What does home feel like when you've spent your life searching for it? And how do stories help us make sense of identity, belonging and displacement?
In this special episode of Fully Lit, recorded live at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival, members of Dorr-e Dari present an evening of storytelling, poetry and conversation exploring Afghan Australian experiences.
The event opens with a powerful personal story from Zeynab Noori about travelling to Afghanistan for the first time and confronting the realities of life under Taliban rule. Writer, director and producer Kobra Sayyadi shares original reflections on travel, courage, beauty and self-discovery, while the performance celebrates the richness and diversity of Afghan culture beyond the narratives that so often dominate public discussion.
In conversation with writer and broadcaster Sheila Ngoc Pham, the group reflects on questions of home, migration, memory, identity and artistic practice. Together, they discuss what it means to belong across multiple countries and cultures, the challenges of representation, and the role of art in creating space for community voices.
This is a conversation about storytelling and the many ways people carry home within them.
Voices
Kobra Sayyadi is a Hazara-Afghan theatre-maker, writer, and interdisciplinary artist blending theatre, poetry, film, and audio. Her work explores feeling, belonging, and the spaces in between.
Zeynab Noori is an Afghan Hazara actor, born and raised in Iran, whose cross-cultural upbringing informs her artistic voice and perspective.
Jawad runs a plastering business, providing his services on construction sites all over Sydney. He was a member of ensemble PYT Fairfield for three years and made his debut as a performer at Griffin Theatre in the premiere production of PYT’s Tribunal.
Mahdi Mohammadi trained as a theatre director at Kabul University, where he co-founded Papyrus Theatre. Under his leadership, the company was awarded First Prize at the Afghan National Theatre Festival and toured internationally to India and Sweden.
Sheila Ngoc Pham is a writer, editor, producer, curator and researcher. Sheila previously co-directed the Addi Road Writers' Festival (2021-2023), and her other curation work includes an exhibition of Đông Hồ paintings (2019) for the State Library of NSW, and most recently, MÌNH (2023) for Fairfield City Museum and Gallery. She is the 2025 Imago Fellow at the State Library of NSW.
Credits
This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival on Gadigal land in Sydney.
Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.
Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.
Recorded and mixed by Daniel Wiggins.
