Limmud Oz 2021

Arnold Zable will speak of the varied characters that inhabit his latest book, The Watermill, continuing his long-time exploration of themes of displacement and belonging, and the impact of trauma and historical upheaval on the lives of ordinary people. The quartet of stories is set in locations ranging from remote provinces in China and Cambodia, to Eastern Europe and Indigenous Australia. Amongst them is ‘The Republic of the Stateless’, the story of Sonia Lizaron, a modest woman who lived out her final years in Melbourne’s seaside suburb of Elwood, and became the surrogate grandmother of Arnold’s own son. Trained in pre-war Lodz in the art of Yiddish cabaret, she co-founded the remarkable ‘Katzet’ theatre in Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons camp – a troupe which embarked on a tour of Europe, employing their art as an act of resistance, protest, and healing.