Sydney Writers' Festival

2026 Program Announcement: Yumi Stynes and Ann Mossop

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Join Yumi Stynes and Artistic Director Ann Mossop as they discuss the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival program.

The pair talk about the 2026 Festival theme, Show Me The Truth, and how fiction, poetry and creative writing and bring us closer to the truth. Unpack the program and get a glimpse behind the scenes of the Sydney Writers' Festival office.

The 2026 Sydney Writers' Festival is out now. Head to our website to explore the program: https://www.swf.org.au/

Tickets on sale Saturday 14 March at 10am.

Thank you to 2SER for facilitating the recording of this podcast.

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A.C. Grayling on Cancel Culture

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 22:12:34 +0000

‘Cancel culture’ may seem like a 21st century invention sparked by contemporary politics and stoked by social media, sometimes with deadly consequences.

However, as philosopher A.C. Grayling illustrates in Discriminations: Making Peace in the Culture Wars, disagreement and public shaming are ancient traditions.

Learn how ‘cancel culture’ evolved and what effect it’s having on intellectual discourse. Festival favourite A.C. Grayling searches for a middle ground in an environment where everything is up for debate.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

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Ian Rankin: Master of Crime

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:07:32 +0000

Detective Inspector John Rebus first hit bookshelves in 1987 as a witty Scottish crime fighter but now the legendary detective is behind bars himself, living a literal locked-room mystery.

Midnight and Blue is Ian Rankin at his tense and thrilling best, mixing the police procedural genre with a literary character study of his best-known detective and his home city of Edinburgh.

Explore the latest instalment of the Inspector Rebus series and reflect on Ian’s bestselling career in crime writing, with television adaptations and translation into more than 20 languages. In conversation with Michael Williams.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Your Favourites’ Favourites: Michael Robotham and Chris Whitaker

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 06:39:14 +0000

In Your Favourites’ Favourites, our most loved writers introduce one of their favourite authors.

Bestselling Australian crime writer Michael Robotham speaks with British crime novelist Chris Whitaker about his sensational new thriller, All the Colours of the Dark, described as a “must-read” by favourite thriller writer Gillian Flynn.

Over decades, Saint Brown has been hunting the man who kidnapped her best friend, Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley, when they were teens. Meanwhile, Patch is on his own hunt for a girl named Grace, who saved him in a dark room years ago. But his search turns to obsession with little evidence that Grace ever existed.

Hear Michael and Chris discuss his unforgettable story, already in development for the screen.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Maggie O’Farrell: Portrait of a Writer

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:51:23 +0000

Over a masterful career spanning 10 novels, a memoir and various children’s books, Maggie O’Farrell has established herself as a modern literary monument.

Her two latest novels, Hamnet, inspired by Shakespeare’s family, and The Marriage Portrait, set in 16th-century Italian court, represent a turn into historical fiction. The former won the UK’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, while the latter was shortlisted for it.

In conversation with Kate Evans, Maggie teases out the details of her writing life, including her interest in the depth of women’s stories and the intricate intimacy of families, and the wild popularity of Hamnet.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Spies, Lies and Secrets

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 04:52:44 +0000

Undercover agents aren’t just the stuff of stories for writers Jack Beaumont and Ben Macintyre.

A French intelligence officer turned spy thriller writer, Jack (Dark Arena) has all the insider knowledge to craft true-to-life operations in his novels. Ben (The Siege) is an espionage expert and he’s written the definitive account of the siege that put the SAS on the world stage.

Hear these two connoisseurs of the clandestine share the truth behind the spy stories that thrill us. With Michael Williams.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Robbie Arnott: Dusk

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 22:52:16 +0000

Myths of cryptid big cats stalking the Australian landscape are as old as colonisation.

In Dusk, the puma hunting Tasmania’s lowlands has left enough evidence – in the form of dead and missing men – to prove her existence.

Two-time winner of The Age Book of the Year and winner of the Voss Literary Prize Robbie Arnott returns with another immanently beautiful story of loss and redemption.

Hear Robbie discuss his new novel, told with his renowned mastery of language, and the gothic myths of beasts and prey that underpin it. In conversation with Michaela Kalowski.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Zoë Foster Blake Things: Will Calm Down Soon

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 23:48:11 +0000

Zoë Foster Blake is a multi-talented and ambitious novelist, beauty journalist and skincare entrepreneur whose bio is long enough to leave you wondering how she does it all.

Channelling that can’t-stop, won’t-stop energy is Kit, a thriving hairstylist and the protagonist of Zoë’s latest novel, Things Will Calm Down Soon. Kit has itchy feet and always wonders what’s next. So when she can’t find the perfect product for a look, it makes sense for her to make it herself, right?

Sit down with Zoë, in conversation with Mamamia’s Holly Wainwright, for a breather and reminder that things will definitely calm down soon.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Ben Macintyre: The Siege

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 23:37:45 +0000

On 30 April 1980, armed gunmen stormed the Iranian embassy in London and took 26 hostages in what would become a six-day siege.

Millions around the world were glued to their TVs as the previously secret SAS planned and executed a rescue mission. Ben Macintyre’s The Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama recounts minute-by-minute the negotiations, media frenzy and cutting-edge intelligence work that changed a nation forever. It draws on unpublished source material and interviews with members of the SAS, hostages and witnesses, providing unprecedented insight.

Join Ben as he discusses his definitive account of this astonishing event. In conversation with Richard Fidler (ABC Radio National’s Conversations).

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

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China Past, Present, Future

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:26:35 +0000

As politicians and analysts attempt to manoeuvre with the global superpower, these writers reflect on how the 20th century got the nation where it is today.

Bombard the Headquarters!: The Cultural Revolution in China is Linda Jaivin’s account of the ideological quarrels and personalities that underpinned the violent beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Louisa Lim’s Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong and Edward Wong’s At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China mix national history with personal archives to paint detailed portraits of Hong Kong and China, respectively.

Hear Linda, Louisa and Edward in conversation with Peter Hartcher as they discuss the crucial history that made China what it is today.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Catherine Chidgey: The Book of Guilt

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 05:56:32 +0000

Commonwealth Writers’ Prize winner Catherine Chidgey’s 9th novel, The Book of Guilt, sparked an international bidding war.

With undertones of Shirley Jackson and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, the story’s teenage triplets discover – when the government decides to shut down their home – that some lives are valued more than others in this dystopian 1970s England.

Join Catherine, in conversation with Beejay Silcox, to hear about her deeply unnerving new novel.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The Moriarty Sisters

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 22:25:39 +0000

This trio of Australian literary talents make writing a family affair.

The Moriarty sisters, Jaclyn (the Kingdom and Empires series), Liane (Here One Moment, Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers) and Nicola (Every Last Suspect and The Fifth Letter) have decades of writing experience between them. Their achievements include international bestsellers, film and television adaptations and prestigious awards.

In this panel discussion, they reflect on their career beginnings – including how they used to earn pocket money for writing stories – their different publishing paths and their many successes over the years. Hosted by writer and broadcaster Sarah Macdonald.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Family Secrets

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 22:47:05 +0000

Every family has a secret but not every family has a memoirist to reveal it to the world.

Writer and former restaurant reviewer Candice Chung’s memoir Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You is a tender account of reconnecting with her family and breaking down the barriers of cultural taboos. Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars is award-winning writer Peter Godwin’s exploration of his changing relationship with his mother, his sister and his ex-wife and the winding histories that got them where they are now. Journalist Michael Visontay in Noble Fragments unravels a rare-book mystery linked by a legal document to his family’s history.

