Worlds Within a World – Panel Discussion

In Worlds Within a World, Five First Nations women show what it is like to navigate challenges and deprivations while staying connected to Country and the world’s oldest living culture.

Join editor Casey Mulder and contributors Lois May and Valerie Swift for a panel discussion about the book at Fremantle Library, during NAIDOC Week 2026.

Copies of the book will be available to purchase from Planet Books, and light refreshments will be provided.

About the panel:

Casey Mulder is a Ballardong Noongar educator, writer and editor from Quairading. She works with a wide range of publishing companies, such as HarperCollins, Audible, UWA Publishing, Night Parrot Press, Allen & Unwin, Affirm Press, Simon and Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette, Fremantle Press and Magabala Books. She is the Director of First Nations Writing and Programs at the Centre for Stories and is currently working on a creative non-fiction manuscript. Casey takes joy in supporting mob to tell our stories in our ways.

Lois May is the fourth eldest of eight children. Her mother’s families are Yarran, Bolten, Bennell and Garlett; her father’s are Humphrey, Winmar and Turvey. Lois is a mother of four children and grandmother of nine, with four great-grandchildren. Her early childhood was mainly spent between Kellerberrin and Tamin in the Eastern Wheatbelt (Ballardong Country in a place called Bungulla). After school she trained as a ladies hairdresser before going on to manage her own salon. Lois has worked as an Aboriginal Islander Education Officer, and an Aboriginal Liaison Officer and Coordinator supporting schools, Aboriginal workers, students and families. She has worked in many non-government organisations, sharing and integrating cultural safety strategies to encourage self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People in the workplace and raise awareness for all Australians.

Valerie Swift, a proud Minang Elder, was born at the Gnowangerup Mission Hospital in 1953 on the traditional lands of the Goreng people. A member of the Gray–Knapp family, with extensive family connections across Western Australia and Traditional connections to the Ngadju peoples, Valerie grew up in Jerramungup with her 17 siblings, spending her childhood living off the land in a tin humpy in the bush.

Adjunct Professor Swift is currently a Co-Director of the Djaalinj Waakinj Centre for Ear and Hearing Health Centre and is the Aboriginal Cultural Advisor for The Kids Research Institute Australia’s Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines & Infectious Diseases in Perth. She is a qualified Aboriginal health professional, adjunct professor at Curtin University, Aboriginal researcher and committee member of Moorditj Koort Aboriginal Corporation, Babbingur Mia Aboriginal Family Support Program, and Yarramoup Aboriginal Corporation. She has had a distinguished career in health, education and welfare services management, driving new initiatives and striving for change to improve the effectiveness of Aboriginal programs.

About the book:

How do you inhabit multiple worlds at the same time? Five First Nations women show what it is like to navigate challenges and deprivations while staying connected to Country and the world’s oldest living culture.

They recount memories of growing up – as members of the Stolen Generations, in an adopted family, or within loving families shadowed by adversity. With honesty and courage, these women show how education and cultural connection can transform lives. The reflections in these stories are an invitation to learn from the past. Their contribution to truth-telling will inspire and guide future generations.

Featuring contributions from:

Carol Foley (Yamatji Noongar), Deborah Green (Yamatji), Barb Hostalek (Yawuru Gija / Territorian, Czech and Greek), Lois May (Ballardong Noongar), and Valerie Swift (Minang Ngadju).

Published by Fremantle Press.