The second memoir from a beloved Australian icon of TV and cinema follows Magda’s journey from daughter to orphan, from comedian to campaigner

The second memoir from a beloved Australian icon of TV and cinema follows Magda's journey from daughter to orphan, from comedian to campaigner. I Can't Tell You But I Will is the powerful and tender new memoir by Magda Szubanski, author of the bestselling, award-winner Reckoning. In her book she writes with searing honesty about her complicated relationship with her dying mother Margaret. As Magda stepped into the fight for same-sex marriage in Australia, she was also confronting the heartbreak of her mother's decline. This unforgettable book describes the true cost of caring, the courage it takes to keep going, and the impossible pull between public duty and private grief. A beautiful hardcover, I Can't Tell You But I Will is for everyone who has loved or lost someone, or tried to hold themselves together when life demands everything at once. 'Powerful, emotional...This thought-provoking memoir delves deeply into the personal, the religious and the political, providing a moving account of one woman's life as she copes with private grief while firmly in the public eye.' Good Reading 'She writes about her life with such emotional precision, like a forensic pathologist wielding a scalpel...an insightful and deeply elegant window into aspects of Szubanski we rarely get to see.' Guardian

Details

ISBN13: 9781922458810
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 480
Edition:
Publication Date: 29 Sep 2026
Publisher: Text Publishing
Publication City, Country: Melbourne, Australia
Dimensions (cm): 24(H)x16.2(L)x4.5(W)760
Weight (gm): 760

Author Biography

Magda Szubanski is one of Australia's best known and most loved performers. She began her career in university revues, then appeared in a number of sketch-comedy shows before he iconic character of Sharon Strzelecki rose to national fame in ABC TV's Kath and Kim. She has also acted in films (Babe, Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet, The Golden Compass) and in stage shows. Her bestselling memoir Reckoning won the 2016 Indie Award for Non-Fiction, the 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction, the 2016 Nielsen Bookdata Booksellers Choice Award, the 2016 Australian Book Industry Award for Biography and the Australian Book Industry Award for Book of the Year 2016. She became the public face of the marriage-equality debate in 2017.

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