The Curiosity Lecture series returns to the Festival with a line-up of our most thought-provoking speakers delivering one-time talks on topics of intrigue, interest and importance. In this entertaining talk, author Tabitha Carvan shares the story of how falling for Benedict Cumberbatch while stuck at home with two young children became an unlikely catalyst for self-discovery. She casts light on what becomes of women’s passions in adulthood and what happens if you subvert the narrative and simply...
Feb 05, 2024•40 min
[Content warning: Sexual assault and paedophilia] Women and girls have long been pressured to conform to written and unwritten rules about how to think, act, look and feel. But a new generation of writers and activists are breaking down barriers to allow women and girls to show their real selves. Hear from Wadjanbarra Yidinji, Jirrbal and African-American filmmaker and Gigorou author Sasha Kutabah Sarago and activist for sexual assault survivors and The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner author Grace...
Jan 22, 2024•54 min
Celebrated Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov has been one of the most important voices throughout the Russian invasion of his adopted homeland, releasing frequent dispatches from Kyiv and the remote countryside. See him in conversation about Diary of an Invasion , his searing on-the-ground account of the human toll of the war, the interrelated history between the nations, and how language itself has become a battleground in the conflict. Andrey speaks live via video with on-stage interviewer Matt...
Jan 17, 2024•57 min
When Ghassan Hage’s seminal study on racism in Australia, White Nation , was published 25 years ago, the Cronulla riots, Christchurch massacre and Black Lives Matter movement all lay ahead. Hear from a lively panel of writers and thinkers as they consider how racism and white privilege have changed here since then and what lies ahead. Anthropologist and social critic Ghassan Hage, Palestinian-Egyptian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, The Sydney Morning Herald culture editor Osman Faruqi, ...
Jan 11, 2024•1 hr
Australian author Holly Ringland became a publishing sensation with the release of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart , a gripping coming-of-age novel that has been adapted for TV, starring Sigourney Weaver and Leah Purcell. Her latest novel, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding , is an equally enthralling tale, tracing the far reaches of grief, courage and sisterly love in a story spanning Tasmania, Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands. Holly speaks with Michaela Kalowksi about her new masterwork. This ep...
Dec 14, 2023•58 min
Richard Osman, bestselling novelist of The Thursday Murder Club series and king of British television trivia, talks with Sydney Writers' Festival's Artistic Director Ann Mossop in his first Australian appearance. The beloved murder mystery series has gripped readers worldwide – soaring to success as an international bestseller with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. Richard talks about the fourth book in the series, The Last Devil to Die , and the antics that await the unlikely crime-fightin...
Dec 07, 2023•58 min
Did podcasts kill the radio star – or completely revitalise storytelling for the 21st century? Join a special line-up of crime podcasters for a discussion about the rise of the medium and how it is changing journalism. They consider how the format fosters creativity and intimacy, and why it may yet rank among the most exciting cultural innovations of our times. Featuring Patrick Abboud, Kate McClymont, and Hedley Thomas, on stage with the Schwartz Media’s 7am host, Ruby Jones. This episode was r...
Dec 05, 2023•1 hr
In a special series of events, Your Favourites’ Favourites sees our most beloved writers speak with a breakout Australian author from the past year. Join globally bestselling crime novelist Jane Harper as she chats with fellow crime writer and stand-up comedian Benjamin Stevenson about the secrets to crafting a suspenseful story. They talk about the worldwide success of Benjamin’s third novel, the darkly funny meta-murder mystery Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone , which is soon to be ada...
Nov 28, 2023•55 min
[Content warning: Explicit language] Eleanor Catton became the youngest winner of the Booker Prize in 2013 for her sprawling Victorian mystery The Luminaries . Its keenly anticipated follow-up, Birnam Wood , is a psychological thriller set in rural New Zealand, where super-rich foreigners face off with ragtag locals on the eve of a global catastrophe. Eleanor is in conversation with Beejay Silcox about her gripping story that brings kaleidoscopic insight into what drives us to survive. Eleanor C...
Nov 21, 2023•56 min
In skilled hands, historical fiction brings the past to life in surprising ways. It also helps us make sense of our present, and even offers foreknowledge of the future. Hear from some of the country’s finest writers of historical novels – Geraldine Brooks ( Horse ), Pip Williams ( The Bookbinder of Jericho ) and emerging talent Sally Colin-James ( One Illumined Thread ) – as they discuss the past as prologue and how they convincingly intertwine fact and fiction in their work. Hosted by ABC RN’s...