Hear Candice, Peter and Michael in conversation with Georgina Godwin reveal the tender underbellies of their family memoirs.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Out of This World

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 03:01:16 +0000

Space, in all its awe-inspiring, mind-blowing expanse, is still the final frontier.

Its greatness and grandness force us to reflect on our humanity, our existence and our place within the universe.

In Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize–winning Orbital, six astronauts contemplate the Earth and its inhabitants from the International Space Station. Ceridwen Dovey’s newest short story collection, Only the Astronauts, imagines the perspectives of non-humans in space, from an abandoned mannequin orbiting the Sun to a team of ‘tamponauts’ journeying to Mars.

Consider the limits of humanity in the universe with Samantha and Ceridwen in conversation with host Ashley Hay.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Harriet Walter: What Shakespeare's Women Might Have Said

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 06:11:07 +0000

After a lifetime of bringing Shakespeare’s female characters to life on stage, multi-award-winning British actor Harriet Walter lends them her pen in She Speaks!. 

Shining a new light on classic stories, Harriet writes between the lines of some of Shakespeare’s most compelling characters – from servants to sovereigns. She imagines what Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Juliet’s nurse, Cleopatra and others could have said without the constraints of the Bard’s perspective and reveals what might be their true desires

Join Harriet in conversation with Ailsa Piper as they delve into the unexplored depths of the English literary canon. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The F Word

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 02:11:42 +0000

[Content warning: sexual assault]

Feminism has a checkered past, but what can we expect from feminist ideas these days?

CEO of independent news commentary platform Cheek Media Co. Hannah Ferguson (Taboo: Conversations we never had about sex, body image, work and relationships), Stella Prize winner and investigative journalist Jess Hill (See What You Made Me Do, Quarterly Essay 97, Losing It) and human rights lawyer and Fulbright Scholar Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts (Long Yarn Short) discuss whether feminism can find solutions to some of our current crises.

Join them as they reckon with what feminism has to offer and predict future solutions to complex social problems in this panel discussion with host Sisonke Msimang.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Rumaan Alam's American Dream

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 07:02:37 +0000

Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement probes complex racial and social dynamics much like his New York Times bestselling Leave the World Behind, which was adapted into a Netflix film starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali.

In his new novel, Rumaan introduces themes of wealth and philanthropic aspirations when an ageing white billionaire hires an ambitious young African American woman to help him dispose of his money – through worthy causes, of course.

Join Rumaan in conversation with Sisonke Msimang as they examine the promise (or the lie) of the American Dream in the 21st century.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Liane Moriarty and David Nicholls

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 05:35:22 +0000

International bestselling novelists Liane Moriarty and David Nicholls share the experience of seeing their powerful local stories turn into bingeable television series and films.

Liane’s Big Little Lies was the first book by an Australian to debut at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list and, since then, all 10 of her novels have been optioned for screen adaptation.

David executive produced the Netflix adaptation of his bestselling novel One Day and has written screen adaptations for Far from the Madding Crowd and Great Expectations.

Join Liane and David as they talk about their new books, Here One Moment and You Are Here, and being sensations across page and screen. With host Claire Nichols (ABC Radio National’sThe Book Show).

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Turmoil and Tyranny

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 02:56:35 +0000

Wars, coups and economic and climate crises: each new headline can make it feel like the world is suddenly falling apart.

But behind many dramatic world events are long-term historical patterns and the rise (and sometimes the fall) of tyrannical and authoritarian rulers. From the Arab Spring to the fall of dictators like Syria’s Assad, find out more about telling these stories from the inside with award-winning foreign correspondent Peter Greste (The Correspondent) and political scientist and author Marcel Dirsus (How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive). In conversation with Avani Dias.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Kate Grenville: Unsettled

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:36:50 +0000

After the success of her two best known works, The Secret River, adapted for stage and television, and Restless Dolly Maunder, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Festival favourite Kate Grenville is still grappling with what it means to be a descendant of colonisation in Australia.

Journey through time and place with Kate as she reframes her family’s history in Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place, placing First People in the same picture. With Kate Evans.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Ferdia Lennon: Glorious Exploits

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 01:24:35 +0000

Stories about brotherhood are a mainstay of classical writing, from brothers Romulus and Remus to brothers-in-arms Achilles and Patroclus.

Ferdia Lennon's award-winning debut tells the story of two unemployed theatre-loving best friends in ancient Sicily who tempt Athenian prisoners of war with food and drink in exchange for recitations of their favourite Greek poetry. From there to a full production of a Greek tragedy is only a small step in this this exhilarating story of friendship, art and war that brings the ancient world vividly alive.

Find out more about the best and worst that humans are capable of with Ferdia Lennon, in conversation with Australian playwright Tom Wright.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Colm Tóibín: From Brooklyn to Long Island

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 08:01:38 +0000

Colm Tóibín returns to the world of Brooklyn – adapted into a BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated film starring Saoirse Ronan – with the long-awaited sequel, Long Island.

Set 20 years after Rose Lacey’s death, Long Island follows Eilis Lacey after an unknown Irishman unexpectedly brings a baby into her family’s midst. Full of longing and regret, the book exhibits the hallmarks of a master storyteller’s restraint and Colm’s customary wit.

In conversation with Kate Evans (ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf), Colm discusses his latest portrait of the people of picturesque Enniscorthy, which is being heralded as his best work yet.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Home and Homesick

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 02:00:53 +0000

Home is a beginning, an origin, a safe harbour, a memory or a dream. Some homes we arrive at, some find us and some we make ourselves.    

International bestselling novelist Hannah Kent (Burial Rites and Always Home, Always Homesick), academic and writer Abbas El-Zein (Bullet, Paper, Rock: A memoir of words and wars) and George Orwell Prize winner Peter Godwin (Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars) have had markedly different experiences of home. Divided between countries, dismantled by conflict and erased through exile, home becomes a symbol of identity and a beacon of hope.

Hannah, Abbas and Peter tell host Sisonke Msimang what ‘home’ means to them.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Yael van der Wouden: The Safekeep

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 06:03:11 +0000

The Safekeep, the debut novel from Yael van der Wouden, took the literary world by storm when it was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.

Incorporating desire, family loyalty and betrayal in this twisted tale set in post-WWII Netherlands, Yael captivates and tantalises readers in equal measure with the forbidden love between Isabel and her brother’s graceless new girlfriend Eva.

Hear how Yael uncovered unexpected secrets of the past, both familial and national, in conversation with Claire Nichols (ABC Radio National’s The Book Show).

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Jessica Townsend: In Conversation

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 04:25:06 +0000

Jessica Townsend, one of Australia’s bestselling and most loved authors, discusses the highly anticipated fourth book in The New York Times bestselling Nevermoor series.

In Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow readers rejoin Morrigan in her Wundrous world of magic on another adventure to go somewhere she’s never been before. In conversation with Reece Carter (A Girl Called Corpse).

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Untrue Crime

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 08:26:54 +0000

Distinguished international and local writers working across the crime genre unpick the relationship between fact and fiction.

Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Shankari Chandran, whose newest novel is a gritty thriller set in Colombo, ten-time Walkley Award–winning investigative journalist Kate McClymont and international bestseller and Diamond Dagger Award winner Ian Rankin each have a lifetime of mysteries under their belt.

