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Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians

We pay our respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestors of this land, their spirits and their legacy. The foundations laid by these ancestors give strength, inspiration and courage to current and future generations, both First Nations and non-First Nations peoples, towards creating a better Queensland.

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  • What’s On
  • 2025
  • Friends of QPAC The Dictionary of Lost Words: Herstory and the Dictionary Today
The Dictionary of Lost Words featuring the 2025 cast Image by Prudence Upton
  • Talks & Conversations

foqeventthedictionaryoflostwords25 The Dictionary of Lost Words: Herstory and the Dictionary Today QPAC Talks & Conversations Friends of QPAC Special Event The Dictionary of Lost Words: Herstory and the Dictionary Today

27 Apr 2025, 1:30pm
Playhouse
  • Friends of QPAC Special Event

    This event is exclusively offered to Friends of QPAC members. To become a Friend of QPAC and to start receiving exclusive benefits and opportunities, visit our Friends of QPAC page here.

Reserve Tickets
Free
1 hour
no interval, subject to change without notice

Overview

“If words mean different things to men and women, what has been lost in the defining of them?” Pip Williams (author), The Dictionary of Lost Words

Join us for an inspiring panel discussion about the creation of the multi-award winning The Dictionary of Lost Words novel and mainstage adaptation, as well as the importance of this story in today’s world.

Facilitated by Rebecca Levingston and featuring a panel including Pip Williams (author), Verity Laughton (playwright) and Emeritus Professor Roland (Roly) Sussex (language expert), this Friends of QPAC event will reveal the creative journeys of the two writers for The Dictionary of Lost Words while delving into the enduring relevance of the social power dynamics for women, both then and now.

Find out more about each of the panellists below!

Important Information

Celebrate 40 Years of QPAC and Win!

Purchase a ticket at QPAC in 2025 and go in the draw to win a Hyundai TUCSON Hybrid, thanks to Hyundai – proud Principal Partner of QPAC.

To enter the competition, submit an entry form via the QPAC 40 Giveaway competition page. Terms and conditions apply.

Playhouse Access Guide

The Playhouse access guide [PDF, 462KB] provides information on what you can expect while visiting QPAC.

Official ticketing service for QPAC

QTIX is our official ticketing service with selected packages sold through authorised resellers only. Read more about purchasing tickets online.

Meet the Panellists

Panel

Rebecca Levingston

Facilitator

Rebecca Levingston has spent a good chunk of the last twenty years inside the studios at ABC Radio. First she was behind the scenes producing and since 2012 she’s been behind the microphone hosting her own shows. Rebecca has anchored Breakfast, Mornings, Drive, Weekends and statewide Evenings where she’s loved delving into the diverse and delicious stories of the world.

Rebecca began writing opinion columns for InQld.com in 2020. She loves words (both written and spoken) and occasionally makes up new ones.

Pip Williams

Author


Pip Williams was born in London, grew up in Sydney, and now lives in the Adelaide Hills with her family and an assortment of animals.
She has spent most of her working life as a social researcher, studying what keeps us well and what helps us thrive, and she is the author of One Italian Summer, a memoir of her family’s travels in search of the good life, which was published by Affirm Press to wide acclaim.
Her first novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, based on her original research in the Oxford English Dictionary archives, was published in 2020 and became an international bestseller. Its much anticipated companion novel, The Bookbinder of Jericho, became an instant number one bestseller when it was published in April 2023.

Verity Laughton

Playwright

Verity Laughton is a multi-award winning Australian playwright and poet. Her 30+ produced works have been seen in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, the UK and the USA. They include mainstage adult dramas, adaptations, plays for children and families, radio plays, a promenade community event and a musical.
Her recent productions include Long Tan (Brink Productions) and The Red Cross Letters (State Theatre Company South Australia), and she has written for TV and video, as well as articles, reviews, and poems in publications such as the Australian Book Review, Best Australian Poems 2016 and The Griffith Review.

Verity completed a PhD in the political theatre of trauma at Flinders University in 2020. Her current work includes the SAFC-funded development of a film, Flatlands, with director Matthew Thorne; the publication of a book of poetry, Snake, with UK-based The Signal House Edition and a song cycle based on a reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. She is a member of the 7-ON group of playwrights.

Emeritus Professor Roland (Roly) Sussex

Language Expert

Emeritus Professor Roland (Roly) Sussex has spent his life immersed in the fascinating world of language. He was awarded with a PhD in Russian and general linguistics from the University of London, and went on to teach at The University of Melbourne and The University of Queensland. Roly’s curiosity has taken him from classrooms to research to radio studios – he’s been discussing words and their wonderful journeys on ABC Radio since 1997. Since ‘retiring’ from The University of Queensland he has been happily occupied as a researcher and public intellectual.

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