Author Talk – Jessica Kirkness

Author Talk – The House With All The Lights On
By Jessica Kirkness
Thursday 27 July, 12pm
Bookings Essential 6333 6281
Copies of the book will be available for purchase on the day.

About the Book
The House With All The Lights On is a lyrical exploration of family, identity and history, and what it is to be a member of a family where the most beautiful of bonds are born in difference
‘If I were to tell you our story in sign language—the story of my grandparents and me—I’d begin with a single finger touching my chest.”
Jessica Kirkness has traversed the boundary between deaf and hearing cultures all her life. Her memoir tells the story of her grandparents who grew up deaf in a hearing world, one where sign language was banned for much of the twentieth century, and weaves in her own experience as a hearing child in a family that often struggled to navigate their elders’ difference.
This journey takes her from the family home to the workplaces of research audiologists, and back to England where she visits her grandparents’ old schools and other family landmarks, discovering along the way how terribly their deafness has been misunderstood.

About the Author
Jessica Kirkness is a writer and researcher who lives in Sydney on Cammeraygal land. Her work has been published in Meanjin and The Conversation, among other outlets. In 2021, her manuscript was shortlisted for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. In the same year, she also received a commendation for the Peter Blazey Fellowship, awarded to writers in the field of Life Writing.