Melbourne Writers Festival: Recent Episodes
Melbourne Writers Festival
Pioneering Noongar doctor and medical researcher Professor Sandra Eades (co-author of First Knowledges Health: Spirit, Country and Culture) and Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire (Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media) explore the enduring, transformative role of First Nations knowledge in the fields of healthcare and media.
With host Cheryl Leavy, they'll draw on their combined decades of practical experience and intellectual rigour to reflect on the importance of self-determined practices that uphold cultural integrity and prioritise Aboriginal leadership, and how non-First Nations practitioners can respect and learn from these approaches. Curated by Nardi Simpson.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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In this stunning conversation, celebrated authors Emily Maguire (Rapture) and Josephine Rowe (Little World) cover the mundane, the miraculous and writing the ineffable.
Hear them discuss their latest works exploring faith, fate and the nature of belief, with Jaclyn Crupi.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Santilla Chingaipe (Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia), Sita Sargeant (She Shapes History) and Steve Vizard (Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary) come together to bring to light misunderstood, mythologised or lesser-known dimensions of Australian history.
From the global slave trade and Gallipoli to the women who shaped our country but were omitted from the history books, this discussion addresses how the stories we choose to tell – and those that are left out – shape our national identity.
Hosted by ABC Radio National's Natasha Mitchell.
Supported by ARA.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Hannah Kent has won legions of fans with works like Burial Rights, The Good People and Devotion. Now, she presents her debut work of non-fiction – a tender, diaristic love letter to her muse, Iceland.
Always Home, Always Homesick is both a memoir of Kent’s experiences of living in Iceland, and a wider consideration of how literature forms the heart of the nation's culture and identity.
Speaking with ABC Radio National’s Richard Fidler, Kent explores distance and belonging, writing place and the self, and how Iceland has shaped the person she is today.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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When an artist does something that appals us – politically, legally or ethically – does that mean we should turn our backs on their art? Is it ever possible to separate the art from the artist? And more pressingly – is it right to?
Journalist Osman Faruqi, philosopher A. C. Grayling and cultural critic Tara Kenny debate one of the most divisive issues of our time: how we should respond to great artists who do bad things.
Listen to this lively debate with three sharp thinkers as they consider legacy, celebrity, transgression and accountability, with host Beejay Silcox.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Award-winning author and musician Jimmy Barnes recounts the twists and turns of his larger-than-life adventures live on stage. With his trademark candour, humour, and distinctive voice, Barnes shares anecdotes, lessons, and cracking good yarns: from unearthing shattering family secrets in Glasgow to encountering charismatic and not-so-endearing superstars, to confronting his own mortality.
Featuring humorous tangents, wild characters, and the occasional tall tale, hear from the beloved star and maverick as he celebrates heritage, family, friends, music and the adventure of a grand life with host Brian Nankervis.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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The extraordinary writers and editors behind Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Non-fiction by Autistic Writers come together for this panel discussion exploring identity, creativity and culture.
This expansive anthology of creative non-fiction, memoir, graphic storytelling and more features a stellar line-up of Autistic gender-diverse and women writers, exploring topics such as sex, religion and the natural world.
Co-editors Jo Case and Clem Bastow, and contributors Jess Ho, Marlee Jane Ward and Caitlin McGregor appear in conversation. Enjoy their wide-ranging discussion on belonging, connection, social interaction, meaning and joy.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Samantha Harvey discusses her 2024 Booker Prize-winning novel, Orbital – a profound meditation on deep space, our environment, the meaning of life and the nature of humanity itself.
Taking place over a single day – with sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets – Orbital tells the story of six astronauts as they observe the planet Earth from the vantage point of the International Space Station. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. They are there to do vital work, but slowly they begin to wonder: what is life without Earth? What is Earth without humanity?
Hosted by Kate Mildenhall.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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What does it mean for a writer to bear witness? How do writers reject or subvert the constraints of traditional structures and institutions, such as media and academia, to depict the stories of their families, their communities and themselves with autonomy and integrity?
With host Evelyn Araluen, authors Hasib Hourani (rock flight), Amy McQuire (Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media) and Micaela Sahhar (Find me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family) consider these questions through the lens of their recent books of essays, memoir and poetry.
This event was presented in partnership with Overland and supported by City of Melbourne.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Writer Kaliane Bradley discusses her debut novel, The Ministry of Time, a propulsive tale of time travel, spies and the potential for love to change it all.
In the near future, a jaded civil servant is offered a job in a mysterious government ministry gathering ‘expats’ from across history to test the limits of time-travel. Tasked to work as a 'bridge’ assisting and monitoring Commander Graham Gore—a dangerously handsome Arctic explorer from the 1840s—she soon finds herself entangled in more than just history.
Bradley is joined by host Claire Nichols to discuss the literary and historical sources that inspired her novel, writing sexy sex scenes and throwing out the rulebook for genre fiction.
This event was supported by ARA Group.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Rumaan Alam's latest novel, Entitlement, follows a 33-year-old Black woman named Brooke Orr, who lands a job as a program manager at 83-year-old white billionaire Asher Jaffee’s charitable foundation and quickly becomes his protégé.
What follows is a searing portrait of need and worth, race and privilege, and the seductive, corrupting lure of extreme wealth. Alam sits down with ABC Radio National's Claire Nichols to discuss class, desire and what happens when we are driven by want rather than need.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival
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Hear internationally bestselling author Jessica Townsend discuss the latest book in her phenomenally popular Nevermoor series, Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow, with host Rachael King.
Townsend’s book is an enchanting, page-turning adventure that takes readers deeper into the world of Nevermoor, where Morrigan Crow must untangle the mystery of who she is, uncover the secrets of her destiny and align herself with someone very dangerous to learn more of the Wundrous Arts.
You’ll learn all about the magic of Nevermoor, the importance of identity and chosen families, and the world of creative writing.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival
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Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama takes a deep dive into the state of poetry for the annual Peter Steele Conversation. He explores poetry’s power across mediums and provides a taste of his Poetry Unbound podcast. With host Izzy Roberts-Orr and an introduction by University of Melbourne Poet in Residence Maxine Beneba Clarke.
Supported by the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne
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Is adversity the key to making great art? Must we sink to rock bottom to write the perfect break-up album or a life-changing guidebook to recovery? Can hostile political conditions be a fulcrum for progressive social change? Is conservatism the kryptonite we need to stoke the fire in our bellies?
In this special session curated and hosted by MWF First Nations Curator Daniel Browning, writers and thinkers Brook Garru Andrew, Nayuka Gorrie and Bebe Oliver come together to look at the intersections of art and adversity, and consider whether personal, political and social ruptures offer the necessary impetus to the creation of great works of art.
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Writers, friends and co-authors Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland discuss brain health – the physical and the mental – through their intertwined experiences.