Listen to them question the line between truth and fiction and interrogate the ethics of telling crime stories and exploring the search for justice. With host Michael Robotham.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Torrey Peters: Stag Dance

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:41:44 +0000

Torrey Peters burst onto the literary scene in 2021 with her debut novel, Detransition, Baby, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and was named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st century by The New York Times.

Her kaleidoscopic follow-up, Stag Dance, combines three gender-blurring novellas for a romp through gender apocalypse, secret romance and cross-dressing lumberjacks.

Join Torrey and host Yves Rees as they discuss Torrey’s eye for the rough edges of the LGBTQIA+ community and her desire to push the limits of trans writing in this new work about womanhood, trans identity and queer relationships.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Bakers' Delight

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 04:48:29 +0000

Meet the baking besties who are queens of the Australian pastry game.   

Nadine Ingram of Sydney’s Flour and Stone, Natalie Paull of Melbourne’s Beatrix Bakes and Kate Reid of nationwide Lune Croissanterie come together to talk all things pastry – from building their baking empires to their favourite recipes and their friendships.

With host Jennifer Wong, pull out your recipe cards, line your baking trays and get special insight into the poetry of pastry.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Kaliane Bradley: The Ministry of Time

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 01:31:05 +0000

The Ministry of Time landed on multiple bestseller lists thanks to its highly original, genre-defying story, which combines elements of time travel, romance and spy thriller.

Described by Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton as “outrageously brilliant”, Kaliane Bradley’s debut challenges the boundaries of literary and genre fiction as the past meets the future when a disaffected civil servant accepts a job at a mysterious new government ministry specialising in ‘historical expats’.

Hear Kaliane and host Spectrum editor Melanie Kembrey unpack the triumph of Kaliane’s debut novel and what it means to change the world by defying history. With an introduction from Fiona Morrison.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Trumpocalypse Now

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 06:31:54 +0000

It seemed improbable enough in 2016, but here we are now in Donald Trump’s second term at the White House. 

What does the return of the 45th President of the United States mean for the international superpower?  And how will it affect the rest of us?

Listen in as journalist and political commentator Peter Beinart, foreign correspondent Nick Bryant and Director of the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program Emma Shortis join host Barrie Cassidy to unpack the election outcome, Trump’s first few months in office and what to expect over the next four years. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Marian Keyes: My Favourite Mistake

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 23:52:07 +0000

Beloved Irish author Marian Keyes unpacks her latest story of lost sparks and old flames and what happens when high-flyer Anna swaps New York’s skyscrapers for the rugged Irish coast.

Readers were first introduced to the loveable and chaotic Walsh Family 30 years ago. They’ve watched the five beloved sisters, including middle daughter Anna, grow into middle age. Anna enjoys a solid and enviable life in New York until her spark goes out and she needs the warm embrace of her family in Dublin to kickstart her passion for life. A thorny local public relations project and the reappearance of an old flame might just do the trick.

As Marian introduces a wonderful cast of new characters to fall in love with in her sixteenth novel, she also sheds light on the novel’s themes including midlife lessons, friendship break-ups, letting go of mistakes, regret and perceiving yourself differently. Expect laughter, heartfelt moments and inspiring storytelling that showcases Marian’s fearless honesty, warmth and wit for an uplifting event with one of the most beloved voices in fiction today.

Hear bestselling author Marian Keyes discuss the latest Walsh Family instalment in conversation with author and Mamamia podcast host Holly Wainwright. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Philippe Sands: 38 Londres Street

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:36:48 +0000

In 1998, at the beginning of his esteemed career as an international human rights lawyer, Philippe Sands was invited to advise Augusto Pinochet as the Chilean dictator faced arrest in London.

Instead, Philippe chose to act as a barrister for Human Rights Watch, where he uncovered the well-hidden connection between Pinochet and former SS commander Walther Rauff. In his latest book, part memoir and part detective story, Philippe draws on interviews and archives to link two of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century at the infamous 38 Londres Street in Santiago.

Hear Philippe in conversation with Rosalind Dixon.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Mariana Enriquez: Mastering the Macabre

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:48:47 +0000

The dead permeate the supernatural and strange worlds of Argentinian writer Mariana Enriquez.

Sometimes they’re simple ghosts, but other times they’re a different kind of haunting: apparitions of queer counterculture and a country’s brutal past that follow you off the page.

Following her International Booker Prize–shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed and Premio Herralde de Novela winner Our Share of Night, Mariana’s third short story collection, A Sunny Place for Shady People, presents a delicious array of macabre and horrible happenings. Hear Mariana exorcise the inspiration for these queer and twisted tales in conversation with Carody Culver.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Peter Beinart: Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 06:20:51 +0000

Acclaimed columnist and political commentator Peter Beinart issues a bold appeal to rewrite the narrative of Jewish identity to embrace nuance, tradition and culture.

Bringing together his personal experience and understanding of politics with history and a clear vision for the future, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning is a provocative work that grapples with persecution, victimhood, supremacy, morality and the distinction between the nation-state.

Hear Peter tell a new story of Jewish identity in conversation with Debbie Whitmont. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Culinary Culture

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 01:57:26 +0000

On the one hand, food is about comfort, love and passion. On the other, it’s about the economics of the restaurant rat race and the politics of identity and historical context.

Hear chefs, restauranteurs and culinary stars Parwana’s Durkhanai Ayubi (Returning the Moon), Adam Liaw (Time for Dinner) and Melbourne icon Tony Tan (Tony Tan’s Asian Cooking Class) discuss the good and bad of food culture. They consider our relationship with food, the flavours of identity, capitalism’s control of the restaurant industry and the social change on the horizon. With host Virginia Trioli.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Samantha Harvey: Orbital

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:22:30 +0000

On the International Space Station, a team of astronauts watch our big blue planet as it silently turns beneath them. 

This 2024 Booker Prize–winning novel is largely observations of the astronauts as they collect data and record small, slow changes in their environment and their own bodies. Yet Samantha Harvey’s prose is expansive, delicately encompassing life and death, fragility and strength, hope and fear in concentric circles of human life.

Hear Samantha discuss the profundity of this meditative novel in conversation with ABC Radio’s Claire Nichols (The Book Show).

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The Art and Science of AI

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 02:05:10 +0000

Artificial intelligence’s collision with human creativity is one of the most important stories of our time.

With the accelerating impact of AI, so much of what we understand about being human is being re-written.

Acclaimed writer Jeanette Winterson (12 Bytes: How artificial intelligence will change the way we live and love) sees AI changing our lives in unprecedented ways. Academic and researcher Toby Walsh (The Shortest History of AI) predicts the place AI will have in our futures.

Hear Jeanette and Toby bring the perspectives of an artist and a scientist together in this important contemporary conversation. With an introduction from Verity Firth.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Queer Love and Longing

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 03:20:01 +0000

Local treasure Dylin Hardcastle and international gems Alan Hollinghurst and Yael van der Wouden trace love, longing and queer experience through the decades in their heartfelt new novels.

In Dylin’s A Language of Limbs and Yael’s The Safekeep, teenage girls and women navigate unexpected Sapphic desires, while Alan paints a portrait of one man’s journey of self-discovery from childhood into adulthood in Our Evenings.

Discover how these intimate yet expansive queer histories came to be in this discussion with host Maeve Marsden.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Barrie Cassidy and Friends: State of the Nation

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 04:20:25 +0000

Festival favourite State of the Nation returned bigger and better than ever this year for an Australian post-election wrap-up. 