Nov 16, 2023•57 min
Before Markus Zusak became an international bestseller with The Book Thief , he wrote and published the award-winning novel The Messenger . The story of a Sydney taxi driver’s extraordinary adventures, it has now been brought to television by the ABC. In this conversation about the joys and challenges of taking a beloved work of fiction to the screen, Markus is joined by award-winning executive producer and writer Sarah Lambert ( Lambs of God , The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart ). Film and TV criti...
Nov 14, 2023•52 min
A dazzling love letter to gaming and friendship, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by American novelist Gabrielle Zevin has become a word-of-mouth bestseller across the globe. It follows two university friends who become creative partners in a brilliantly imagined world of video game design, where success brings fame, joy and tragedy. Gabrielle chats with Melanie Kembrey about her lifelong love of gaming, what her novel reveals about the importance of play and the many ways we forge human con...
Nov 10, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Weary of nonstop climate doom? Listen to a trio of environmental experts examine promising developments, signs of hope and viable solutions for a greener, more sustainable future. Climate scientist Joëlle Gergis ( Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope ), inventor and scientist Saul Griffith ( The Big Switch ), and environmental advocate Claire O’Rourke ( Together We Can: Everyday Australian’s doing amazing things to give our planet a future ) offer an empowering vision for stemm...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Much-loved Conversations host and bestselling author Richard Fidler delves into The Book of Roads & Kingdoms , an account of medieval wanderers who travelled to the edges of the known world during Islam’s fabled Golden Age. He joins Nicole Abadee to discuss the work hailed by The Sydney Morning Herald as “a bewitching tale consisting of stories within stories that radically tilts the Western reader’s perspective, revealing a world when all roads led to Baghdad”. This episode was recorded liv...
Nov 02, 2023•56 min
Hear from Miles Franklin Award–winning Carpentaria novelist and Waanyi nation woman Alexis Wright as she talks about her latest novel, Praiseworthy . Set in a small Australian town beset by a haze cloud that heralds both an ecological catastrophe and a gathering of ancestors, the story is rendered with the richness of language and scale of imagery for which Alexis is renowned. Alexis speaks with Ivor Indyk about a timely fable for the end of days. Alexis Wright appears thanks to the support of S...
Oct 31, 2023•53 min
[Content warning: Domestic violence] Award-winning and bestselling author Trent Dalton has captured readers with books like Boy Swallows Universe , All Our Shimmering Skies and Love Stories . He has made us laugh, and made us cry, but above all, he has drawn us in to his unique world of storytelling. His new novel, Lola in the Mirror, is a darkly funny and beautiful story of life, death and a country neck-deep in a housing crisis. Trent talks about his work's progression from page to stage and s...
Oct 26, 2023•58 min
Hear from acclaimed storytellers Robbie Arnott, Fiona McFarlane and James McKenzie Watson about their beautiful novels, which chart very different lives set against unmistakably Australian backdrops. Robbie’s Limberlost tells the story of a man’s journey through life, while evoking Tasmania’s diverse natural habitat. Fiona’s The Sun Walks Down unfurls the narrative of a missing child in 1883 South Australia, depicting the distinct landscape and unsettling history of the Flinders Ranges. James Mc...
Oct 24, 2023•59 min
[Content warning: discussions of mental health and suicide] How can we apply the wisdom of the ages to modern living? This is the question at the heart of books by Worimi storyteller Paul Callaghan and journalist and author Brigid Delaney. Paul’s The Dreaming Path: Indigenous Thinking to Change Your Life reveals the power of Indigenous spirituality as a deep source of contentment and wellbeing, while Brigid’s Reasons Not to Worry examines how ancient Stoic principles can help us regain a sense o...
Oct 17, 2023•58 min
The latest novels of celebrated writers Sophie Cunningham and Gail Jones explore the lives of extraordinary artistic figures at turning points in history. Sophie’s This Devastating Fever interweaves the lives of Leonard and Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Set with modern-day climate change disasters. Gail’s acclaimed Salonika Burning imagines how the stories of famous figures who served in the first world war, including author Miles Franklin and painters Grace Pailthorpe and Stanley Spencer, m...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr
A panel of fascinating figures discuss their new memoirs and what it means to live a creative life – on stage, on screen, or in journalism. Mawunyo Gbogbo’s Hip Hop & Hymns recounts growing up African Australian and forging a media career via New York. Shane Jenek’s Caught in the Act charts his hard-won journey to fame as drag artist Courtney Act. Heather Mitchell’s Everything and Nothing depicts the light and shade that co-exist in love, family and the arts. They talk with host Maeve Marsde...
