Octavia Butler Told You This Would Happen Atong Atem and Shae Omonijo, with Santilla Chingaipe
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Where visionary storytelling meets today’s biggest political dilemmas
Event details
| Date | Time |
|---|---|
| Sunday, 4 October 2026 | 10:30am |
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Unreserved Seating | $39 |
$8.95 booking fee applies per transaction
Prices correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection.
The only authorised ticket agency for this event is Sydney Opera House. For more information about Authorised Agencies, see the frequently asked questions below.
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For those requiring assistance, wheelchair or companion seating, accessible seating locations are available. Bookings can be made by calling the Box Office on +61 2 9250 7777 or by email.
Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times.
The Opera House is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children that visit or engage with us. Read our Child Safety Policy.
Sydney Review of BooksOut of the dizzy techno-optimism of the 1980s and 1990s, Octavia E. Butler saw clearly what would actually come next. The rest of us are still trying to catch up…
Meet the speakers
Atong Atem
Atong Atem is an Australian–South Sudanese multidisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, photography, textiles and film. Through these mediums, Atong explores identity, ethics, selfhood and displacement. Her work references the shadows of colonialism and the politics of visibility, drawing from personal experience and broader diasporic narratives.
Whether through richly layered paintings, intimate photographic works (including self-portraitures), or cinematic visual narratives, Atong’s practice is rooted in experimentation and storytelling, using the body, image and moving picture as sites of inquiry.
Alongside her studio practice, Atong’s background in fashion and media informs a distinct visual language bridging fine art and contemporary culture. This intersectional approach allows her to collaborate fluidly across disciplines, creating work that is both conceptually rigorous and visually arresting.
Shae O Omonijo
Shae O Omonijo is a humanist and writer working at the intersection of technology and the humanities. She is the founder of Critical Thinking Labs, a think tank dedicated to preserving human intelligence in an age of accelerating automation, and the creator of the Critical Thinking Bot, a tool built to sharpen, rather than replace, human reasoning. She is a PhD candidate at Harvard University, where she also earned her master's degree, and completed her undergraduate studies with honours at the University of Chicago. Her Substack bestseller, AI, the Humanities, and the Future of Work, explores what we stand to lose and what we must protect, as artificial intelligence reshapes how we think, work and understand ourselves. Shae speaks internationally on the future of critical thought in the age of AI.
Santilla Chingaipe
Moderator
Santilla Chingaipe is a filmmaker, historian and writer, whose work explores settler colonialism, slavery and post-colonial migration in Australia.
Santilla’s first book of non-fiction Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia (2024) was shortlisted for The Stella Prize and longlisted for the Cundill History Prize.
She is a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper and a columnist for The Monthly.
She is based in Melbourne.
4 Oct – 4 Nov 2026
Curious
Curious is where culture, creativity and ideas collide. It’s for minds that never stop asking questions about the world and ourselves. Dive into the ideas shaping headlines, sparking debate and changing the way we live.
Attending this event
Venue information
Our foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres in the Western Foyer.
Getting here
The Sydney Opera House Car Park, operated by Wilson Parking, is open and available to use. Wilson Parking offer discounted parking if you book ahead. Please see the Wilson Parking website for details.
Please check the Transport NSW website for the latest advice and information on travel. You can catch public transport (bus, train, ferry) to Circular Quay and enjoy a 7-10 minute walk to the Opera House.
Frequently asked questions
Ticket purchases and collection at our Box Office is discouraged and eTicket or postal delivery methods should be used, wherever possible. However, if you are collecting your tickets from the Box Office, we recommend doing this at least 60 minutes before the event starts. If you have already received your tickets, the venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Please take your seats as soon as you arrive.
If you are late, we will seat you as soon as we can and, where possible, in your allocated seat. However, to reduce movement in the venue as well as minimise disruption to the performance and other patrons, ticketholders may be seated in an allocated latecomer’s seat. Please be aware that some events have lock-out periods. In these cases, latecomers will be admitted at a suitable break in the performance. On occasions, this may not be until the interval, or at all where there is no interval.
Details of our right to refuse admission can be found in our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Events.
In accordance with our venue security procedures, Opera House security will be scanning and checking bags under the Monumental Stairs, prior to entering the building. Bags will be scanned by an x-ray machine, and staff will wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when handling your belongings, such as gloves. Cloaking facilities will be open 60 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 60 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. However it is strongly encouraged that you travel lightly to minimise contact and queuing. Any bags larger than an A4 piece of paper will need to be checked into the Cloak Room.
The authorised agency for this event is the Sydney Opera House.
Only tickets purchased by authorised agencies should be considered reliable. If you purchase tickets from a non-authorised agency such as Ticketmaster Resale, Viagogo, Ticketbis, eBay, Gumtree, Tickets Australia or any other unauthorised seller, you risk that these tickets are fake, void or have previously been cancelled. Resale restriction applies. For more details, please refer to our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events.
Please contact Box Office on +61 2 9250 7777 as soon as possible to advise if you can no longer attend.
Foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
The venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances.
Please bring a credit or debit card for any on site purchases to enable contactless payment. You’re welcome to bring your own water bottle but no other food and drinks are permitted inside our venues.
The health, safety and wellbeing of everyone at the Sydney Opera House is our top priority. In line with this commitment, the Opera House became a smoke-free site in January 2022. Read our Smoke-free Environment Policy.
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