Australian author and activist Thomas Keneally joins CNN's chat show Talk Asia this weekend. He talks about his 1982 novel Schindler's Ark, an account of the Holocaust that won him the Man Booker Prize and formed the basis of the movie Schindler's List. The show airs on 26 March at 9:30 am, 7 pm, 10:30 pm on 27 March at 8:30 pm and on 28 March 28 at 9 am.

During the half-hour interview with host Lorraine Hahn, Keneally also explains why he chose to write The Tyrant's Novel in 2003, which touched upon immigration issues and detention centers in Australia. "If I saw detention centers, however kindly they might begin, rising in the suburbs of Australia and in the deserts of Australia, I above all had a duty to talk about them. I hasten to say that these are not death camps, but people suffer greatly in them, particularly psychologically."

The 70-year-old author also shares with viewers the early beginnings of his life - how he embarked on theological studies for the Catholic priesthood before switching to writing fulltime, and who his biggest influences were, both personally and professionally.

He continues to talk about his upcoming projects saying, "I have just finished a book on Georgian England and Georgian Australia...at the same time, I am writing a novel about a ninety-year-old woman, a veteran of World War II, whose husband was beheaded by the Japanese in 1945."

One of the founding members of the Australian Republican Movement, Keneally has strong view on politics. "We got the message in 1942 when Singapore fell that we were not necessarily high on the British hit list of priorities. Now to show that Australia had made us a separate people -- not a better people than anyone else, but our own people, -- we should have a head of state who was an Australian."