Join us in celebrating International Day of People with Disability as we host Dr Jessica Kirkness in conversation with Dr Yumiko Kadota and they discuss her memoir, The House With All The Lights On.

Thursday 30 November, 6.30pm at Warringah Mall Library.

Jessica is a GODA – a grandchild of deaf adults— who writes about deafness, disability and family. In 2019 she received her PhD in the field of life writing and Deaf studies.

Jessica has traversed the boundary between deaf and hearing cultures all her life. Her memoir tells the story of her grandparents’ experience of growing up deaf in a hearing world—one where sign language was banned for much of the twentieth century—and her own experience as a hearing child raised in a family that often struggled to navigate their elders’ difference.

This journey takes her from the family home to the workplaces of research audiologists, and back to England where she visits her grandparents’ old schools and other family landmarks - discovering along the way how terribly their deafness has been misunderstood.

Her debut book, The House With All The Lights On, captures the universal experience of navigating complex family relationships and beautifully explores the nuances of identity in what is both a memoir and a love letter to those closest to her heart.

Books will be available for purchase and signing on the night provided by Harry Hartog Warringah Mall.

$5.00 + booking fee

AUSLAN interpreted event.

Non-alcoholic refreshments and nibbles on arrival.

Bookings required.

Reserve your copy of The House With All The Lights On

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

Dr Jessica Kirkness is a writer and researcher who lives in Sydney on Cammeraygal land. Her work has been published in Meanjin and The Conversation, among other outlets. In 2021, her manuscript was shortlisted for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. In the same year, she also received a commendation for the Peter Blazey Fellowship, awarded to writers in the field of Life Writing.

Earning her PhD in 2019, her research investigates the value of life writing and creative nonfiction in animating the 'hearing line': the invisible boundary between Deaf and hearing cultures. She currently teaches nonfiction writing at Macquarie University. The House With All The Lights On is her first book.

Dr Yumiko Kadota is a medical doctor who resigned from public hospital work after experiencing burnout. Her story entered mainstream media after she blogged in 2019 about her experiences as a trainee in the health system. She now works in medical education and private health. Her first book, Emotional Female, released in 2021 and received heartfelt reviews.