Together with host Clare Bowditch, they consider illness, resilience and friendship in this raw and insightful conversation on their new book, Broken Brains.
Supported by Readings.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2025.
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Argentine author Mariana Enríquez joins partners in writing and life Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta to discuss queer horror, monstrous femmes and the themes that haunt their writing.
With host Maeve Marsden they unpack their works of fiction, delving into the macabre, the uncanny and the deeply political, exploring queerness, violence and horror.
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How do we live meaningfully in an era of unprecedented social, political and environmental collapse?
Sarah Wilson discusses finding meaning, beauty and humanity amid global crises, with host Carody Culver.
Having spent the past four years interviewing leading global thinkers on crisis and transformation, Wilson gives a brave, nuanced and ultimately hopeful guide for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the state of the world.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2025.
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Dutch author Yael van der Wouden unpacks her Booker Prize-shortlisted debut novel The Safekeep.
Van der Wouden sits down to discuss her masterful, genre-defying work with Tali Lavi.
Supported by ARA.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2025.
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Booker Prize-winning novelist Paul Lynch discusses his propulsive and lyrically rendered cautionary fable with Michael Williams.
Prophet Song is a fearless portrait of Irish society on the brink of tyranny and a mother’s battle to save her family. Throwing into sharp relief the social and political anxieties of our times, it has been hailed as ‘a literary manifesto for empathy for those in need and a brilliant, haunting novel that should be placed into the hands of policymakers everywhere’ (Observer).
Supported by the Embassy of Ireland.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Bri Lee and Liam Pieper discuss their scathingly funny novels that reveal the tensions of money, power and love in the arts, with Sarah L’Estrange.
Lee's debut novel, The Work, delves into the volatile world of modern art, exposing it as a bedfellow to high finance. Pieper’s Appreciation is an outrageous satire that sets its sights on questions of authenticity in a time when image trumps talent and narcissism rules.
Supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund and in partnership with ABC RN.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Ghost stories are everywhere. In fairytales, folklore, Gothic novels and modern fiction alike. There are the ghosts that plague our minds – old flames, past wrongs and regrets that come to us in the dead of night – and those that haunt history itself, restless spirits that refuse to rest in peace.
Gather round our metaphorical campfire and hear Viet Thanh Nguyen (A Man of Two Faces), share his moving and revealing piece of original work, responding to the theme ‘Ghosts’.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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First Nations peoples are some of the oldest innovators in the world.
Hear from authors Ian J McNiven and Lynette Russell in conversation with Larissa Behrendt as they share insight into ingenuity that spans millennia, including body shaping, building artificial reefs for oyster farms, repurposing glass from Europeans into spearheads, and novel economic responses to colonisation.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Irish novelist Paul Murray and American author Bryan Washington have penned two of the best ghost stories, of sorts, in living memory.
Murray’s The Bee Sting is a sprawling tragicomedy of a family haunted by the ghosts of past trauma. Washington’s tender exploration of lust, love and grief, Family Meal, features the spectre of a lost lover and the phantoms of opportunities ignored.
Together they discuss their novels’ shared interest in real and figurative ghosts, in conversation with Toni Jordan.
Supported by the United States Consulate Melbourne.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Ghost stories are everywhere. In fairytales, folklore, Gothic novels and modern fiction alike. There are the ghosts that plague our minds – old flames, past wrongs and regrets that come to us in the dead of night – and those that haunt history itself, restless spirits that refuse to rest in peace.
Gather round our metaphorical campfire and hear Louise Milligan (Pheasant’s Nest), share her moving and revealing piece of original work, responding to the theme ‘Ghosts’.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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It’s little wonder books have been censored, banned and burned throughout history, given their power to shape thought, challenge belief and open whole wide worlds inside us.
Beloved novelists Tony Birch, Lauren Groff and Ann Patchett reveal the ‘inappropriate’ texts of their early reading lives and the books they’d encourage readers of all ages to pick up.
Birch shares insight as a long-time advocate of diversifying reading lists and as a writing teacher at Preston High School, and Groff and Patchett shed light on opening bookstores in America amid growing book bans, which have included some of their own novels in certain school districts.
Hosted by Community Engagement and Programming Manager at Readings, Christine Gordon.
The United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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From bestselling Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe and his partner, editor Lyn Harwood, comes Black Duck, a deeply personal story of the consequences for changing Australian history.
Pascoe and Harwood speak with Paul Barclay about living in harmony with Country based on very old practices, and why 'sometimes you need to repeat something a hundred times before a bell rings in the colony'.
Supported by ARA.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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Ghost stories are everywhere. In fairytales, folklore, Gothic novels and modern fiction alike. There are the ghosts that plague our minds – old flames, past wrongs and regrets that come to us in the dead of night – and those that haunt history itself, restless spirits that refuse to rest in peace.
Gather round our metaphorical campfire and hear Leslie Jamison (Splinters), share her moving and revealing piece of original work, responding to the theme ‘Ghosts’.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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As AI advances and outstrips our notions of its limits and potential, could it capture that essential, undefinable human quality of great art? And if so, how might we preserve the rights of artists?
Leading AI experts Marek Kowalkiewicz (The Economy of Algorithms), Toby Walsh (Machines Behaving Badly) and Professor Margaret Cameron, Head of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at University of Melbourne, speak with Paul Barclay.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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Ghost stories are everywhere. In fairytales, folklore, Gothic novels and modern fiction alike. There are the ghosts that plague our minds – old flames, past wrongs and regrets that come to us in the dead of night – and those that haunt history itself, restless spirits that refuse to rest in peace.
Gather round our metaphorical campfire and hear Sinéad Gleeson (Hagstone), share her moving and revealing piece of original work, responding to the theme ‘Ghosts’.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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The Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature Tony Birch discusses his award-winning novel, Women and Children, with Bec Kavanagh.
With tender yet forthright prose, Birch unravels the trauma of violence and the power of family in 1960s Fitzroy, writing ‘convincingly on power and the blinding nature of its corruptive forces’ (Sydney Morning Herald).
Supported by the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Following the runaway success of Mayflies, three-time Booker nominee Andrew O’Hagan penned another magnificent portrayal of male friendship in his latest book, Caledonian Road. He joins Michael Williams to discuss his biting portrait of British class, politics and money.
Supported by ARA.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Join eminent philosopher A.C. Grayling as he delivers an address that draws on a lifetime of thinking and writing about the biggest question of all: how should I live my life?
Inspired by his work Philosophy and Life, he brings together the ideas of a fantastically eclectic range of writers and thinkers – including Confucius, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ursula Le Guin – to examine matters of love, death, courage and wisdom, inviting us to consider for ourselves what constitutes a life truly worth living.
Supported by the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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David Marr was shocked to discover that members of his family were officers in the Queensland Native Police, an armed force believed to have massacred some 40,000 First Nations people during the 19th century.
