For more than three decades now, voice-recorder and notebook always to hand, the winner of last year's Nobel Prize in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich, has been rummaging through the debris of the Soviet world, capturing the voices of those who lived, suffered or prospered in the USSR and in the chaos that followed its disintegration. For the full review of her new book click here.
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Atlantic City Project
Their words can be heard amid the crackles of cassette tapes and read on typewritten pages from 38 years ago, in a collection at the Atlantic City Free Public Library. In a small room with a window facing Tennessee Avenue, the little-known collection exists amid stacked boxes, memorabilia, crowded shelves and a single computer. Here, hand-typed pages, reels of audio tape and gigs of memory hold the voices of Atlantic City’s past. For full story including podcast and video click here.
Wisconsin’s Vietnam Veterans
For decades, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum has been collecting the personal stories of people who've served in the military. They reflect on their time in uniform, the impact of their service, and their thoughts about it today. For full story, with audio excerpt click here.
Carcoar Exhibition
The Survivors exhibition which caught the imagination of people in Wellington and Dubbo, is now in Carcoar. More than 18,000 people have attended the exhibition. This is a photographic and recorded oral history of 18 Elders and Elders-in-waiting who reflect on their lives, growing up and living on Nanima Mission at Wellington – the oldest continually run mission in Australia. For full story click here.
East Garfield Park, Chicago Project
One major touchstone for Chicagoans when they talk about the history of East Garfield Park is the riots that took place there following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In some ways, the riots seem to have overshadowed other, brighter moments in the neighborhood’s past. For full story including an audio radio interview click here.
Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947
When Guneeta Singh Bhalla was 19 years old, her paternal grandmother Harbhajan Kaur sat her down at her home in New Jersey to relay a harrowing migration story. The date was August 1947. The place, Lahore, a city in the northern state of Punjab, in what was once India, but what was now the new Muslim majority country of Pakistan. Almost overnight, Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims who'd lived in Lahore for generations in peace turned on one another. Kaur, a Sikh, was forced to abandon her family estate and board a train with her three young children — ages four, three, and one — to Amritsar, a small city just inside the new border of India. For six months, she was separated from her husband. The dead bodies, the horrific violence she witnessed haunted her for the rest of her life. Read full story with videos and links here.
“The Silences”
'The Silences' tells the story of a disenchanted mother forced to abandon ambitions of becoming a performer to raise a young family alongside an abusive husband. Jason Di Rosso spoke to veteran filmmaker Margot Nash about the process of making this personal memoir. See full story here.
Forgotten Australians Demand Justice
The Alliance of Forgotten Australians has appealed to state and federal governments, demanding prioritised access to long-awaited services and support. Speaking on behalf of the Alliance, chairperson Caroline Carroll said that with many Forgotten Australians now aged somewhere between their 50s and mid-80s, the time to act is now. Read full story with links here.
Boston College Tapes Story Continues
Apple’s 40th Anniversary
Whether Apple was actually started by two guys in a California garage may be debatable, but what's certain is that the pioneering computer maker turned consumer electronics juggernaut has come a long way. Four decades after Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak set out to turn computers into a tool that anyone could use, Apple has become the most valuable brand in the world, with some of the most successful products ever made. For full story click here.