An Evening with Amanda Nguyen

“I gave up my astronaut dream to fight for my rights and the rights of survivors across the world. Once I passed the laws, I decided I could honour the dreams I had before I was hurt.” Amanda Nguyen

“A story of survival which ignited an entire movement and enabled sexual assault survivor rights.” Natalie Portman

Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope

Touring Australia for the first time, Amanda Nguyen takes the stage for an unfiltered conversation about sexual violence and the systems that perpetuate it, as well as race, identity and diaspora. She also explores what it means to reclaim your life and your dreams in the aftermath of the unthinkable.

In 2013, three months before graduation, Amanda Nguyen was raped at Harvard. 

The daughter of Vietnamese war refugees, Nguyen had spent her life defying the odds, studying astrophysics, interning at NASA, dreaming of the stars.

To protect her career, she filed her rape kit anonymously, to discover the state would destroy the evidence if not renewed, a bitter biannual marker, simply to preserve her chance at justice.

She had two choices: accept a system designed to silence survivors, or rewrite the law. She rewrote the law.

Nguyen founded Rise, drove the rare and unanimous passage of a bill for the benefit of survivors of sexual assaults, ignited the Stop Asian Hate movement, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, named TIME Woman of the Year, and, in April 2025, realised her dreams by flying to space — the first Southeastern Asian woman to ever do so. 

This is not a keynote. It is a reckoning, a testament, and a call to action from one of the most extraordinary voices of her generation.

About Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope

Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope is an instant New York Times bestseller and Natalie Portman Book Club pick — a searing, structurally daring account of trauma, rage, activism, and recovered dreams. Told through versions of Nguyễn at ages five, fifteen, twenty-two, and thirty, it braids the story of her fight with Congress alongside a beautifully imagined journey through the emotional stages of healing.

“Poignant and imaginative… now more than ever, such hope is essential.” The New York Times

“Saving Five is an account of trauma, rage and activism, and also a kind of guide through grief, which shows how every stage propelled Nguyễn and served a purpose.” The Guardian

VIP Tickets Inclusions

  • 60 minute post-show book signing and photo opportunity
  • One copy of Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope, signed by Amanda Nguyen
  • Optional photo opportunity during the signing 

Signed Book Add On Collection

Books are to be collected from the merchandise stand at the venue on the night of the performance. You will need to provide your name and ID.

The merchandise stand will be open 1 hour before the show and remain open for 30 minutes after the show.

Purchasers are responsible for collecting their pre-purchased book on the night. Uncollected books will not be posted.