Killing for Country is his relentless exposé of those forebears and the greed, hatred and violence they let loose. Bringing together his experience as a former lawyer, Marr reveals the brutal fight for possession of a country.
Marr speaks with host Sally Warhaft about the ghosts of the unresolved frontier wars that haunt us today.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Resisting cynicism or despair, Festival Curator Mykaela Saunders celebrates the forward-thinking wisdom of ancestors in Always Will Be – a book that “writes Aboriginal people, dreams, radical hope and love into the future” (Natalie Harkin).
Saunders speaks with Jeanine Leane about imagining a future of sovereignty and self-determination for Goori people in her brilliant collection of speculative fiction.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Irish novelist Paul Murray discusses the buzziest word-of-mouth hit of the past year, The Bee Sting.
Murray's dazzling tragicomedy charts the undoing of a once-prosperous Irish family haunted by the ghosts of the past through the perspective of multiple characters and has been hailed as ‘a 650-page soap opera with a clockwork plot whose delicate mechanism you can’t hear tick’ (Guardian).
In conversation with Michael Williams, Murray introduces his wise, witty and heart-punching saga to Australia.
Supported by the Embassy of Ireland.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Content note: This episode contains discussion of suicide.
After 235 years of colonisation, who truly gets to be human in so-called Australia?
Join Wik and South Sea Islander rapper and 2024 Festival Curator Ziggy Ramo, Munanjahli and South Sea Islander author Chelsea Watego, and Egyptian-Australian writer Lamisse Hamouda, with host Osman Faruqi as they read original work, considering who gets to be human in today’s world and how we can confront the past to finally move forward.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
If you need assistance, you can learn more and seek advice via the following resources -
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 46 36
Headspace: 1800 650 890
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Internationally bestselling author Ann Patchett (Tom Lake) speaks with Ailsa Piper to lift the veil on the unwritten novels of her past, the manuscripts discarded at the bottom of a drawer and the books read long ago that have stayed as spectres in her literary imagination ever since.
The United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Three pairings of highly acclaimed Aboriginal and Palestinian poets read new works to each other in affirmation of commitment, care and solidarity.
Featuring Tony Birch, Samah Sabawi, Jeanine Leane, Micaela Sahhar, Nayuka Gorrie and Sara Saleh, with host and Festival Curator Mykaela Saunders.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Two of the most perceptive storytellers of our time, Leslie Jamison (Splinters) and Nam Le (36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem) became close friends after meeting at the storied Iowa Writers’ Workshop many years ago.
In a fascinating conversation about their crafts, they come together with Sophie Black to compare genre-switching bodies of work that range from poetry to memoir and fiction in their search for truths about family, society, memory and identity.
The United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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With scorching wit and formal inventiveness, Viet Thanh Nguyen rewinds the story of his life in A Man of Two Faces, in conversation with André Dao.
This triumphant and hugely entertaining memoir takes readers from his success as the author of novels including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sympathizer, to migrating to California as a young refugee from the Vietnam War. A Man of Two Faces reckons with the ghosts of imperialism, family, memory and identity.
United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.
Supported by ARA.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Why have public conversations become so fraught? We seem to have lost the art not just of civil discourse but of having any semblance of a robust and nuanced debate.
Over a career spanning nearly 40 years, journalist Laura Tingle has been in the unusual position of being both a reporter and a commentator. In the 2024 John Button Oration, she examines the quality of our national debate.
Supported by the Melbourne School of Government and the Faculty of Arts,
University of Melbourne.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Award-winning storytellers Christos Tsiolkas (The In-Between) and Bryan Washington (Family Meal) have each penned acclaimed new novels that tenderly depict the triumphs and obstacles of love. They join Maeve Marsden for an insightful conversation about putting romance to the page and love’s power to change us (for better or worse).
Supported by the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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In a special meeting of literary minds, bestselling American author Lauren Groff (The Vaster Wilds) and acclaimed Australian writer Charlotte Wood (Stone Yard Devotional) join Ailsa Piper to discuss their stories of solitude.
How does a writer bring colour to the silence, contemplation, pleasure and melancholy of solitude? Groff’s thrilling The Vaster Wilds follows a spirited girl trying to survive alone in the wilderness, while Wood’s mesmerising Stone Yard Devotional depicts a woman holed up in a small religious community hidden in the stark plains of the Monaro, NSW.
Please note there are some minor audio issues in the first five minutes of the recording. Rest assured these were resolved and the rest of the episode audio is unaffected.
United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.
Supported by ARA.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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Globally acclaimed, Miles Franklin–winning novelist Alexis Wright (Carpentaria, The Swan Book) discusses her influential body of work and newest masterwork, Praiseworthy, with 2024 Festival Curator Mykaela Saunders.
Wright has long been recognised for the scale of her writing, which combines mythical, political, surreal and comic elements to forge a mode of Aboriginal epic entirely her own. She speaks with Saunders about how she has challenged literary traditions and language to illuminate the contemporary and timeless perspectives of storytelling, spirituality and sovereignty.
Supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.
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[Content warning: Sensitive themes] Listen to former Australian of the Year Grace Tame as she talks about The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner, her sharply intelligent, deeply felt and at times blisteringly funny memoir that shares her story – in her own words and on her own terms.
In conversation with Abigail Ulman, Tame talks about the hard-won journey to finding her voice, what her experience reveals about a culture of abuse in our society and institutions, the writing and editing process behind her memoir, and the values and passions that have helped her become a leading advocate for survivors of childhood sexual abuse who has inspired countless people from all walks of life.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
Please note, this conversation explores sensitive topics including child sexual abuse and domestic violence.
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A world-renowned expert in American literature and culture, Sarah Churchwell (The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells) delivers the 2023 John Button Oration.
Examining one of the most popular stories of all time, Gone with the Wind, Churchwell shows how histories of mythmaking have informed America’s racial and gender politics, the resurgence of white nationalism, the Black Lives Matter movement, the enduring power of the American dream, and the violence of Trumpism.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was proudly supported by the John Button Fund, Melbourne School of Government and the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne
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"You can’t really interview a ghost." – Shehan Karunatilaka
Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka won the 2022 Booker Prize for his dazzling magic-realist satire The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Set during his homeland’s long civil war, the story follows its title character, a self-described photographer, gambler and ‘closet queen’, who wakes up as a ghost with a week to discover who killed him.
One of the great literary voices of our times, Karunatilaka joins ABC RN’s Kate Evans (The Bookshelf) to discuss the novel's genesis and international success, the ethics of photography, and how Sri Lanka's history and culture informed the novel – with some cricket and daddy issues thrown in.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was proudly supported by ARA Group
This event was presented in partnership with ABC RN
This event was supported through the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund – a $200 million partnership of the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
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For millennia, reciprocal relationships with plants have provided both sustenance to First Nations communities and many of the materials needed to produce a complex array of technologies. In this wide-ranging discussion, learn more about this fascinating relationship and how it forms the basis of everything – respect, connection and our future survival.