Assess the state of Australian politics in this panel discussion featuring broadcaster and Walkley Award–winning journalist Waleed Aly, Prime Minister’s Literary Award– and Walkley Award–winning journalist George Megalogenis, The Australia Institute’s chief political analyst Amy Remeikis and Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award winner Niki Savva. They join veteran political journalist and former host of Insiders and Offsiders Barrie Cassidy.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Closing Address: Anna Funder: Bears Out There

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:54:24 +0000

We closed out the 2025 Festival with an address from award-winning Australian writer Anna Funder.

As a writer who places being human at the centre of her work, Anna (Wifedom, Stasiland) has explored the best and worst that humans are capable of – surveillance, fascism and the tyranny of patriarchy – and the many forms of human courage and resistance. As artificial intelligence accelerates and patriarchy takes the gloves off, the world of bots and tech bros sees humans as raw material – free data they can profit from – in the same way that men have profited from women’s work for so long. How can we resist this exploitation of our humanity?

Hear how Anna sees the future of tech’s role in our lives in a formidable Closing Address.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Past and Future of Indigenous Recognition

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:41:59 +0000

[Content warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners should be aware that this podcast contains reference to deceased persons.]

The fight for First Nations rights in Australia is ongoing, most recently frustrated by the lost 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum.

Indigenous leader and author Thomas Mayo’s newest work, Always Was, Always Will Be: The Campaign for Justice and Recognition Continues, is a guidebook to action for Indigenous recognition and a rallying cry for those working to close the gap.

Historian Clare Wright’s conclusion to her democracy trilogy, Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy, tells the story of how the Yolŋu of Arnhem Land created the Yirrkala Bark Petitions in 1963 and gave birth to the land rights movement.

Join Thomas and Clare as they explore these important struggles and what we can learn from them. With host Lorena Allam.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Making a Writer

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 01:27:08 +0000

What enables writers to grow and flourish?

Writing is mostly a solitary pursuit that draws on individual reserves of talent and skill. But writers are also part of a national community that can help, or hinder, celebrate or ignore them. Ireland provides bountiful support to its writers and literary ecosystem, but Australia fails to adequately nurture its own.

Listen to prominent writers Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín (Brooklyn, Long Island) and Booker Prize–shortlisted author Charlotte Wood (Stone Yard Devotional, The Natural Way of Things) discuss how they became writers and the state of their nations’ literature. What can be done to wake Australia up to the need to support its writers? With host Michael Williams.

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State of the Art: The Novel

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 05:30:07 +0000

The novel has continued to evolve since its inception as a major literary form centuries ago. It has seen styles and genres come and go, adaptation and translation between languages and cultures and countless publishing trends and cycles. In this panel discussion featuring four extraordinary novelists, Rumaan Alam (Entitlement), Robbie Arnott (Dusk), Samantha Harvey (Orbital) and Torrey Peters (Stag Dance), join host Kate Evans (ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf) to consider the novel, its place in contemporary times and how their work fits into the larger literary landscape.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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2025 Program Announcement: Benjamin Law and Ann Mossop

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 00:13:20 +0000

Join Benjamin Law and Artistic Director Ann Mossop as they discuss the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival program.

The pair talk about the 2025 Festival theme, In This Together, and how books bring us closer to one another, our planet and ourselves.

The 2025 Sydney Writers' Festival is out now. Head to our website to explore the program: https://www.swf.org.au/

Tickets on sale Saturday 15 March at 10am.

Thank you to 2SER for facilitating the recording of this podcast.

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Bruce Pascoe and Lyn Harwood: Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 04:56:30 +0000

Bruce Pascoe and Lyn Harwood invite us onto the Country they call home in Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra, reflecting on life after publishing Dark Emu.

In the aftermath of devastating bushfires in north-eastern Victoria, the couple rebuilt their farm. Here, they run the Aboriginal social enterprise Black Duck Foods, committed to traditional food-growing processes that care for Country and give back to the community.

Sit down with Bruce and Lyn, in conversation with Kerry O’Brien to explore how Australian agriculture can be transformed through the practices of the past.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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How We Learn to Read with Sally Rippin

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 04:08:10 +0000

We all know the importance of literacy for school and life, but what happens when, despite all your efforts, reading just doesn’t “click”?

Sally Rippin, the Australian Children’s Laureate and author of the book Wild Things: How we learn to read and what happens if we don’t is joined by journalist and Dyslexia advocate, Cat Rodie, in an exploration of literacy, education and those who often fall through the gaps.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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First Fictions

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 22:36:47 +0000

Jennifer Croft, Bri Lee and Louise Milligan have earned widespread acclaim in the realms of translation, non-fiction and investigative journalism, respectively.

Now, these authors are branching out into novels for the first time in their illustrious careers, revisiting themes in their previous writing to create stunning, gripping and beguiling works of the imagination.

Separate fact from fiction with Jennifer, Bri and Louise as they discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of braving a new genre.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Literary Legends

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 02:16:27 +0000

Explore the literary histories of Charmian Clift, Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower.

Following her biography The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, Nadia Wheatley contributed the afterword to The End of the Morning, Clift’s final manuscript, which was recently published more than 50 years after her death. Literary scholar Brigitta Olubas (Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life) joins forces with journalist Susan Wyndham to edit Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower: The Letters, which reveals the deep and vexed friendship between two of Australia’s greatest writers. 

Learn more about these fabled authors’ work and writing lives with the scholars who are salvaging their stories from the archives.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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SWF Great Debate: Artificial Intelligence is Better Than the Real Thing

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 22:45:23 +0000

Humankind stands at a crossroads: will artificial intelligence make us superhumanly productive, liberating us from life’s most mundane tasks? Or have we opened Pandora’s box, unleashing sentient technology that will eventually destroy us?

In a colossal contest of persuasion and wit, two teams of our best and brightest debate whether artificial intelligence is better than the real thing.

Decide once and for all with team captains Annabel Crabb and David Marr, as they duke it out alongside teammates Matilda Boseley, Rhys Nicholson, Tracey Spicer and Toby Walsh. Adjudicated by Yumi Stynes.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Robyn Davidson: Unfinished Woman

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 05:59:20 +0000

Robyn Davidson once described Unfinished Woman as an “infinite book”. “I feel absolutely that I have to write it and absolutely that I can’t write it.”

Twenty-five years in the making, this unforgettable memoir charts her expeditions since crossing the Gibson Desert with camels –  the subject of her debut, Tracks, which her then-landlord, Doris Lessing, presciently declared “a classic”.

Robyn’s exploits include having a “volcanic” love affair with Salman Rushdie in London, migrating with nomads in Tibet and marrying an Indian prince in the Himalayas. She finally returns to the long-avoided country of her childhood and her mother’s tragic suicide.

Explore her remarkable life, in conversation with Michaela Kalowski.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The Austen Formula

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 22:49:08 +0000

Some consider Pride and Prejudice the first romantic comedy, with Jane Austen having set the ground rules for others to follow.

Certainly, with its witty heroine and enemies-to-lovers plotting, Pride and Prejudice has created many of the tropes we continue to see in rom-coms today. YA authors Kate and Angourie Rice (Stuck up and Stupid), Sophie Gonzales (The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist) and Gabrielle Tozer (The Unexpected Mess of it All) talk with Nathan Luff about Austen’s lasting influences on the genre and the fun involved in reimagining rom-coms for contemporary readers.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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David Wengrow: The Dawn of Everything

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 05:36:49 +0000

What kind of world could we create if we stopped believing inequality is the price of progress?

