We are really honoured to speak with anthropologist and author Sophie Chao on this week's Radical Australia. Sophie has recently had her award-winning book published, In the shadow of the palms. It takes readers on a jouney into the heart of the palm oil industry in West Papua, Australia's closest neighbour. Sophie will be joining us here in Naarm very soon at the West Papua Office in Docklands to launch her book to the Melbourne audience. An event not to be missed! As for Sophie's personal journey, she grew up in Hong Kong to a French mother and Chinese father before heading off to Oxford and getting into anthropology and the cause of Tibet. Then came interest in the indigenous rights movement which gradually led her to West Papua. We were really pleased to speak with Sophie and we thank her so much for sharing some of her life and passion with us this week. Thank-you, Sophie.

West Papua Open Day Book Launch - Sunday 11th September 2pm - trybooking.com/events/landing/913101

An arresting trailer for In the shadow of the palms can be viewed on the SOPHIE CHAO Youtube channel