Featuring co-authors of Plants: Past, Present and Future – Barkandji researcher and storyteller Zena Cumpston, Wiradjuri geographer and scientist Michael-Shawn Fletcher, and geographer Lesley Head – and prize-winning Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian writer Bruce Pascoe, with Sally Warhaft.
“If we don’t learn to relate to each other, we’ll continue to destroy the earth.”
– Bruce Pascoe
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Which stories made you 'different'? What makes writing queer? And what books brought about a break up with the gender binary?
Join a stellar group of queer writers as they share heartfelt (and hilarious) insights into the stories that shaped how they think and write about sexuality and gender, from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Ringsto Adrienne Rich's The Dream of a Common Language to Ellen van Neerven's Throat.
Dipping into the queer canon are Noongar writer Claire G. Coleman (Enclave, Terra Nullius); author of Dreyer’s English (and Twitter's most loved grammar expert) Benjamin Dreyer; photographer and writer Bill Hayes (Insomniac City); writer of poetry, fiction and memoir Kris Kneen (Fat Girl Dancing, The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen); proud Gunai woman and multidisciplinary artist Kirli Saunders (Kindred); and host Maeve Marsden (Queerstories).
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
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The 2023 Boisbouvier Conversation
The Writers on Writers series is an indispensable fixture in the literary calendar, with leading authors penning their reflections on Australian writers who have inspired and influenced them.
In one of the most loved sessions of the festival, enjoy this discussion about the importance of having generous and compassionate conversations; what readers gain from having fresh light shone on past treasures; and the future of Australian literature – and what literature is for.
Featuring Black Inc publisher Chris Feik; contributor to the series, Nam Le (On David Malouf); and ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf host Kate Evans as they speak with the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature, author Tony Birch.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was proudly supported by the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne
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Enjoy listening to two of 2023's most talked about novelists – and possibly the only two people to have ever become friends over Zoom – Emma Straub (This Time Tomorrow) and Gabrielle Zevin (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow). With Brodie Lancaster, they discuss their approaches to crafting fiction, writing a different kind of love story and the idea of wanting to hit restart.
From the geeky committee that informed Emma Straub’s rules of time travel and why she dedicated her book to Peter Straub’s ‘nemesis’ to Gabrielle Zevin’s Emily Dickinson–inspired video game and why she chose to set her novel in the 90s, this is a brilliant conversation between two wildly talented friends.
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Hear from New York Times–bestselling author and millennial food icon Alison Roman as she joins Benjamin Law to discuss her career, recipes and latest cookbook, Sweet Enough.
Roman shares her journey from working as a chef in professional kitchens and becoming a much-discussed food writer at Bon Appétit and The New York Times to eventually freeing her voice from mastheads in a creative move that would change her life – as well as her readers. She is now renowned for unfussy, flavourful dishes – exemplified by hit recipes like her Caramelised Shallot Pasta and #TheStew – that tap into the culinary zeitgeist for studied imperfection over aspirationally haute cuisine.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was supported through the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund – a $200 million partnership of the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
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Authors Tracey Lien (All That’s Left Unsaid) and Nina Wan (The Albatross) gripped readers across the country with their spectacular debut novels on family, love and identity.
Listen in as ABC RN’s Sarah L’Estrange (The Book Show) joins Lien and Wan for a wide-ranging conversation on the craft of storytelling and power of representation. Together, they discuss early influences on their writing (The Baby-sitters Club, Dolly Magazine and Judge Judy, to name a few); what it means to have 'conditional citizenship'; the poetry of golf; and the need for more Asian thirst traps.
“I wanted to make a point to readers that we are just like everyone else. Which is to say, we are just as complicated as anyone else. Within a community, we’re just as wonderful and petty and stubborn and flawed. We’re just as capable of success as we are of failure. And if you realise we are just like you, whoever you are, then how can you justify treating us differently?” – Tracey Lien
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was presented in partnership with ABC RN
This event was proudly supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund
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Casting fresh light on Australia's colonial past, the latest novels by award-winning journalist Paul Daley (Jesustown) and acclaimed author Fiona McFarlane (The Sun Walks Down) tell stories that upend the usual depictions in history books. Listen in as they speak to bestselling author and First Nations Curator Tony Birch about their approach to writing narratives that probe the enduring myths and brutal realities of settler-colonial life, the importance of place in their storytelling, and how they explore relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in their novels.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
Content warning: Please note, this discussion includes references to sensitive topics including colonial massacres of First Nations peoples and frontier violence.
This event was proudly supported by theCopyright Agency’s Cultural Fund
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"A few months before he died at 82…Oliver [Sacks] looked up from his notepad one evening in our apartment and said to me: 'The most we can do is to write – intelligently, creatively, critically, evocatively – about what it is like living in the world at this time.' So, I did." – Bill Hayes
The last few years have changed us all in profound ways. How have we been surprised, unsettled and enlivened as we return to once-familiar relationships, routines and realities? How are storytellers making sense of how life has changed?
For our Opening Night event, some of the most remarkable writers in the world delivered their unique takes on the 2023 Festival theme: ‘I’ve been away for a while’.
Listen to author and photographer Bill Hayes (Insomniac City, Sweat) as he shares his experiences of living in New York City throughout the pandemic, and how our cities are like our bodies. He also shares a note he received from a reader in a remote part of Australia that illuminated the power of stories to leap across time and space to connect strangers, intimately and empathetically.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was supported through the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund – a $200 million partnership of the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
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“…There is nothing more important than communicating to the Australian public the truth about our world.” – Marcia Langton
Sophisticated systems of law, cultivated over millennia, have enabled First Nations peoples to survive and thrive for more than 2,000 generations – laws that "haven't just survived colonisation but they've survived the last sea level rise of 10,000 years ago" (Aaron Corn).
Hear from the authors of Law: The Way of the Ancestors, Professor Marcia Langton and Professor Aaron Corn, as they shine a light on the enduring expertise of First Nations peoples. Speaking with Dr Eddie Cubillo, they discuss how Indigenous law has been historically unrecognised; how Australians can understand and respect Indigenous law; and how it can inform our understanding of treaty, native title, sovereignty and much more.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
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“It was, after all, a time of great noticing.” – Sarah Krasnostein
The last few years have changed us all in profound ways. How have we been surprised, unsettled and enlivened as we return to once-familiar relationships, routines and realities? How are storytellers making sense of how life has changed?
For our Opening Night event, some of the most remarkable writers in the world delivered their unique takes on the 2023 Festival theme: ‘I’ve been away for a while’.