Archaeology professor David Wengrow’s groundbreaking book, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, co-authored with the late David Graeber, overturns the theories of Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens), Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel) and Steven Pinker (Enlightenment Now). Challenging dominant narratives that the agricultural revolution meant abandoning an egalitarian Eden, the book unearths advanced early civilisations that weren’t governed by kings, presidents or authoritarian rule.

Transform your understanding of human evolution with David, in conversation with ABC RN’s Richard Fidler, and learn how rewriting history may provide political inspiration for today.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.

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Your Favourites’ Favourites: Tony Birch and Graham Akhurst

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 05:50:45 +0000

In Your Favourites’ Favourites, our most loved writers introduce one of their favourite authors.

Acclaimed Women & Children author Tony Birch sits down with debut writer Graham Akhurst, a Fulbright Scholar who drafted his YA novel, Borderland, while studying in renowned writing program at Hunter College in New York City. This gripping coming-of-age story follows a city-born First Nations teenager on an epic quest to figure out who he is.

Join Tony and Graham as they discuss First Nations identity, the impact of colonisation and what happens when you take a stand. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Hedley Thomas: How to Catch a Killer

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 05:38:42 +0000

If you thought you knew the backstory of The Teacher's Pet, the gripping whodunnit podcast downloaded by over 80 million listeners, think again.

Two-time Gold Walkley Award–winning investigative journalist Hedley Thomas’ book takes readers behind the scenes of the podcast investigation with a blow-by-blow account of one of the most intriguing and enduring murder mysteries of our time.

Get the scoop as Hedley reveals to Matthew Condon how fresh leads, old evidence and a groundswell of public attention on a scandalous cold case finally saw justice delivered after nearly four decades.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Bringing the Past to Life

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 04:55:22 +0000

“The past is a foreign country”, L.P. Hartley famously wrote. It is also a place readers can visit via masterful historical fiction.

Be transported by esteemed panellists Francesca de Tores (Saltblood), Mirandi Riwoe (Sunbirds) and Abraham Verghese (The Covenant of Water) as they discuss the magic of bringing history to life for contemporary audiences. Learn how these authors conjure the past to make sense of the present and convincingly intertwine fact and fiction in their prose. Hosted by Kate Evans (ABC RN’s The Bookshelf).

Abraham Verghese appeared at this event via video link. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Fantastical Worlds

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 03:36:19 +0000

Imagine another world with the fantasy writers who are redefining the wildly popular genre.

Australian fantasy heavyweight Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom series) takes to the stage with ascending local star Shelley Parker-Chan (The Radiant Emperor duology) and global sensation Samantha Shannon (The Roots of Chaos series) to explain how they create expansive universes for their epic stories, heroes and heroines.

This is must-listen episode for YA and fantasy fans alike! Hosted by Aimée Lindorff.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Sad Girl? Bad Girl? Mad Girl?

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 05:21:30 +0000

She may be self-absorbed, adrift or unhinged, but the ‘sad girl’ is taking the publishing industry by storm.

Debut novelists Nadine J. Cohen (Everyone and Everything), Madeleine Gray (Green Dot) and Jessie Stephens (Something Bad is Going to Happen) have all created unforgettable protagonists who are fallible, at times unlikeable and painfully relatable.

Hear from these exciting debut novelists as they discuss making and breaking this emerging genre’s rules, and how they crafted compelling portraits of present-day womanhood. In conversation with The Guardian’s Steph Harmon.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Aussie Crime All-Stars

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 06:02:06 +0000

From parched paddocks to sleepy coastal towns, the bodies keep piling up – and Australian readers can’t get enough.

This panel brings together some of Australia’s hottest local crime writers, with Sulari Gentill (The Mystery Writer), Dinuka McKenzie (Tipping Point) and Benjamin Stevenson (Everyone on this Train is a Suspect).

Dust off your Akubra for a thrilling chat about the outback noir genre and what makes Aussie crime fiction unique, with host Alex Adsett.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Australia’s Place in the World

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 04:34:17 +0000

In the wake of a shift in the global power balance, how can Australia best protect itself?

Two of Australia’s most interesting foreign policy thinkers take a fresh look at Australia’s place in the world and come to some surprising conclusions. Clinton Fernandes (Sub-Imperial Power) and Sam Roggeveen (The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace) tackle the big questions about the US alliance, the threat of China, and underneath it all, what kind of country Australia really is.

Listen as Sam and Clinton reshape Australia’s understanding of itself in the international arena, in conversation with Verity Firth.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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In Defence of Nature

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 23:18:29 +0000

What is the writer’s role in an era of profound ecological change?

This panel event brings together leading local nature writers James Bradley and Bruce Pascoe to discuss how best to defend our environment. James’ latest book, Deep Water: The World in the Ocean, dives into the waves, and Bruce’s Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra investigates traditional agricultural practices that offer a blueprint for our farming futures.

Reflect on our relationship with the natural world and what lies ahead, as James and Bruce are joined in conversation by Ashley Hay.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Paul Murray: The Bee Sting

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 02:13:33 +0000

"People have crazy lives," says Paul Murray. "The stuff that happens to – quote-unquote – ordinary folks is very operatic."

Case in point: his Booker Prize shortlisted The Bee Sting which follows an unravelling household in the Irish Midlands who embody Tolstoy's proverb about unhappy families. Paul's third novel has been acclaimed by critics as “generous, expansive and glorious as a cathedral” (The Guardian).

One of three superb Irish writers at this year's Festival, this is your chance to catch Paul solo, in conversation with Kate Evans (ABC RN's The Bookshelf).

This episode was recorded live in May 2024.

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Feminist Firebrands

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 00:22:43 +0000

Four waves in, the feminist fight for gender equality is far from over.

This panel brings together the powerful and incendiary feminist voices of Hannah Ferguson, Sisonke Msimang and Jennifer Robinson. Hear from these leading writers and activists who between them offer daring feminist opinions on topics ranging from freedom of speech, right-wing politics, racism, xenophobia, belonging and identity, taboos around sex and pleasure, as well as the legal judgements that continue to silence and disadvantage women.

Be inspired by the feminist firebrands who are fighting for meaningful social change. Hosted by the inimitable Jo Dyer, this is an important examination of the most pressing issues facing women today.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The Drowning with Bryan Brown and Sam Neill

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 05:48:41 +0000

Last year, Bryan Brown interviewed Sam Neill at the Festival. This year, it was Bryan’s turn in the hot seat as Sam interviewed him about his gripping new crime novel, The Drowning. Bryan is one of the most recognisable faces on our screens with more than 80 film and television projects to his name. This sensational new thriller with his characteristic laconic style – humorous, tough and suspenseful – confirms his place as one of the great Australian storytellers.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Hidden Heroines

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 05:40:41 +0000

Going deep into the historical past, Lauren Groff (The Vaster Wilds, Matrix) and Francesca de Tores (Saltblood) create memorable heroines, real and imaginary, whose stories have not been told.

Their portrayals of ordinary women doing extraordinary things – a girl escaping alone into the wilderness, a pirate on the high seas – are richly detailed and vividly alive. Coming out of hiding into our imaginations, these heroines are so fierce they jump off the page. Join Lauren and Francesca in conversation with novelist and scholar Sophie Gee.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Richard Flanagan and Anna Funder on Writing

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 04:48:23 +0000

Join two of the most admired writers in Australia today, Booker Prize–winning Richard Flanagan and Miles Franklin–winning Anna Funder as they discuss writing in the margins between fiction and non-fiction, history and memoir, personal and public.

