Long Journey Home: The perilous escapes of Anzac POWs

Katrina Kittel uncovers her father's daring escape from fascists in Italy. Rescheduled event. Captured at Alamein, used as forced labour on farms in northern Italy, thousands of Australian and New Zealand diggers escaped their captors when Italy signed an armistice in September 1943, including the author's father. Could they make it over the Alps to freedom in Switzerland before winter set in? After her father's death, Katrina Kittel uncovers a suitcase of wartime memorabilia that inspires her to retrace his remarkable escape from an Italian POW camp following the 1943 armistice. The story follows Colin Booth and thousands of Allied prisoners as they risked their lives crossing northern Italy and the Alps, relying on the kindness of locals while evading German forces and fascist sympathisers in a desperate bid to reach safety in Switzerland before winter. Katrina Kittel will be in conversation with Maggie Ball Books available for sale and signing Presented by History Illuminated Festival The full program can be accessed here. Katrina Kittel is an historian and librarian who currently works in public libraries in the lower Hunter region of New South Wales. For 30 years she was employed in faculty and client service roles at the University of Newcastle, including student advisory, research assistant and librarian. She has been researching the stories of Australian and New Zealand POWs in Italy for over a decade, and was selected for the ACT Writers Hardcopy 2017 program Magdalena Ball was born in New York City, where she grew up. After gaining an honours degree in English Literature from the City University of New York (CCNY), she moved to Oxford to study English Literature at a postgraduate level. She migrated to NSW Australia, where she now resides on a rural property with her family. Magdalena runs the respected review site and podcast Compulsive Reader. Her editorials, poetry, reviews and articles have appeared in many printed anthologies and journals and she has won local and international awards for poetry and fiction. She is the author of several novels and poetry books, most recently, Bobish, a verse memoir published by Puncher & Wattmann in 2023. Windale Hub, bilyabayi All day parking is available around the venue on Lake and South Streets. From South Street, the library is an easy 5-minute walk. Windale Hub also has a rear car park accessible from Shade Lane which will be reserved for accessible parking with a ramp leading to the building. The building also has an internal ramp. There is a second entry to the library on Lake Street with 2-hour parking available. The library has an accessible toilet, and all meeting rooms have a hearing loop. This event may be photographed and filmed, and your image could be used in advertising and promotion by Lake Macquarie City Council. Should you wish to not be photographed or filmed please advise event organisers on entry at the event.