Q&A with True Story festival author Michael Samaras

Michael Samaras is a Sydney-based writer and researcher with a knack for uncovering hidden histories. In 2022, his research brought to light the Nazi past of the Wollongong Art Gallery’s founding benefactor. This year, Michael is appearing at True Story Festival to discuss his first book, Anti-Fascists: Jim McNeill and his mates in the Spanish Civil War. He'll join Dennis Glover and Siobhan McHugh for a panel titled "The F Word" on Sunday, November 16, at 1:30pm.

True Story Festival's theme for 2025 is ‘But Seriously’ and author talks will be held on Saturday, 15 November and Sunday, 16 November at Coledale Community Hall. Early bird single day and weekend passes are available via Humanitix.

What is your latest writing project?

I’ve been writing someone else’s autobiography, and, for obvious reasons, I can’t disclose who they are. I started it as a writing project. As a ghost-writer, you are forced to step into someone else’s shoes, and I wanted to see how credible I could be with someone else’s voice and a life story that is nothing like my own.

What do you love about writing?

I don’t especially like writing. I much prefer the research that I do, establishing facts and finding out things that have otherwise been overlooked. I have to force myself to stop researching and commit to starting the writing part – otherwise, I would never get anything written.

What is your earliest reading memory?

My family had the Childcraft Encyclopedia and, as a child, I spent a lot of time reading it. In particular, I used to pore over the stories in the volumes: Stories & Fables, Pioneers & Patriots, and People to Know.

What’s a book you could never read again?

Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The near-incomprehensible rantings of a fanatic. It is a mediocre effort that I had to read for research purposes, but will certainly never read again.

What are you currently reading?

I’m just about to finish Stuart Macintyre’s Australia’s Boldest Experiment: War and Reconstruction in the 1940s. This account of a crucial decade explains modern Australia’s emergence in the post-war years as a prosperous society.

Read more

Author Michael Samaras shares untold history of Australia’s anti-fascist soldiers in new book

The F Word

Saturday, November 16: 1:30–2:30pm

It’s bandied around a lot these days in conversations about the US and right-wing politics, but what exactly is fascism and why would it prompt Wollongong steelworker Jim McNeil to go and fight against it in the Spanish Civil War, just as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway did? Michael Samaras has uncovered a remarkable story of idealism and courage in Anti-Fascists: Jim McNeil and his mates in the Spanish Civil War. Meanwhile, Dennis Glover brings the subject into the modern day in his book Repeat: A Warning from History, drawing our attention to the perils of populists, dictators and authoritarianism. This conversation is hosted by Walkley-award winning author and podcast producer Siobhan McHugh.