In conversation with Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert

Listen to this ANU/Canberra Times Meet the Author conversation on the Experience ANU SoundCloud channel

British -Australian academic, Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, will be conversation with Mark Kenny on her book, The Uncaged Sky, the extraordinary true story of her fight to survive 804 days imprisoned in Iran's Evin and Qarchak prisons after her sentence in 2018 to 10 years jail on unsubstantiated charges of espionage.

This is the full and gripping account of her harrowing ordeal., Kylie was pushed to the limits of her endurance by extreme physical and psychological deprivation. Kylie's only lifeline was the covert friendships she made with other prisoners inside the Revolutionary Guards' maximum-security compound where she had been 'disappeared'.

Cut off from the outside world, Kylie realised she alone had the power to change the dynamics of her incarceration. To survive, she began to fight back, adopting a strategy of resistance with her captors. Multiple hunger strikes, letters smuggled to the media, co-ordinated protests with other prisoners and a daring escape attempt led to her transfer to the isolated desert prison, Qarchak, to live among convicted criminals.

On November 25, 2020, after more than two years of struggle, Kylie was finally released in a high stakes three-nation prisoner swap deal orchestrated by the Australian government, laying bare the complex game of global politics in which she had become a valuable pawn.

Written with extraordinary insight and vivid immediacy, The Uncaged Sky is Kylie Moore-Gilbert's remarkable story of courage and resilience, and a powerful meditation on hope, solidarity and what it means to be free.

Mark Kenny, was appointed Professor at the ANU Australian Studies Institute after a high-profile journalistic career. Mark is host of the Democracy Sausage podcast and a regular commentator on radio and TV, including the ABC's Insiders program and Sky News Agenda.

Dr Raihan Ismail Senior Lecturer at the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, will give the vote of thanks. Raihan was a DECRA fellow from 2019 to 2022. Her research interests include Political Islam, sectarianism, and the intertwining nature of religion and politics in the Middle East.

This event is in association with Harry Hartog Bookshop. Books will be available for purchase on the evening in the Cultural Centre foyer. Pre-event book signings will be available from 5.30pm, and available again after the event.

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A podcast will be made available after the event.