Thistledown Seed: in conversation

Interweaving fiction and memoir in multiple threads, Thistledown Seed follows the displacement and violence of the Holocaust for a Polish family who subsequently settle in Western Australia. In this deeply moving account, Louise Helfgott explores another side of her family’s tragic past made famous in the Oscar-winning movie, Shine, about her brother David Helfgott. The floating thistledown seed, often seen in Europe during summer, represents the diaspora of the Jewish people who were scattered around the world as a result of the Holocaust. 

About the Author

Louise Helfgott is an award-winning writer with a PhD in Creative Writing from Edith Cowan University. She has had an extensive body of work published and plays produced. Her book, Thistledown Seed, which was published by Brandl and Schlesinger in 2022, was shortlisted in the WA Premier’s Book Awards for Book of the Year, 2023, and shortlisted in the Dorothy Hewett Awards for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2018. Recent achievements include Light in her Eye which won the Todhunter Literary Award in 2014 and performed at the Perth Fringe Festival in 2018.

Louise will be live, in conversation, discussing Thistledown Seeds with Dr Rashida Murphy, author of the novel The Historian’s Daughter (UWA Publishing 2016) and a collection of short stories titled The Bonesetter’s Fee & Other Stories (Spineless Wonders, 2022).

Don't miss this opportunity to hear two fantastic authors discuss the issues raised in this thought provoking book.