Kumi Taguchi will be joined in conversation with writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law.

The death of her estranged father made Kumi Taguchi realise how little she had known him and how ambivalent she had been about the Japanese side of her life.

Growing up, Kumi Taguchi thought her father was just difficult: reserved to the point of silence, obsessively frugal, and – after her parents’ divorce – almost entirely absent. At several points, Kumi decided to cut their few remaining ties, each time learning that denying a piece of your identity is no simple task.

But just because a parent has gone doesn’t mean they’re absent. Over time Kumi came to understand more about what made her father as he was, including his harrowing experiences as a child in wartime Japan and, above all, the culture she both loved and felt burdened by.

In this highly evocative journey of understanding, Kumi explores her divided self: the tension between duty and freedom; the people she’s felt drawn to and lost; and how to find your place when caught between two worlds.

Kumi Taguchi was born in Melbourne to her to her Japanese father and Australian mother. Growing up in rural New South Wales, she studied violin from the age of five, later winning a scholarship to study music at the University of Wollongong. A journalist, broadcaster and natural storyteller, Kumi is the host of SBS television’s award-winning program Insight.

Benjamin Law is an Australian writer and broadcaster. He’s the author of The Family Law, Gaysia, the Quarterly Essay Moral Panic 101 and editor of Growing Up Queer in Australia. An AWGIE Award-winning screenwriter, Benjamin is also the co-executive producer, co-creator and co-writer of the Netflix comedy-drama Wellmania, playwright of Melbourne Theatre Company’s sold-out play Torch the Place, and creator and co-writer of three seasons of the award-winning TV series The Family Law. He has a PhD in creative writing and cultural studies from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

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Event information 
Refreshments will be available from the Theatre Bar from 5.30pm. 
Tickets are General Admission. Seats are not allocated. 
To book accessible seating, please complete the Accessibility Requirements section when registering for your ticket.