Join us for the launch of two books: Journeys and Operation Pedro Pan.

The first book, Journeys is edited by Ruth Adler, Jacqueline Buswell and Jenny Cooper and is a compilation of thirteen Australian women’s stories of their experiences in Mexico over a period of fifty years. This is a most atypical selection of travel writings, the contributors representing a range of backgrounds and professions, some landing in Mexico by chance, others for study or work, some drawn by a sense of adventure, and some find love and choose to stay. All are tales of life-affirming experiences, even if initially terrifying, such as surviving earthquakes, secret police interrogations or violent robberies. Discover a vivid, very different Mexico through the words – reminiscences, letters and poems – and images of these Australian women travellers.

The second book, Operation Pedro Pan is written by Deborah Shnookal. It uses the remarkable tale of the exodus to Miami of 14,000 Cuban children in the early 1960s to examine the nature of the revolutionary project that was initiated with the 1959 overthrow of the US-backed dictator, General Fulgencio Batista. The story of the quaintly dubbed “Operation Pedro Pan” remains bitterly contested on both sides of the Florida Straits: in Miami, it is remembered as an “urgent rescue mission to save the children from communist indoctrination,” while in Cuba it is recalled as an ignominious episode, part of Washington’s covert war to undermine and overturn the Cuban revolution. This history sheds considerable light on the apparently irresolvable tensions between Cuba and the United States today.

This event is free to attend but bookings are essential.

Please book here.

This event is wheelchair accessible.