Historian Clare Wright leads this conversation, examining their genre-bending masterpieces. Through a hypnotic melding of dream, history, science and memory, Question 7 traces the ripples of history through Richard’s own family and is described by Anna as holding “a life between its covers”. Wifedom is Anna’s “counterfiction”, an attempt to write Eileen O'Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s first wife, back into the narrative from which history has so carefully excised her. Not only a New York Times Notable Book of 2023, Wifedom also described by Geraldine Brooks as “Simply, a masterpiece”.

Redefine genre with Richard and Anna as they discuss the craft of writing, the parts of themselves left excavated on the page and the consequences of the choices we make.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Dirty Laundry

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 03:31:01 +0000

While everyone has dirty laundry in their lives, not everyone will choose to air theirs publicly.

Whether on social media, in written memoir, public speaking or on television, how can sharing the ‘self’ when the story touches on family and community, still be navigated ethically? What are the consequences and ramifications of bringing the personal into the public realm? Join writers Benjamin Law, Rhys Nicholson and Amy Thunig as they unpack the fallout on the other side of publication, with host George Haddad.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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PEN Lecture: Writing From Prison in Myanmar

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 05:07:06 +0000

Sean Turnell spent almost two years in Myanmar’s terrifying Insein Prison, accused of being a spy. Ma Thida was also incarcerated there, where, denied medical treatment, she came very close to dying.

How did they survive? What hope do these important players in Myanmar’s government and politics hold for the return of democracy three years after the military seized power in a coup? In conversation with Catherine Renshaw.

This event was presented in partnership with PEN Sydney and recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers' Festival.

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Melissa Lucashenko: Edenglassie

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 05:52:11 +0000

Melissa Lucashenko describes her latest novel, Edenglassie, as her “big book” – a multigenerational epic that torches Queensland’s colonial myths and reimagines Australia’s future.

Set in Brisbane and rivalling the romances of Too Much Lip and Mullumbimby, two parallel love stories play out two centuries apart. In both the colonial era and the present day, no one knows how far legacies will reach into modern lives.

Sit down with this celebrated author as she is joined on stage by ABC RN’s Kate Evans to discuss her critically acclaimed novel, described by The Weekend Australian as being “as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking”.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Julia Baird: Bright Shining

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 04:04:45 +0000

Following broadcaster and author Julia Baird’s multi-award-winning international bestseller, Phosphorescence, comes a beautiful and timely exploration of that most mysterious but necessary human quality: grace.

Bright Shining: How grace changes everything asks what grace looks like today, how we recognise it, nurture it within ourselves and express it. For Julia, grace can be found by being kinder, bigger and better with each other.

Sit down with Julia to discuss this luminous work, which The Guardian described as “a book the world needs now”. In conversation with journalist Jacqueline Maley.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The Presence of the Past

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 04:22:59 +0000

As conflict plays out across an unnamed region, the protagonist in Parramatta Laureate of Literature Yumna Kassab’s Politica imagines how she will later narrate her experiences: “We hadn’t spoken for years but then the war broke out...”

Sharing difficult stories is also at the heart of Miles Franklin Award winner Shankari Chandran’s Safe Haven, which follows a refugee threatened with deportation when she speaks out for other detainees. Sit down with Yumna and Shankari as they discuss their poignant and timely novels, which ask how, if possible, we can measure the cost of war and what lengths we will go to in the search for safety. With host Ashley Hay.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. 

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Lauren Groff: The Vaster Wilds

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 05:21:57 +0000

After smash-hit Fates and Furies, the modern-day marriage story that was Barack Obama’s book of the year in 2015, Lauren Groff’s novels have looked to the past to understand the present.

Her latest historical novel, The Vaster Wilds, is set on the edge of the New World at an unnamed British settlement in the Americas. Fleeing violence, disease and starvation, a servant girl enters the wilderness alone. This spirited survivalist story has been critically acclaimed as “exhilarating” (The Guardian), “visionary” (The Observer) and “timeless” (The Times).

Join Lauren and host Melanie Kembrey as they explore this prophetic novel, which encapsulates the story of America in miniature.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. 

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Richard Flanagan: Question 7

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 05:13:45 +0000

Join Richard Flanagan as he discusses this hypnotic, genre-defying new book which entwines memoir, biography, autofiction and history through a daisy chain of stories both intimate and collective.

Opening with his father as a prisoner of war, the book leads readers through a literary love affair into nuclear physics of the 1930s and 40s and finally towards a young Richard fighting for his life in Tasmanian river rapids in a rumination on life’s choices and their intergenerational chain reactions. Richard speaks with Kerry O’Brien.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Survival, Sustenance and Stories

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:51:14 +0000

Social change is driven by conversation, in sharing ideas, and translating those ideas for audiences who don’t agree or understand what is at stake.

For many First Nations writers and journalists, this has been a huge priority over the last year, in particular, and one that comes with a cost. In a conversation with legendary truth-tellers, find out what sustains them to keep on going in the face of profound challenges. With Larissa Behrendt, Tony Birch, Narelda Jacobs and Amy Thunig.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. 

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A.C. Grayling: The Meaning of Life in a Technological Age

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 03:38:59 +0000

The quest for a life worth living has been the business of philosophers for millennia. How can we pursue answers to life’s big questions in a world that feels increasingly dangerous and unstable thanks to big tech and AI?

Unpack the ‘how’ in this unmissable episode from the pre-eminent philosopher A.C. Grayling.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. 

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Kate Manne: Fighting Fatphobia

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 02:15:12 +0000

Anti-fatness is a system of oppression, argues Kate Manne, afflicting vulnerable bodies in intersectional ways.

Building on her incisive studies of misogyny and male privilege, the Melbourne-born feminist philosopher’s latest book, Unshrinking: How to Fight Fatphobia, unpicks the dangerous virtues associated with dieting and deprivation, using a blend of first-hand stories and trenchant analysis.

Praised by US writer Roxane Gay as “required reading”, this timely intervention calls for a radical re-evaluation of who our bodies exist for –  ourselves and no one else.

Learn from an acclaimed, accessible new voice in moral philosophy, in conversation with host Maeve Marsden.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Abdulrazak Gurnah: Afterlives

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 23:25:09 +0000

At 18, Abdulrazak Gurnah arrived in England as a refugee from the Zanzibar Revolution. Receiving the Nobel Prize more than 50 years later, he reflected that the “prolonged period of poverty and alienation” he experienced made him a writer.

From the contemporary immigrant experience in his debut, Memory of Departure, to colonial wartime conscription in Booker Prize shortlisted Paradise, Abdulrazak’s unflinching yet humane oeuvre interrogates the legacies of empire, centring that which is often too marginalised.

Listen as he and writer Sisonke Msimang discuss his tenth novel, Afterlives – an intergenerational portrait of love and loss under German occupation in East Africa.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Katy Hessel: The Story of Art Without Men

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 05:09:32 +0000

How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? And what is the Baroque anyway?

Enter art historian and curator Katy Hessel’s The Story of Art Without Men, a response to E.H. Gombrich’s classic chronicle, The Story of Art, first published in 1950, which was recently updated to include... one woman.

