Magda Szubanski Unveils New Memoir and Career Chapter Post Cancer Battle
Beloved Australian entertainer Magda Szubanski is embarking on an exciting new professional journey, announcing the upcoming release of her second memoir just a month after sharing the hopeful news of her remission from a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The Kath & Kim star’s new book is slated for release in September and is described as a deeply personal tribute.
The upcoming memoir is being hailed as a “eulogy” dedicated to Szubanski’s “beloved mother, Margaret,” and is intended for anyone who has experienced the profound emotions of love and loss, or the struggle to maintain composure during life’s most demanding moments.
Text Publishing formally announced the book this week, issuing a statement that delves into the personal significance of the work. Szubanski reflects on 2017 as a pivotal year, stating, “2017 was the year I finally grew up. My mother was dying and I was catapulted into the forefront of a bitter cultural and political battle: the same-sex marriage survey.”
The book, titled I Can’t Tell You But I Will, promises to be a candid account of Szubanski’s journey to understanding the subtle yet powerful forces that influence our world. It will detail her efforts to confront these influences while remaining authentic to her core values and advocating for those she represents.
More than just a political commentary, the memoir is deeply rooted in personal grief. Szubanski elaborates, “Most of all, though, it is a eulogy for my beloved mother, Margaret: like my Celtic ancestors, I am ‘keening’ her life, singing of the terrible beauty of caring for someone you love as they die.” She further describes the narrative as the story of her transformation, moving “from comedian to campaigner, from daughter to orphan, and from naïve idealist to pragmatic warrior.”
This poignant narrative is also expected to touch upon Szubanski’s own health struggles. The memoir will likely address her battle with stage four mantle cell lymphoma, a diagnosis she publicly shared in May 2025. Throughout her treatment, Szubanski has kept her fans updated, most recently announcing her remission via Instagram last month, a testament to her resilience.
Magda Szubanski’s own life story is as rich and complex as the narratives she crafts. Born in Liverpool, England, to a Scottish-Irish mother and a Polish father, her family relocated to Melbourne when she was just four years old. In a 2015 interview with the ABC’s 7.30, Szubanski revealed startling details about her father’s past. He was reportedly recruited as a teenager to a top-secret counter-intelligence unit, where he allegedly served as an assassin, tasked with eliminating traitors and those aiding the Nazis in hiding Jewish people.
Szubanski’s artistic journey began during her studies in fine arts and philosophy at the University of Melbourne. It was during this period that she participated in a law faculty review, which served as an early foray into performance. Upon graduating, she was invited to join a collective of fellow Melbourne University alumni, including prominent figures like Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Michael Veitch, and Tom Gleisner. Together, they formed the foundation for the popular ABC-TV sketch show, The D-Generation.
Her career continued to flourish with a role on another successful sketch show, Fast Forward. Subsequently, she collaborated with friends Gina Riley and Jane Turner on Big Girl’s Blouse, an all-female Australian sketch comedy program.
The iconic characters developed by Riley and Turner in Big Girl’s Blouse eventually formed the basis for the beloved television series Kath & Kim. Within this groundbreaking show, Szubanski brought to life the unforgettable character of Sharon Strzelecki, a netball enthusiast grappling with loneliness, who quickly became a cultural phenomenon.
Kath & Kim premiered in 2002 and rapidly ascended to become one of the ABC’s highest-rated television programs of all time. The character of Sharon Strzelecki, in particular, resonated deeply with audiences, cementing her status as an enduring Australian icon.
Szubanski’s personal life also saw a significant public moment in 1992 when she came out to her parents, prompted by an inquiry from a women’s magazine journalist. This personal revelation paved the way for her to become a prominent campaigner for LGBTQA+ rights. She was a particularly vocal advocate for the same-sex marriage survey in the lead-up to the 2017 national referendum, demonstrating her commitment to social justice and equality.
