Chemutai Glasheen on I am the Mau

Chemutai Glasheen is a sessional academic at Curtin University, as well as a teacher and author. She writes fiction aimed at young readers, drawing inspiration from her background and passion for human rights and education. Her short story collection I am the Mau and Other Stories was published by Fremantle Press in 2023. Her creative work has appeared in various publications: Unlimited Futures, Meniscus Volume 9 Issue 2 and ACE: Arresting Contemporary Stories by Emerging Writers. She has held a writer-in-residence position at the Centre for Stories and has been invited to speak or present at events such as the Perth Writers Festival, the Disrupted Festival of Ideas, In Conversation: Human Rights, and the Great Big Book Club Tea Party.

This episode includes a discussion of I am the Mau and other stories, as well as reading recommendations including:

• Unlimited Futures: Speculative, Visionary Blak+Black Fiction
• Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
• Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
• I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
• Chinua Achebe
• A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Also discussed are:

• Identity formation through connections with other people 
• The value of stories about minority communities 
• Themes of place and displacement
• The appeal of the short story format for young readers (and the difficulty of the format for writers!)
• Exploring the balance between respecting and protecting cultural practices, while also accepting change when it is necessary
• The ways in which reading fiction can change opinion and help develop empathy and understanding