'Two Cents : Stories of Belonging in Australia' book launch

In Summary

Dr Zakaria Amin launched his first book, Two Cents: Stories of Belonging in Australia, through events in Logan, Sydney, and Victoria.
The book draws on his experiences in multicultural Australia and years of engagement with migrants, refugees, and diverse communities.
It focuses on the human realities of migration—starting over, finding opportunity, building relationships, contributing, and belonging—rather than statistics or policy.
Across launches, community members and leaders gathered to discuss what belonging means today, with Sydney’s event featuring Zia Ahmad OAM.
Dr Amin’s regular writing for the Australasian Muslim Times grew from community articles into the book, highlighting the power of community journalism and storytelling.

Dr Zakaria Amin recently celebrated the release of his first book, Two Cents: Stories of Belonging in Australia, through book launch events held across Logan, Queensland, Sydney, NSW and Victoria, bringing together community members, leaders, friends and supporters around a shared conversation about migration, identity and belonging.

Two Cents is a collection of stories and reflections inspired by Dr Amin’s experiences in multicultural Australia and his many years of engagement with migrants, refugees and diverse communities.

Rather than focusing simply on statistics or policies, the book looks at the human side of migration—the challenges of starting again, finding opportunity, building relationships, contributing to society and developing a genuine sense of belonging.

At the heart of the book is a simple message: everyone has a story worth listening to.

Through accessible and personal reflections, Dr Amin explores how people from different backgrounds can find common ground and how small acts of understanding, inclusion and kindness can make a lasting difference.

The book releases in Logan, Queensland, Sydney, NSW and Victoria have provided opportunities for readers and community leaders to come together, share experiences and reflect on what belonging means in contemporary Australia.

The Sydney book launch was particularly meaningful, with Zia Ahmad OAM, Editor-in-Chief of the Australasian Muslim Times (AMUST), attending the event and delivering a speech.

There is also a special connection between Two Cents and AMUST.

Dr Amin began writing regular articles for AMUST, sharing his thoughts, community experiences and reflections with readers.

Over time, the discipline of regularly putting ideas into words encouraged him to explore those reflections more deeply.

What began as individual newsletter and newspaper articles gradually became part of the inspiration to write a book.

For this reason, the publication of Two Cents is also a wonderful reminder of the value of community journalism.

Writing regularly for AMUST gave Dr Amin an opportunity to develop his voice, reflect on the stories around him and discover that those stories could become something larger.

From an article to a collection of stories, and from those stories to book launches across three Australian locations, the journey of Two Cents demonstrates how community storytelling can grow and reach new audiences.

For AMUST, it is a particular joy to celebrate that a regular contributor’s writing journey has helped inspire the publication of a book dedicated to the experiences, contributions and sense of belonging shared by so many Australians.