In this very special episode Love to Read Local Radio with Fremantle Press, Yuot A. Alaak shares his refugee experience and talks about the importance of sharing real and nuanced African stories with Rebecca Higgie

Show Notes

In this touching episode of Love to Read Local radio, debut author Yuot A. Alaak (Father of the Lost Boys) talks about his refugee experience, and how his memoir tells the story of his family, especially of his inspiring father who led 20,000 lost boys towards a brighter future during the Second Sudanese Civil War.

He also mentions the power of storytelling, and its importance in African society. For him, stories were a way of distracting himself from the hardships of reality, and to keep hope alive. He says that it’s important that real and nuanced stories about Africa are being shared that depicts its beauty and the hospitality of its people, rather than the imagined, ‘dark continent’ that it’s often portrayed as.

Music: ‘Letter to a Daughter of St George’, from the Meat Lunch EP: Songs from Floaters. Written by Alan Fyfe. Performed by Trevor Bentley (guitar and vocals – @trevormb) and Chris Parkinson (harmonica). Produced by Blake Carnaby of Nuglife studios with impresario work by Benjamin P. Newton.

Producer: Claire Miller

Mastered and edited by: Aidan d’Adhemar

Sponsor: This show was made possible with a grant from the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund

Show Notes

Other Episodes

Episode 10

Superstar children's book writers Julia Lawrinson and AJ Betts join the Fremantle Press podcast to share their new books and their top tips for successful author gigs

Episode 1

Meet the 2021 Fogarty Literary Award Shortlist

Episode 11

Holden Sheppard talks to David Whish-Wilson about his hard-hitting new crime novel True West and what it says about our right-wing past and our political present