Oct 10, 2023•54 min
One of the great Australian writers, Don Watson has done much to hold a mirror up to the nation. His latest title, The Passion of Private White , tells the true story of an anthropologist and Vietnam veteran, Neville White who has devoted fifty years to the Yolngu clans of the Donydji homeland in north-east Arnhem Land; at once mapping and recording their culture, law, lands and languages and helping them build a successful community – one precariously poised between their traditions and Europea...
Oct 06, 2023•59 min
Home cooking is at the heart of our food cultures and brings a comfort that can satisfy our physical and emotional needs. Join a panel of celebrated chefs and writers as they discuss their own home cooking, compare comfort dishes and consider the rich conversation between time-honoured ways of preparing meals and the sometimes-showy food culture of today. Featuring restaurateur Durkhanai Ayubi ( Parwana: Recipes and Stories from an Afghan Kitchen ), prize-winning chef Rosheen Kaul ( Chinese-ish ...
Oct 03, 2023•56 min
Admonished or admired for their moxie, ‘difficult women’ make themselves heard, challenge the status quo and shun gendered notions of niceness. In this panel event, two authors reflect on the difficult women who grace the pages of their books, sometimes with no grace at all. What makes these characters so striking? And why do we need them in the world? Anne Casey-Hardy ( Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls ) and Fiona Kelly McGregor ( Iris ) share the stage with interviewer Sophie Cunningham. T...
Sep 28, 2023•56 min
Bestselling author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and debut Australian author André Dao come together to discuss their new books in which the tumult of Vietnamese history converges with the present day. The follow-up to The Mountains Sing , Quế Mai’s Dust Child is a suspenseful saga of family secrets, hidden trauma and the overriding power of forgiveness. André’s Anam moves through a series of displacements from Hanoi to Paris and Melbourne to explore themes of memory, colonialism, inheritance and belongin...
Sep 26, 2023•59 min
Trinidadian-British poet, novelist and musician Anthony Joseph was awarded the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize in 2022 for Sonnets for Albert . A series of elegies to his mostly absent father, it explores the wider edges of Caribbean masculinity, loss and longing, drawing praise from the judges as “a luminous collection which celebrates humanity in all its contradictions and breathes new life into this enduring form.” Hear from Anthony as he discusses his craft and career, spanning five poetry coll...
Sep 21, 2023•57 min
Award-winning journalist Kate Legge discusses her search for answers after she learned of her husband’s affair, as chronicled in her memoir, Infidelity and Other Affairs . She reflects on a journey that led to the discovery of a fault line of betrayal spanning generations, and the ensuing path to healing. Kate is in conversation with Ailsa Piper. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ F...
Sep 19, 2023•50 min
Can’t get enough romance literature in your life? Join bestselling historical fantasy romance author Freya Marske ( A Restless Truth ), acclaimed debut novelist Saman Shad ( The Matchmaker ) and Wiradjuri councillor turned fiction-writer Yvonne Weldon ( Sixty-Seven Days ) for a panel event that reveals the thrills, spills and secrets of penning page-turning love stories that bring fresh life to the genre while making our hearts beat a little faster. They chat with ABC radio host and self-profess...
Sep 14, 2023•55 min
In the inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy , artist and The New York Times –bestselling author Jenny Odell extolled the value of rest as resistance in a culture that always expects us to be productive. In conversation with Jess Scully she takes the discussion further and introduces her new book Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock which makes a radical argument about our concept of time and offers a hopefu...
Sep 12, 2023•55 min
After penning the Pulitzer Prize–winning novels The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys , American author Colson Whitehead set out to write a trilogy of stories centred on a furniture salesman-turned-crook named Ray Carney. The first in the series, Harlem Shuffle , is a hugely entertaining tale of race, power and the history of New York in the guise of a page-turning heist novel. Join Colson in conversation with Michael Williams about the book and its forthcoming follow up, Crook Manifesto ...
Sep 07, 2023•59 min
Although many of us are lucky enough to eat well, we live in a food system that is broken. Ultra-processed products abound, food workers are exploited, hunger coexists with massive food waste, and farming methods have toxic consequences. Hear from a panel of inspiring advocates as they consider solutions to these problems and the path towards a better food future. Featuring champion of First Nations food practices and Warndu co-founders Damien Coulthard and Rebecca Sullivan, chef and writer Matt...
Sep 05, 2023•52 min