Katy’s revisionist history builds on her popular podcast and Instagram account, The Great Women Artists, where her fresh approach has garnered fans worldwide and earned her a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.

Overturn art history as you know it with Katy, in conversation with curator Beatrice Gralton.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Michael Connelly’s Life of Crime

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 05:28:26 +0000

Crime fiction king Michael Connelly discusses the highlights of his illustrious career and the characters who have populated the pages of his cult classic novels.

The bestselling author of 39 books, selling over 80 million copies worldwide, talks with The Monthly’s Michael Williams about the art of crime writing, seeing his work reach the screen, including the Netflix smash-hit The Lincoln Lawyer and his newest book in the series, Resurrection Walk.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Coffee and Headlines with Read This

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 06:34:01 +0000

How do you support writers if the market for their books is being steadily destroyed?

As bookshops close their doors in record numbers and writers see their income steadily eroding, its time for government to take action. With a simple fix – to stop book discounting for a time after first publication, as many EU countries do. Both writers and independent booksellers would benefit.

Ray Bonner, Richard Flanagan, Olivia Lanchester and Michael Robotham join host of Read This Michael Williams in-conversation.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Jake Adelstein: Tokyo Noir

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 06:37:37 +0000

Jake Adelstein has spent decades reporting on Japanese organised crime and is the only American journalist to be admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police Press Club.

These unique experiences informed his memoir, Tokyo Vice, which was adapted into an HBO Max series starring Ansel Elgort, the second season of which premiered in February. Jake returns to Japan’s seedy underworld with this hotly anticipated follow-up Tokyo Noir, which is equal parts history lesson, true crime exposé and darkly comic memoir.

Hear Jake and host Peter Hartcher discuss what it’s like when you’re in too deep to distinguish the story you chase from the story you are living.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Samantha Shannon on The Roots of Chaos series

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 06:09:27 +0000

At 21, Samantha Shannon was hailed as the next big thing in genre fiction for her bestselling dystopian debut, The Bone Season.

Samantha’s latest queer fantasy series, The Roots of Chaos, is a feat of feminist worldbuilding, reimagining the legend of Saint George and the Dragon to create a universe where princesses save themselves. Following smash-hit The Priory of the Orange Tree, the prequel, A Day of Fallen Night, is an engrossing saga about a world on the brink of war with dragons – and the women warriors who must protect humankind. Meet fantasy’s new mother of dragons, joined on stage by Shelley Parker-Chan.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Suzie Miller: Prima Facie

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 02:45:44 +0000

[Content warning: Sexual assault]

Suzie Miller’s disturbingly prescient play, Prima Facie, dramatises the price sexual assault victims pay for speaking out.

This blistering one-woman show wowed audiences on Broadway and the West End, winning Suzie an Olivier Award and Killing Eve favourite Jodie Comer a Tony for her performance as the brilliant young barrister who, one sickening night, finds herself thrust into the flawed justice system.

Put the courts on trial with Suzie and writer and podcaster Nicole Abadee, as they discuss Prima Facie’s adaptation into a gripping novel and screenplay set to star Cynthia Erivo.

Suzie Miller appeared at this event via video link. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Nick Bryant: America's Unending Conflict With Itself

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 04:10:12 +0000

What is driving American decline, and what does it mean for the world?

Long-time foreign correspondent Nick Bryant’s most recent posting took him to New York City to cover the Trump years. In his compelling analysis of American history and politics, Nick finds the roots of current polarisation and conflict in its history. If the American experiment is failing, what does this mean in for a world order with American power and influence at its heart? Pressing global issues such as current conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the world’s ability to act on climate change, the dangers of AI or threats posed by China and Russia are all held hostage by the failure of the American experiment.

Learn from this renowned reporter as he discusses how the hate, divisiveness and paranoia of contemporary American politics are central to the nation’s story. In conversation with ABC RN’s Geraldine Doogue.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Celeste Ng: Our Missing Hearts

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 02:32:11 +0000

Banning books, waving flags and persecuting racial minorities. Sound familiar?

After New York Times–bestselling novel Little Fires Everywhere – which was adapted into a popular miniseries starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon – comes a similarly moving tale about the unbreakable bond between a mother and son.

Celeste Ng’s third novel, Our Missing Hearts, is set in a marginally more dystopian version of Trump’s America and follows Bird, a young boy searching for his politically dissident mother, and Margaret, a poet striving to change the world for her son.

Listen to Celeste and host Claire Nichols as they discuss hope in the face of isolation and cynicism, the redemptive power of storytelling, and the capacity for art to create meaningful change.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Creativity, Joy, Grace

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 05:08:45 +0000

Find sanctuary in this uplifting celebration of creativity, chaired by Michaela Kalowski.

Award-winning journalist Julia Baird follows her international bestseller, Phosphorescence, with Bright Shining, a stunning and insightful call for grace in a world which has forgotten its importance.

Bestselling author Holly Ringland, whose debut novel, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, was published in 30 countries and adapted into an Amazon miniseries starring Sigourney Weaver, invites readers into her creative practice in The House That Joy Built.

Learn how to recognise, cultivate and express these nourishing qualities, even in the darkest of times.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Charlotte Wood: Stone Yard Devotional

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 03:36:19 +0000

Can a person truly be good? What is forgiveness? Is losing hope a moral failure? And is the business of grief ever really finished?

These questions pervade Charlotte Wood’s latest novel, Stone Yard Devotional, which is set on the Monaro plains where the much-loved author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend grew up.

It follows a woman who abandons city life to return to the place of her childhood, holing up in a cloistered religious community where she confronts her past.

Hear Charlotte and host Beejay Silcox discuss her most personal novel to date.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Queer Love and Longing

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 01:06:19 +0000

Love is indeed a many splendoured thing in the work of K Patrick and Christos Tsiolkas, who know firsthand the pleasures of writing queer love stories.

Hosted by Madeleine Gray, this beautiful conversation brings together two authors to discuss their sensual new novels. K’s Mrs S pulses with lust and longing at an elite boarding school, while Christos’ critically acclaimed The In-Between follows a fledgling relationship between two middle-aged men.

Swoon with K and Christos in this heartfelt discussion of romance, regret, desire and hope.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The Secret Lives of Women

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 02:28:20 +0000

“We are invisible”, writes Balli Kaur Jaswal in Now You See Us. “We clean your houses, we look after your children, we know your secrets.”

The Singaporean-Australian writer is joined by Dominican-American novelist Elizabeth Acevedo (Family Lore) and Arab-Australian author Sara M Saleh (Songs for the Dead and the Living and The Flirtation of Girls) whose latest works portray the private lives and subterranean desires of women who are too often silenced.

In conversation with ABC RN’s Kate Evans, these cross-cultural novelists discuss the rich inner worlds of their characters, whose aspirations are often obscured by duty and expectation.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Paul Lynch: Prophet Song

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 03:27:29 +0000

In his Booker Prize acceptance speech, Paul Lynch admitted his fifth novel, Prophet Song, had been difficult to write.

“The rational part of me believed I was dooming my career,” he said, “though I had to write the book anyway. We do not have a choice in such matters”.

Set in Ireland’s near future, Prophet Song depicts a collapsing society in the grip of an increasingly tyrannical government. The Booker Prize judges described it as a novel “to remind us of all that is worth saving”.

