Magda Szubanski has revealed she is working on a new project following her cancer battle.
The Kath and Kim star, 64, is set to publish a new memoir, titled I Can’t Tell You But I Will, focusing on coping with her mother’s death and her journey becoming a campaigner for marriage equality in Australia.
‘2017 was the year I finally grew up,’ Magda said in a statement.
‘My mother was dying, and I was catapulted into the forefront of a bitter cultural and political battle: the same-sex marriage survey.
‘I Can’t Tell You But I Will is the true tale of how I came to understand the unseen powers that shape our world, and learned how to stand up to them while staying true to your soul and to the people you speak for.’
Magda added that the book would be ‘a eulogy’ for her mother Margaret, who died in 2017, aged 92.
‘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 said.
‘This is the story of how I went from comedian to campaigner, from daughter to orphan, and from naïve idealist to pragmatic warrior.’
The book, Magda’s second memoir, is set to hit shelves on September 29.
Magda’s first memoir, Reckoning, focused on her childhood and her father Zbigniew’s activities as a Polish spy during World War II.
The book was highly acclaimed, picking up numerous awards, including Book of the Year at the 2016 Australian Book Industry Awards.
The news comes after Magda revealed last month that her cancer had gone into remission.
‘I’ve completed chemo and I am now in remission. Phew!’ she said.
‘It’s not a cure, but if I’ve got a good remission, hopefully that will mean I’ll be able to keep the cancer at bay for a good long time.
‘And I also wanted to say a special, huge thank you to you for all the love and support that you’ve shown.’
Telling fans that she felt loved and supported during her health crisis, Magda said that it helped physically as well as emotionally.
‘So eternal gratitude, thank you so much for that,’ she added.
Elsewhere in the clip, Magda praised her own health team and Australia’s medical community, calling it ‘one of the best in the world.’
‘There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t give profound thanks to the medical community… and also to the common sense of the Australian people that we see how practical and compassionate it is to have a really good medical system,’ she said.
In May last year, Magda announced on social media that she was battling a rare form of cancer known as Mantle Cell Lymphoma.
She appeared on camera with a shaved head after beginning her treatment to fight the disease.
‘Hello my lovelies. So, the head is shaved in anticipation of it all falling out in a couple of weeks because I have just been diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive, very serious lymphoma,’ she began.
‘It is one of the nasty ones, unfortunately. The good thing is I’m surrounded by beautiful friends, family and an incredible medical support team.
‘Honestly, we have the best in the world here in Australia, particularly in Melbourne. I feel very fortunate.
‘It’s pretty confronting. It is full-on. But new treatments keep coming down the pipeline all the time.’
Magda said she had started a treatment called the Nordic protocol, which treats mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) by shrinking the tumours with a combination of drugs administered in five phases.