Mothers
Larissa Behrendt + Pattie Lees + Adam Lees + Lauren Appo
kuril dhagun, level 1, State Library
Free event
#Performances
#About the event
Duration: 60 minutes
Our mothers are a constant source of strength and inspiration. This Mother’s Day, join leading First Nations writers in a conversation honouring the strength and love of our mothers.
Panel: Adam Lees, Larissa Behrendt, Patti Lees 
Chair: Lauren Appo
#Artists
Larissa Behrendt
Larissa is the author of three novels: Home, which won the 2002 David Unaipon Award and the regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book; Legacy, which won the 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and the bestselling After Story. She has published numerous books on Indigenous legal issues; her most recent non-fiction book is Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling. She was awarded the 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year award and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. Larissa wrote and directed the feature films, After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed and has written and produced several short films. In 2018 she won the Australian Directors' Guild Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Feature and in 2020 the AACTA for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television. She is the host of Speaking Out on ABC radio and is Distinguished Professor at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.
Pattie Lees
Pattie Lees was born in Cairns, North Queensland, and was removed from her family at an early age and sent to Palm Island as a Ward of the State. At the age of nineteen she joined the Women's Royal Australian Navy. She represented Australia as a delegate at several United Nations development forums. She is currently CEO of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Children and Youth Services. Married to husband Terry for 51 years, Pattie is the mother of four children, grandmother to twelve and a great-grandmother.
Adam Lees
Adam C Lees, Pattie Lee's eldest son, has worked in the mining, energy and resources sector as a community relations and sustainability professional since 2000. He is currently a Senior Corporate Affairs Manager for Woodside Energy based in Perth. Raised in Mount Isa, his wanderlust and passion for photography have taken him off the beaten track to more than 65 countries. Adam is member of Mer Gedkem Le (Torres Strait Islanders Corporation) Registered Native Title Body Corporate and the Cape York Land Council (CYLC).
Lauren Appo
Proud Mamu Woman from Far North Queensland and creator of Books and Yarns Bookclub. Books and Yarns started as an virtual Bookclub on Instagram to celebrating Blak excellence in the world of literature but has become more of a idea and movement around creating spaces for Blak storytelling and stories. Lauren is a regular on ABC radio at "Lunchtime Chat" and a book review on new releases and holds "StoryTime" at local schools, Local Libraries and Daycares.
#Series
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