Sit down with Paul and host Michael Williams to discuss this timely and terrifying parable.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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The War on Journalists

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 06:04:02 +0000

War correspondent Marie Colvin stated: “It has always seemed to me that what I write about is humanity in extremis, pushed to the unendurable, and that it is important to tell people what really happens in wars.”

With conflict continuing in Ukraine, and the death toll of journalists in the Gaza conflict reaching alarming proportions, we look at the role of journalists in war – on and off the frontlines – and how vital the protection of journalists is to news we can trust about the realities of war.

Join us to hear from those with firsthand experience from the most conflict-ridden parts of the world: Global Affairs Editor for the ABC, John Lyons, The Guardian World Affairs Editor, Julian Borger and journalists Alisa Sopova and Anastasia Taylor-Lind of the 5km From the Frontline project. In conversation with journalist and broadcaster Hamish Macdonald.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Play Like a Girl

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 06:09:52 +0000

Matildas fever swept across Australia during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, taking hold of new soccer fans and diehards alike. But where do we go next to tap into the potential of women’s sport?

Hosted by The Ticket podcast’s Tracey Holmes, this elite panel features Olympic rugby gold medallist Chloe Dalton (Girls Don’t Play Sport), Australia’s most decorated cycling Olympian Anna Meares and world champion pro-athlete Jana Pittman (Enough).

Cheer on the sportswomen kicking goals for female athletes everywhere.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

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Abraham Verghese: The Covenant of Water

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 06:10:28 +0000

Physician and writer Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone, crafts a masterly narrative of three generations of a family in Kerala, through the eyes of a young girl, from her arranged marriage at the turn of the 20th century to her emergence as the matriarchal figure Big Ammachi.

Solving the mystery of a family affliction – in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning – the book brings to life a vanished past and the impact of change on lives and communities.

Examine the marriage of medicine and literature with Abraham, joined by host Roanna Gonsalves.

Abraham Verghese appeared at this event via video link. This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Bonnie Garmus: Lessons in Chemistry

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 03:51:44 +0000

After a male colleague took credit for her work, Bonnie Garmus channelled her rage into the unforgettable protagonist of Lessons in Chemistry Elizabeth Zott – a chemist-turned-celebrity cook who surreptitiously teaches housewives to subvert the status quo.

With her debut, Bonnie became a multimillion-copy-bestselling novelist, whose novel has also been adapted into an Apple TV series starring Brie Larson. This 1960s-set comedy has inspired readers worldwide with its message that it's never too late to change everything – including yourself.

Listen to Bonnie as speaks with Caroline Baum about science, sexism and success in your sixties.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

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Fragile Democracy

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 04:28:15 +0000

Australia has been a close ally of the United States since 1940, but what does this mean for contemporary politics when democracy is more fragile than ever?

Donald Trump and his attacks on the US electoral system have raised red flags about the strength of American democracy. But in an age of disinformation and civic decline, signs of fragility are visible elsewhere, and Australia is no exception.

Chaired by Festival favourite Barrie Cassidy, one of Australia’s most experienced political correspondents and analysts, this expert panel features former BBC foreign correspondent Nick Bryant (The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict With Itself), UNSW Sydney Professor of Law and constitutional democracy specialist Rosalind Dixon and Senior Fellow of the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre Bruce Wolpe (Trump’s Australia: How Trumpism changed Australia and the shocking consequences for us of a second term).

Unpack the far-reaching ramifications of this relationship across trade, security, foreign policy and beyond. Together they will examine whether it’s too late to steer Democracy back on course in this defining moment with the ‘battle for the soul of America’ due to play out at the US Election later this year.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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In Conversation: 2024 Stella Prize Winner Alexis Wright

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 06:29:47 +0000

“Praiseworthy is mighty in every conceivable way: mighty of scope, mighty of fury, mighty of craft, mighty of humour, mighty of language, mighty of heart.” – Stella Prize

Hear from the winner of this year’s Stella Prize, Alexis Wright, as she joins judging panel chair Beejay Silcox in conversation to discuss her creative inspirations, writing process and prize-winning work, Praiseworthy.

Celebrating original, excellent and engaging works by women and non-binary authors, the Stella Prize has helped elevate the careers of numerous Australian writers and has become one of the country’s most prestigious literary accolades.

Alexis Wright appeared at this event via video link. This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Viet Thanh Nguyen: A Man of Two Faces

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 03:35:14 +0000

“I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces”, begins Viet Thanh Nguyen’s debut novel, The Sympathizer, the internationally acclaimed bestseller that was recently adapted into an HBO series starring Sandra Oh and Robert Downey Jr.

This duality is also at the heart of Viet’s highly original memoir, A Man of Two Faces, which details with sardonic wit and incisive analysis the double consciousness of a Vietnamese refugee growing up in North America.

Listen to the celebrated author, hailed as “a conscience of American literature” (The New Yorker), in conversation with Benjamin Law.

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.

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Ann Patchett on Ordinary Joys

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:19:56 +0000

“How other people live is pretty much all I think about,” writes Ann Patchett.

Since her breakthrough novel, Bel Canto, won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Ann’s clever, compelling and expertly crafted portraits of other people’s lives have enamoured readers and critics alike.

The author of bookshelf staples like Commonwealth and The Dutch House returns with another bestseller, Tom Lake – a meditation on young love, marriage and the lives people lead before having children.

Hear stories from Ann and her writer penpal, Meg Mason (Sorrow and Bliss), on home, family and bookselling – with some Parnassus Books reading recommendations thrown in!

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.

After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:
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Closing Address: Kate Manne on the Future of Misogyny

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 04:31:30 +0000

[Content warning: misogynistic violence, sexual assault]

When Kate Manne’s first book Down Girl, a tightly argued analysis of misogyny, was published shortly after the full exposé of Harvey Weinstein, she became ‘the philosopher of #MeToo’ – someone who could explain in crisp and compelling terms what misogyny is and how it works.

With her trademark combination of philosophical rigor and vivid storytelling, her next book Entitled took aim at male privilege and how it hurts women. Her new book Unshrinking: How to Fight Fatphobia targets particularly prevalent and oppressive aspects of misogyny – fatphobia and diet culture – proposing a radical rethinking of our bodies and the world.

In her closing address, join Kate to build on this extraordinary body of work and consider what recent activism has changed, what has resolutely stayed the same and what has worsened. What might the future of misogyny look like?

This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.

After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:
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2024 Program Announcement: Annabel Crabb and Ann Mossop

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 07:03:20 +0000

Join Annabel Crabb and Artistic Director Ann Mossop as they discuss the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival program.

The pair talk about the 2024 Festival theme, Take Me Away, and how books let us escape into different worlds, live other lives and travel in time and space.

The 2024 Sydney Writers' Festival is out now. Head to our website to explore the program: https://www.swf.org.au/

Tickets on sale Saturday 9 March at 10am.

Thank you to 2SER for facilitating the recording of this podcast

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Daniel Lavery: Dear Prudence and more

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 01:58:27 +0000

[Content warning: Child sexual abuse]

Join internet darling Daniel Lavery as he lifts the lid on his writing life and Dear Prudence, a collection of the weirdest and wildest questions received during his tenure as Slate’s agony aunt. Filled with his always sympathetic, thoughtful and good-humoured advice, it offers a good dose of sense and compassion in an increasingly wonky world. Daniel reveals the secrets to dispensing wise counsel and talks about his broader career as the co-founder of legendary website The Toast and a New York Times–bestselling author. In conversation with Mon Schafter.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.

After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:
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