Listen to Sarah Krasnostein (author of The Believer and The Trauma Cleaner) as she seeks to measure what it means to be apart from others, and wonders if writers aren’t always just a little bit away from the world. Discover the books that became her life-rafts in testing times and what she has noticed about the world since.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was supported through the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund – a $200 million partnership of the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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"It's a very human thing to be an actor, a storyteller. It’s pre-historic."
– Sam Neill
By his own account, the career of celebrated actor Sam Neill has been a series of unpredictable turns of fortune. From discovering acting at boarding school in Christchurch, to treading the boards in amateur Shakespeare productions, to finding his lucky break and going on to star in films such asThe Piano, Jurassic Park and Peaky Blinders.
Listen in as Neill shares true tales from his storied life, chronicled in his new memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, in conversation with comedy legend Jane Kennedy.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was proudly supported by ARA Group. It was alsosupported through the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund – a $200million partnership of the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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The last few years have changed us all in profound ways. How have we been surprised, unsettled and enlivened as we return to once-familiar relationships, routines and realities? How are storytellers making sense of how life has changed?
For our Opening Night event, five of the most remarkable writers in the world delivered their unique takes on the 2023 Festival theme: ‘I’ve been away for a while’.
Enjoy listening to Jazz Money, a Wiradjuri poet and artist and author of the award-winning how to make a basket, on how some journeys can change your life – and for the first time, allow you to hear the call towards home and community.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
This event was supported through the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund –a $200 million partnership of the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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“Things happen, people leave us, the world shuts down and the world reopens. We realise over time, sooner or later, that we’re never going back to anything. We’re only going forward and finding a new way.” – Benjamin Dreyer
The last few years have changed us all in profound ways. How have we been surprised, unsettled and enlivened as we return to once-familiar relationships, routines and realities? How are storytellers making sense of how life has changed?
For our Opening Night event, five of the most remarkable writers in the world delivered their unique takes on the 2023 Festival theme: ‘I’ve been away for a while’.
Benjamin Dreyer – author of Dreyer’s English and vice president, executive managing editor and copy chief, of Random House – delivers a sweeping oration on finding your way through life, sharing profound wisdom and advice from writers across time including Virginia Woolf, Robert Frost and Elizabeth Strout.
This event was supported through the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund – a $200 million partnership of the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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Queen Elizabeth came to the throne at the height of the British Empire and died with the world at a tipping point. Stan Grant’s timely new book, The Queen is Dead, considers how, in the wake of her passing, we might more fully reckon with our colonial past and redefine our future.
Listen to Grant in conversation with Anne Pattel-Gray about our place in the monarchy, the path to becoming a republic through the Voice to Parliament and beyond, and the necessity of a just settlement with First Nations people.
This event was proudly supported by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2023
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How do First Nations writers work through the legacies of our histories to create new stories while honouring those we inherit? Stella Prize 2022 winner Evelyn Araluen (Dropbear) and Koori and Lebanese writer, teacher, community researcher and This All Come Back Now editor Mykaela Saunders come together to discuss their roles as both custodians and creators of meaning and memory, in this conversation with Wiradjuri writer, teacher and academic Jeanine Leane, brought together by 2022 First Nations Curator Jazz Money.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2022.
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Critically acclaimed Canadian author Sheila Heti has tackled some of modern day's greatest conundrums, including whether to have children (Motherhood) and how to live an authentic life (How Should a Person Be?). Hailed 'the most timely, urgent book of 2022' (Los Angeles Times), her latest novel, Pure Colour, considers how love and art can heal. Heti speaks with Sarah Krasnostein about a genre-defying story that, like her previous works, refreshes our perception of the world and what a book can be.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2022.
This event was proudly supported by Consulate General of Canada, Sydney
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When it comes to the climate, how can we replace despair with optimism, ambition and purpose, even as experts warn that we are fast running out of time?
A panel of the country's leading thinkers on the climate crisis consider how climate fatalism can be as harmful as denialism and why hope might be our greatest tool in mitigating environmental catastrophe. Featuring award-winning climate scientist Joëlle Gergis (Humanity's Moment), First Nations environmental justice campaigner Tishiko King and Walkley Award–winning writer Jeff Sparrow (Crimes Against Nature), in conversation with Environment Reporter at The Age Miki Perkins.
This event was proudly supported by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
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[Content warning: Sensitive themes] From being booed off a football field to being booed out of the country, people of colour who take a stand against racism draw swift and severe censure in our public debate.
Hear from a panel of speakers brought together by First Nations Curator Chelsea Watego as they explore the works of First Nations creatives who have ambitiously critiqued the construction of so-called Australia and the costs of doing so in the settler-colonial state.
Gunditjmara, Bindal, Yorta Yorta and Torres Strait Islander filmmaker, writer and community organiser Tarneen Onus-Williams; Brinja Yuin Koori police scientist and prison abolitionist Amanda Porter; and prize-winning Koori and Lebanese writer Mykaela Saunders (This All Come Back Now), join Watego in conversation.
Content warning
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this episode contains the names of people who have died.
This episode also includes references to topics such as mental illness, the deaths of First Nations peoples in custody, and suicide.
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[Content warning: Sensitive themes and mature content] Showcasing unexpected tales of pride, prejudice, love and resilience, Queerstories invites leading LGBTQI+ voices to share the story they’ve always wanted to tell, but have never been asked to. Hosted by Maeve Marsden, hear stories from drag artist Shane Jenek aka Courtney Act (Caught in the Act), Kamilaroi woman and astrophysicist Krystal De Napoli (Astronomy: Sky Country), bestselling author CS Pacat (Dark Rise), writer, historian and podcaster Yves Rees (All About Yves), and award-winning poet and novelist Omar Sakr (Son of Sin).
Please note this event includes content recommended for mature audiences. There are also sensitive topics referenced, including mental illness and death.
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The ABC has survived numerous crises in recent times – funding cuts, internal tensions and attacks by commercial media rivals chief among them. As it enters its 90th year, a panel of experts discuss how our national broadcaster arrived at its current plight and what its future role will be in a shifting media, technology and political landscape.
Featuring Emeritus Professor of Politics at La Trobe University Judith Brett, Culture News Editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning HeraldOsman Faruqi, former Media Watch host and chair of ABC Alumni Jonathan Holmes and co-authors of Who Needs the ABC?Matthew Ricketson and Patrick Mullins, in conversation with Sophie Black.
This event was proudly supported by The Australia Institute
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[Content warning: Sensitive themes] The ripple effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are reshaping the world. Hear from a panel of experts as they discuss the conflict and its ongoing repercussions, from the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine to the far-reaching economic fallout and a realignment of the world order. The Age's foreign affairs correspondent Anthony Galloway; who has recently reported from Ukraine, international criminal and humanitarian law expert Carrie McDougall; Ukrainian ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko; physicist and science communicator Suzie Sheehy; and international politics and economics expert Andrew Walter, in conversation with Lydia Khalil.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2022.
