RACS presents: In Conversation with Shankari Chandran

ABOUT THE EVENT

Miles Franklin Award-winning author and lawyer Shankari Chandran has long written with heart, compassion, and a powerful sense of justice. From Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens to Song of the Sun God to Safe Haven, her work explores the experiences of refugees and migrants in Australia with depth and humanity.

This special evening will see Shankari reflect on refugee justice, inclusion and diversity in Australia, her legal career, and, of course, her celebrated writing.

Hosted by RACS (Refugee Advice & Casework Service) in collaboration with Belvoir St Theatre, this event is an opportunity to hear directly from one of Australia’s most important contemporary voices.

The conversation will conclude with a book signing and a chance to connect with Shankari and fellow attendees.

WHEN:
Monday, 22 September 2025
Doors Open 5:30pm
Starts: 6:30pm

WHERE:
Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Surry Hills, NSW

PRICE:
General Admission – $35

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Shankari Chandran

Shankari Chandran is an Australian Tamil lawyer and author of Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, Song of the Sun God, The Barrier, Safe Haven and Unfinished Business. In 2023 she won the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023 for Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens. Her fiction explores dispossession and the creation of community, and it’s informed by her work in the social justice sector. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and children.

Sarah Dale

Sarah Dale is RACS’s Centre Director & Principal Solicitor. Sarah joined RACS in 2013, following several years helping refugees and people seeking asylum with visa cancellation and civil law issues. As RACS’s first Child Specialist Solicitor, she represented unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Australia, and children detained on Christmas Island and Nauru. 

Sarah has contributed her expertise to the UNHCR Expert Roundtable on family reunification in Brussels, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders at York University and UNHCR’s Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP). She has received various accolades for her refugee rights work, including the Law Society of NSW’s Community Service Award (2023) and Lawyers Weekly’s Migration Partner of the Year (2018). 

ABOUT RACS

Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS) is a community legal centre providing financially disadvantaged and vulnerable refugees living in our community with access to critical legal services.

RACS strive to ensure that men, women and children of all nationalities, religions and sexual/gender identity, who have been forced to flee their home countries due to persecution of race, religion, nationality or political views, get access to justice and are treated equally and fairly before the law.

RACS rely on the generous support of donations from the community to do this important work. www.racs.org.au