About this episode

This episode features poets Anne Casey and Nadia Niaz discussing multilingual poetry and its impact on cultural identity in Australia.

This episode of Fully Lit comes from our friends at the UTS Multicultural Women's Network, and features two poets, Anne Casey and Nadia Niaz, in conversation with host Elaine Laforteza. Both Anne and Nadia challenge the dominance of English in Australia by creating bold, multilingual poetry. What does embracing multilingualism sound like? How do these poets use language to disrupt, to heal, to remember, and to imagine a different, more ethical way of belonging in Australia? This is the second episode in a new series called ' My Language, My Country ' - the first series on a new UTS podcast called Change the Story . The series explores the Australian tradition of acknowledging Country, and how that tradition might be enriched by embracing the hundreds of languages spoken in Australia. Guests Esita Sogotubu hails from Fiji and is the Employability Manager at UTS Careers. Her traditional roots are in Vunuku, Moala, Lau with maternal links to Nayavu, Wainibuka, Tailevu. She is a former international student who has over 15 years experience as a career development practitioner. Nadia Niaz is the author of The Djinn Hunters and the founding editor of the Australian Multilingual Writing…

People in this episode

Host: Elaine Laforteza

Guests: Anne Casey, Nadia Niaz

Topics covered

• multilingualism
• poetry
• cultural identity
• belonging
• language
• Australia

Keywords

• multilingual homes
• poetry
• cultural belonging
• language diversity
• Australia
• UTS
• women's network

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UTS Multicultural Women's Network, UTS Careers, Australian Multilingual Writing Project

Places: Australia, Fiji, Vunuku, Moala, Lau, Nayavu, Wainibuka, Tailevu, University of Melbourne, west of Ireland

More episodes of Fully Lit

• 28. Isolation, Place and Truth: Verity Borthwick and Judi Morison in conversation with Claire Corbett · April 22, 2026 · 42 min
• 27. The Long Game: Felicity Castagna and writing Western Sydney · April 9, 2026 · 1h 12m
• 26. Historical present & multilingual musicality: remembering Antigone Kefala · March 26, 2026 · 1h 5m
• 24. Writing the Real: Fiction, Work and Witness with Gretchen Shirm and Andrew Pippos · February 25, 2026 · 54 min
• 23. The Critics’ Report: Freedom, Funding and ‘Social Cohesion’ · February 11, 2026 · 51 min
• 22. How to Read a Poem · January 29, 2026 · 53 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Fully Lit podcast page.