Content warning: Please note, sensitive themes are referenced in this episode, including sexual assault and torture.
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Beauty is a central theme in the latest novels of Australian author Christos Tsiolkas (Seven and a Half) and British author and actor Sarah Winman (Still Life). The award-winning, bestselling writers join The Monthly Editor Michael Williams to discuss their unique approaches to the topic, and what their stories reveal about the capacity of beauty to flourish – be it in art, nature or human connection – even in the shadow of conflict and chaos.
This event was proudly supported by the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne.Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2022.
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As a master of nonfiction, Helen Garner wields forensic scrutiny and trademark compassion to zero in on the humanity of her subjects, including herself. Described by the New Yorker as ‘a recording angel at life’s secular apocalypses’, Garner has drawn international acclaim for a body of work spanning books, long-form journalism and her recently published diaries. Hailed as ‘the antipodean Joan Didion, the Truman Capote of our times’ (New York Times), the nonfiction writing of Chloe Hooper is equally unsparing yet sympathetic in its approach. She brings a sharp, novelistic eye to stories such as The Tall Man and The Arsonist, ingenious storytelling that ‘gathers force like a river after rain’ (The Age). The two authors come together for a special conversation about their crafts, careers and award-winning literary non-fiction writing, with Beejay Silcox.
This event was proudly supported by ARA Group
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2022.
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[Content warning: Sensitive themes] How can we safeguard our mental wellbeing amidst incessant uncertainty, anxiety and isolation wrought by the pandemic, lockdowns and natural disasters? Is there ambition to reshape a mental health system in which out-of-pocket costs exclude so many? And what possibilities lie within First Nations methodologies for improving mental health in young people?
Sarah Krasnostein, author of the Quarterly Essay Not Waving, Drowning: Mental Illness and Vulnerability in Australia; Antoinette Lattouf, journalist and Gidget Foundation ambassador; Rick Morton, journalist and author of My Year of Living Vulnerably; and Cammi Murrup-Stewart, an Aboriginal academic with close ties to Wurundjeri Country, and a social and emotional wellbeing researcher, consider the path forward. They are joined by Astrid Edwards (The Garret).
This event was proudly supported by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2022.
Content warning: Please note, sensitive themes are discussed in this episode, including anxiety, post-partum depression, suicide and infanticide.
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The Dark Lady by author and hip-hop artist Akala tells the magic-laced adventure of teen orphan and thief, Henry, who makes his way through Shakespearean London’s toughest slum. Taking you to a time when boys like Henry relied on their wits and secret powers to survive, Akala tackles themes of identity and inequality familiar to readers of his bestselling book Natives. Join journalist and ABC RN’s Stop Everything! co-host Beverley Wang as she speaks with an author described by The Guardian as ‘the kind of disruptive, aggressive intellect that a new generation is closely watching’.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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The Committed is Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s keenly awaited follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Sympathizer. A journey through the underworld of 1980s Paris, it shares the same narrator, a Vietnamese-French communist spy, as its predecessor and has drawn praise as ‘a treatise of global futurity in the aftermath of colonial conquest’ (Ocean Vuong) and ‘a deep, compelling and humorous portrait of how we are shaped by fictions others have for us’ (Laila Lalami). He speaks with Leah Jing McIntosh about a literary thriller spiked with absurdist humour that shines a forensic light on empire and capitalism.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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One of the breakout literary stars of 2020 for his Booker Prize–shortlisted novel Real Life, American writer Brandon Taylor talks to Adolfo Aranjuez about his captivating new short story collection, Filthy Animals. Hailed as ‘a writer who wields his craft in absolutely unforgettable ways’ (Roxane Gay), he has produced a high-wire act of interlinked stories about young creatives navigating the blurry territories of fear, longing, violence and desire.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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In characteristically genre-defying style, Sigrid Nunez‘s What Are You Going Through melds fiction and criticism to tell a powerful story of multiple endings: the end of a friendship, the end of a life, and the end of humanity itself. The follow-up to the American writer’s National Book Award–winning The Friend, it has been hailed a ‘gloriously meditative story’ that ‘[bursts] with wit, warmth, and human empathy’ (The Independent). She speaks with Astrid Edwards about the meaning of life, the nature of death, the power of art and the purpose of friendship.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Pulitzer Prize–winningJhumpa Lahiri’s new novel, Whereabouts, is a meditative portrait of a woman wavering between stasis and movement as she wanders the parks, piazzas and cafes of an unnamed European city she calls home. Originally composed in Italian and translated into English by Lahiri herself, it depicts a narrator whose outwardly tranquil life belies deeper unrest, estrangement and longing.
Hear from Lahiri as she sheds light on an aching and hypnotic work of fiction in conversation with Emma Alberici.
Supported by ARA
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/
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One of the year’s most talked-about books, Rumaan Alam‘s Leave the World Behind is a tautly dystopic story of a family vacation interrupted by unexpected visitors and unseen disaster. Hailed a darkly witty page-turner set against the end of the world, its fans include Carmen Maria Machado, who wrote, ‘I have not been this profoundly unnerved since Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.’ Alam speaks with Osman Faruqi about a novel seemingly tailor-made for our times, exploring race, class and privilege in a world undone by catastrophe.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Natasha Brown’s Assembly has earned impressive praise as ‘the literary debut of the summer’ (Vogue) and a ‘book that doesn’t just mark the moment things change, but also makes that change possible’ (Ali Smith). She speaks in conversation with Areej Nur about her virtuosic novel, narrated by a Black British woman preparing to attend a lavish party at her boyfriend’s family estate, exploring issues of race, class and assimilation in the shadow of Britain’s colonial legacy.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Celebrated Irish-Nigerian author Emma Dabiri’s What White People Can Do Next cuts through the noise of online discourse to offer a robust and nuanced examination of race and class. Drawing from lived experience and academic study, Dabiri expertly outlines how the idea of race was constructed to bolster capitalism, while articulating a powerful vision of how to forge a future that works for us all. Listen to her in conversation with Santilla Chingaipe about a deeply practical treatise told with intellectual rigour and razor-sharp wit.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Rachel Cusk’s breakaway Outline trilogy was heralded as nothing short of a reinvention of the novel, unfolding across a series of conversations with a withholding narrator. Her newest work, Second Place, extends the themes of female fate and male privilege to encompass the murky link between art and evil. Cusk speaks with interviewer Sophie Black about a dazzling and psychologically exacting fable of human destiny and decline, and her prolific career at large.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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One of the nation’s most trusted voices during the pandemic, much–loved ABC broadcaster and physician Dr Norman Swan, discusses his first health book, So You Think You Know What’s Good for You? With his trademark clarity and wit, he cuts through medical myths and half-truths to set the record straight on the things we need to know to make better decisions about how to eat, live and preserve good health, in conversation with interviewerRaf Epstein.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Travel through time to hidden realms with fantasy writer Karen Ginnane (When Days Tilt), in conversation with Amie Kaufman. The teen hero of Ginnane’s debut novel swoops through Victorian-era London to a parallel city to solve her mother’s disappearance.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Join acclaimed writers Kathryn Heyman and Clem Bastow as they reflect on their unsparing and hopeful memoirs in conversation with moderator Erina Reddan. Bastow’s wise and witty Late Bloomer examines being diagnosed with autism at age 36, the challenges she faced growing up, and broader cultural stigma around autism, especially for women and gender-diverse people. Heyman’s Fury has been described as a ‘searing, thrilling and redemptive’ (Anna Funder) account of her year-long stint on a fishing trawler in the Timor Sea at age 20 that raised her out of poverty and abuse to become her own hero.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Prize–winning novelists Larissa Behrendt and Steven Carroll reflect on how literature from long ago can lead us to truths once left unsaid. Behrendt sets the Western literary canon beside First Nations storytelling in After Story, in which an Indigenous lawyer and her mother tour England’s most revered literary sites. Carroll’s O reimagines the infamous French novel Story of O, shining a light on the preoccupations and wartime past a country would rather forget. With moderator Clare Wright.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Join two of the year’s most impressive debut novelists, Sophie Overett and Emily Spurr, as they talk about capturing the confusion, grief and resilience of characters grappling with the disappearance of loved ones. Overett won the Penguin Literary Prize for The Rabbits, a magic-realism-infused story of a family grieving the disappearance of a son, who they soon learn has turned invisible. Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award, Spurr’s A Million Things is the enthralling and wrenching tale of a brave, spiky young girl who must fend for herself in her mother’s absence. With Elizabeth Flux.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Nearly half of Australians live with a chronic illness, but many of these conditions are invisible and endured in secrecy. Triple J presenter and How to Endo author Bridget Hustwaite teams up with ABC Radio presenter and Unseen author Jacinta Parsons to speak with Jamila Rizvi about living with hidden illness. They reflect on the challenging path to diagnosis—Hustwaite with endometriosis, and Parsons with Crohn’s disease—how the medical system ignores women, and the complex dynamic between those living with illness, their bodies, and society at large.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Hear from acclaimed new talents Ella Baxter and Allee Richards as they speak to Elizabeth McCarthy about their debut novels, which each brings unique perspective to the story of a young woman navigating sudden loss and grief. Baxter’s New Animal is the ‘profound, profane and darkly hilarious’ (Bri Lee) story of a young cosmetician in a family mortuary who falls in with a Tasmanian BDSM community after experiencing tragedy. Exploring friendship, desire and grief, Richards’ Small Joys of Real Life follows a woman reeling from the death of a fleeting romantic encounter and has been described as Sally Rooney meets Helen Garner.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Known to some 150,000 Instagram followers as Flex Mami, Lillian Ahenkan is a presenter, podcaster and influencer who uses her platform to explore everything from therapy to DIY decorating to racism. She chats with Matilda Boseley about her debut book The Success Experiment—detailing how she transformed herself from a two-time uni drop-out and a career that paid in burnout into a highly sought-after media personality—and the formula that will make you think differently about the way you live and work.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Acclaimed writers Paige Clark (She Is Haunted) and Chloe Wilson (Hold Your Fire) chat about their short story collections, both bound by fantastical and unsettling elements, in
conversation with Veronica Sullivan.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Australian writers Steven Carroll and Rebecca Starford speak to Sarah L'Estrange about two of the most riveting historical novels of the year, each featuring characters with shifting identifies, set against the backdrop of WWII. A Miles Franklin–winning author, Carroll’s O travels to occupied France to reimagine the infamous Story of O and the life of its pseudonymous protagonist, offering insight into power, surrender and the expectations of women. Starford’s debut novel The Imitator is a page-turning thriller that draws from the true story of a woman who became an undercover agent for MI5, exploring courage, loyalty, and sacrifice.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Supported by the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne
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The new novels of Miles Franklin–winning writer Sofie Laguna (Infinite Splendours) and Walkley–winning journalist Erina Reddan (The Serpent’s Skin) each depict childhood trauma and its reverberations into adulthood. In this podcast, they speak with Ellen Cregan about the corrosive power of toxic masculinity, the betrayal of a child by the adults in their life, the strength of sibling bonds, and the ways in which hope and redemption are salvaged later in life.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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The first Muslim woman to sit in an Australian parliament, Greens senator and life-long feminist and anti-racism activist Mehreen Faruqi tells her story in the no-holds-barred memoir Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud. Join her as she recounts arriving from Pakistan in 1992 with a young family and two suitcases, her career as a civil and environmental engineer, and her ascent as a political outsider in a white man’s world, striving to change it without being changed. Faruqi is joined by moderator Tasneem Chopra.
