celebrating the completion of the Parramatta Dictionary by Yumna Kassab

In December 2023, the Sydney Review of Books and Western Sydney University's Writing and Society Research Centre were delighted to announce renowned fiction writer, Yumna Kassab, as the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature, a program delivered in partnership with the City of Parramatta. The program, which is currently in its second iteration, recognises the unique and vital work of writers as contributors to narratives of place – through storying, remembering histories, and shaping a creative vision for our shared future.

As the inaugural Laureate, Kassab has composed Parramatta: A Dictionary of Place and Memory. She writes in the introduction to her work: 'It was my idea that a dictionary could tell the story of a person (me) in connection with a place (Parramatta) with enough flexibility to take in detours, digressions, musings, and general quirkiness. I knew at the outset that the entries would be placed under titles and it would be fragmentary in spirit.'

Please join us as we celebrate Kassab's tenure as the inaugural Laureate and the digital publication of excerpts from this monumental work testifying to the cultural vitality, dynamism, and 'general quirkiness' of a region that is developing rapidly as one of Australia’s major economic, artistic, and educational centres.

Author note:

Yumna Kassab is a Parramatta-based novelist and short fiction writer, a high school teacher, and a staunch supporter of the Western Sydney Wanderers. The Lovers (2023) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, and the Victorian Premier’s Award for Fiction. She has also authored The House of Youssef (2019), Australiana (2022), Politica (2024), and Theory of Everything (2025).