'America Unravelling' at Queenscliffe Literary Festival

'America Unravelling' at Queenscliffe Literary Festival

  • 19 Oct 2025
  • 11:15am - 12:15pm
  • $22 - $30
  • Queenscliff Town Hall, 50 Learmonth Street, Queenscliff
Buy tickets
event header image

It's been less than a year since Donald Trump took his second Presidential victory. How is this administration shaping up for Australia and the world?

RMIT University is delighted to partner with Queenscliffe Literary Festival this October, presenting a special session on the current political landscape in the United States. The session will feature two of Australia's foremost U.S. politics experts: Historian, RMIT alumni and Director of the Australia Institute's International & Security Affairs Program, Dr. Emma Shortis, and renowned writer and former academic historian Don Watson. 

Sitting in the interview chair will be RMIT journalism lecturer, radio presenter, and award-winning podcast producer Dr. Dylan Bird. 

With the re-election of President Trump, America has entered a tumultuous new era of political strongmanship and an unravelling of previous approaches to foreign policy, climate action, and human rights. 

With decades of U.S. political expertise between them, Emma Shortis and Don Watson will unpack what this new era means for Australia and the world.  

'America Unravelling' is a partnership event between RMIT University and Queenscliffe Literary Festival.

Share

Upcoming events

eoi-ref.jpg

Now accepting 2027 First Site Gallery project proposals

Student
Icon / Small / CalendarCreated with Sketch. 28 Sep 2026 - 01 Nov 2026

Are you an RMIT student with a creative project you’d like to share? We are calling for proposals from RMIT students, who are currently enrolled in the College of Design and Social Context, to exhibit in the 2027 First Site Gallery exhibition program.

ec-ref.jpg

'The Voice of the Maribyrnong' by Elijah Cristiano

Icon / Small / CalendarCreated with Sketch. 06 Oct 2026 - 30 Oct 2026

Elijah Cristiano combines underwater footage, archival images and sound to examine the Maribyrnong River’s colonial and industrial histories – and the ways photography has framed the river.

minh-an-ref.jpg

'Vườn lan (Orchid Garden)' by Minh-An Pham

Icon / Small / CalendarCreated with Sketch. 06 Oct 2026 - 30 Oct 2026

Rooted in his mother’s favourite flower, 'Vườn lan (Orchid Garden)' revisits Minh-An Pham’s parents’ wedding photographs as a means of reflecting on their relationship, his own experiences, and memory and longing more broadly.

Load more
aboriginal flag float-starttorres strait flag float-start

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples