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PRESENTED BY THE WRITING AND SOCIETY RESEARCH CENTRE & GIRAMONDO PUBLISHING
Please join us for a celebration and discussion of What Kept You? - the powerful debut novel by Raaza Jamshed.
Published by Giramondo in July 2025, this novel ‘offers an energetic new voice in Australian fiction: vivid in expression and bold in vision (Gail Jones). Set across the fault lines of memory, migration, and myth, What Kept You? follows the story of Jahan, a Pakistani woman raised on her grandmother’s cautionary tales. Shaped by demons of folklore, colonial rupture, and the silence of intergenerational trauma, these stories taught Jahan to be wary of the world. But her grandmother’s life – marked by quiet acts of defiance – hinted at another truth. Jahan rebels against the constraints of girlhood in Lahore, and migrates to Australia, where she tries to remake a life with her Arab husband, Ali. There, as she reckons with the unruliness of her body after a miscarriage, an unravelling marriage, and bushfires that threaten their home and horses, Jahan is forced to confront the violence that haunts her, against women, animals, and in nature.
As Jamshed explains in her author note, ‘I found myself returning to a line from Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching: “Please tell a story about a girl who gets away.” I wanted a girl in my story to get away. I wanted her to survive, even if that survival looked like wreckage.’
Featuring readings and discussion with the author, What Kept You? will be launched by A/Prof Anne Jamison.
Copies of What Kept You? will be available for purchase on the night for signing, with light refreshments available to guests.
This event is jointly supported by the Writing and Society Research Centre, Western Sydney Creative, Western Sydney University and Giramondo Publishing.
Date: Thursday 31 July 2025
Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Venue: PHIVE, Parramatta Library, 5 Parramatta Square, Parramatta, Civic Gallery (Level 3) (just outside Parramatta train station)
RSVP: This event is free, but RSVP is essential for catering purposes. All are welcome.