Stories from the West

Join us for the opening night of Write Out West: Western Sydney Libraries and Literature Festival with a special panel celebrating the voices and stories of Western Sydney.

Stories from the West brings together Kirsty Jagger, Shirley Le, Michael Mohammed Ahmad in conversation with Sarah Ayoub for a rich and thought provoking conversation about writing from—and about— Western Sydney. Drawing on lived experience and community storytelling, the panel will explore place, identity and the power of stories to shape culture and connection.

Books by the authors will be available for purchase from the pop up QBD Books store at the event, with signing opportunities following the session. A special opening night event that sets the tone for a festival celebrating Western Sydney writing at its best.

About the authors:

Kirsty Jagger is a journalist by trade. In 2019, she won the inaugural Heyman Mentorship Award, established by acclaimed Australian author Kathryn Heyman for a writer from a background of social or economic disadvantage. Roseghetto takes some inspiration from growing up in the housing commission estates of Sydney’s western suburbs. This is her first novel.

Shirley Le is Vietnamese-Australian author and editor from Yagoona. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University. Her short stories and essays have been published in Overland, The Guardian, Griffith Review and Meanjin. Her debut novel is Funny Ethnics (Affirm Press, 2023) and she is the Editor of the Love anthology, published by the Sweatshop Literacy Movement in 2025.

Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and editor of the critically acclaimed anthology After Australia (Affirm Press, 2020). Mohammed’s debut novel, The Tribe (Giramondo, 2014) won the 2015 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelists Award. His second novel, The Lebs (Hachette, 2018), won the 2019 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award. His third novel, The Other Half of You (Hachette, 2021), won the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and the Voss Literary Prize. Mohammed received his doctorate of Creative Arts from Western Sydney University in 2017.

Sarah Ayoub is a freelance journalist, bestselling author and academic based in Sydney, Australia. Her bylines have appeared in The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Marie-Claire, ELLE, Sydney Review of Books, and more, and she regularly appears at many of Australia’s major literary festivals. She is the author of three teen novels, including the best-selling, Inky-longlisted The Yearbook Committee, and four children’s picture books, including The Love that Grew and How to be a friend. She holds a PhD in ethnic teen literature, is a sessional academic at the University of Sydney and sits on the board of the Australian Society of Authors.