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Two authors confront the impossibility of untangling the enduring racism of Australia without seriously reckoning with the ongoing dispossession and genocide of First Nations people. Join Gunai/Kurnai writer Veronica Heritage-Gorrie (Black and Blue) and activist and thinker Randa Abdel-Fattah (Coming of Age in the War on Terror) as they examine how modern-day racism is bound to the violence and traumas of colonisation, and how we can forge a path forward. With moderator Roj Amedi.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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In an intimate conversation featuring two of literary Australia’s brightest young talents, Madeleine Ryan (A Room Called Earth) and Yves Rees (All About Yves) speak to Adolfo Aranjuez about laying bare the messiness of bodies, gender and identity, and navigating shifting selfhood. Rees discusses writing their account of coming to understand they were transgender at the age of 30, while Ryan shares her own experience of being diagnosed with autism while writing her novel, a first-person story following a neurodivergent young woman over the course of a night.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Hear from two of the country’s most refreshingly distinct literary voices as they discuss their breakthrough novels which both conjure nuanced depictions of women’s interior lives. Meg Mason‘s Sorrow and Bliss is a bleakly funny coming-of-age confessional that has drawn comparisons to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and has been called ‘fresh and revelatory … sharp, racy and entertaining’ (The Saturday Paper). Claire Thomas‘ The Performance explores the fears and desires of three women attending a play in Melbourne as a bushfire encroaches, earning praise as ‘a project of living [that] is rendered with compassionate clarity’ (New York Times). With Abigail Ulman.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Critically acclaimed Australian authors Laura Elizabeth Woollett and Mark Brandi shed light on sensitively shaping crime novels that depict the relationship between a parent and child, in conversation with Elizabeth McCarthy. Woollett’s The Newcomer is a delicately wrought story of a young woman’s murder, a mother’s grief, and the cascading aftermath of violence against women. Brandi’s The Others is a foreboding psychological drama involving an 11-year-old boy living with his survivalist father on a secluded farm.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Jacqueline Maley and Filip Vukašin share insight into their striking debut novels, each centred around a narrator whose life is upended by scandal, in conversation with Toni Jordan. A Walkley Award–winning journalist, Maley sheds light on The Truth About Her, the story of a single mother and reporter whose career unravels in the wake of her exposé of a fraudulent wellness guru that ends in tragedy and a workplace affair. A doctor by day, Vukašin talks about Modern Marriage, his portrayal of a cosmetic physician whose life is shattered when her husband is found dead, raising questions about prejudice, sexuality and the gap between perception and truth.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Acclaimed authors Briohny Doyle (Echolalia) and Delia Falconer (Signs and Wonders) have each penned singular books bound by an exploration of what it means to be a woman, mother, and artist in an era of ecological crisis. Hear them in conversation with Else Fitzgerald about their evocative works that cast light on tough moral questions, spanning family, climate change, and how the legacies of colonialism and patriarchy are passed down through the generations.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
In partnership with 3RRR 102.7FM
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Debra Oswald (The Family Doctor) and JP Pomare (The Last Guests) share insight into writing psychological thrillers with pressing big-picture themes, with Angela Savage.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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John Safran launches his signature style of gonzo journalism on Big Tobacco for his impressively subtitled new book Puff Piece: How Philip Morris set vaping alight (and burned down the English language). In conversation with Mahmood Fazal, the inimitable writer and filmmaker relates his wild, hilarious and thoughtful investigation into the rise of vaping and why marketing spin and branding can literally be matters of life and death.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Questions Raised by Quolls author Harry Saddler and Loving Country co-author Vicky Shukuroglou talk about the need to preserve our natural wonders against multiple threats, in discussion with Fatima Measham.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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As Australia faces the spectre of climate change, how can our leaders and us as consumers usher in new ways to address issues of sustainability and misinformation? Award-winning journalists Gabrielle Chan (Why You Should Give a Fck About Farming) and Marian Wilkinson (The Carbon Club*) speak with Astrid Edwards about their works, which shine a light on issues of class, environmentalism and policymaking as they relate to the fossil fuel and produce industries.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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An incredible line-up of First Nations poets perform works speaking to this year’s Festival theme Tell Me How It Ends, traversing the end of empire, celebrating Country and cultural resistance, and considering what comes next. Programmed and hosted by Jingili Mudburra writer and editor Bridget Caldwell-Bright, the episode showcases pieces by acclaimed Dropbear author Evelyn Araluen, who was born and raised on Dharug country, and is a descendant of the Bundjalung Nation; artist, poet and Lardil and Yangkaal woman Maya Hodge; and Wiradjuri poet and filmmaker Jazz Money.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Hear from a panel of First Nations critics, reviewers and essayists as they discuss the importance of Blak critique and peer review in a predominantly white review culture that continues to sideline or superficially engage with Indigenous stories. The event’s programmer, Jingili Mudburra writer and editor Bridget Caldwell-Bright, chats with critic, essayist and descendant of the Yorta Yorta Declan Fry; critic, researcher and a descendant of Numbulwar Tristen Harwood; and Gomeroi poet and legal researcher Alison Whittaker.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund
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Curated by Torres Strait Islander writer and prominent Uluru Statement champion Thomas Mayor, Dear Son shares heartfelt letters written by First Nations men about life, masculinity, love, culture and racism. It features prose and poetry by Mayor alongside letters penned by 12 contributors to their sons, fathers and nephews. Shelley Ware speaks with Mayor about a poignant and beautifully illustrated celebration of First Nations manhood.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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How does the flexible form of poetry make it uniquely placed to vivify Indigenous storylines, languages and connections to Country while grappling with the ongoing legacy of Australia’s brutal colonisation? Prominent Aboriginal researcher and writer Professor Marcia Langton speaks with a panel of our most exciting poets about how their work and the medium at large bring fresh perspective to our past, present and future. Sharing their insights are proud Noongar author of Lies, Damned Lies Claire G Coleman; Windham-Campbell Prize–winning Yankunytjatjara poet Ali Cobby Eckermann; and award-winning Munanjali poet Samuel Wagan Watson.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund
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A vanguard of First Nations fiction writers is carrying forward the world’s oldest storytelling traditions while upending the settler narratives of our literary canon. Prominent Aboriginal researcher and writer Professor Marcia Langton chats with a panel of leading Indigenous novelists about the power of fiction to illuminate First Nations histories, cultures, and ways of thinking. Featuring Melissa Lucashenko, a Goorie author of Bundjalung heritage and 2019 Miles Franklin winner (Too Much Lip); Nardi Simpson, a Yuwaalaraay musician, educator and debut novelist (Song of the Crocodile); and Karen Wyld, an award-winning writer (Where the Fruit Falls) of Martu descent.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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We all have different expectations of utopian and dystopian stories, but how do they confound understanding when we live through them? ABC RN’s Paul Barclay speaks with a panel of contributors to the Griffith Review’s Hey, Utopia! about unexpected realities and revelations amid the largest narratives of our time, and how they shape our vision for other ways the world could be. Featuring writers Julian Meyrick, Kristen Rundle and David Threlfall.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
In partnership with Griffith Review
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Prominent Aboriginal researcher and writer Professor Marcia Langton speaks with some of the country’s most respected non-fiction writers to discuss how First Nations ideas, histories and politics inform their work. Hear from Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi journalist Stan Grant (With the Falling of the Dusk); Thomas Mayor, a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country, who is an Uluru Statement from the Heart signatory and author of Dear Son and Finding the Heart of the Nation; and prolific historian and author Henry Reynolds (Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement).
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund
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Much-loved writers Emily Maguire (Love Objects) and Alice Pung (One Hundred Days) share insight into their new novels, which explore class, family and love, with Elizabeth McCarthy.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund
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Sam van Zweden (Eating with My Mouth Open) and Krissy Kneen (The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen) speak with ABC Radio National’s Sarah L’Estrange about their genre-bending works that excavate memory to pursue truths about family and identity.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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When Stella Prize–shortlisted author Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beach, she began to wonder how the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas—and of our humanity. Fathoms: The World in the Whale is a work of profound insight that blends history, philosophy, and ecological science to explore what these awe-inspiring creatures reveal about our collective futures.
Giggs joins MWF Artistic Director Michaela McGuire to discuss what it means to write about nature in a time of technological change and ecological crisis.
Fathoms is the first book for Melbourne Reads—an online book club for readers keen to share ideas about great new books and dig deeper into the literary, cultural, and historical contexts from which these books emerge.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
In partnership with the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne
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As conversations around vulnerability, trauma and healing abound, many men are learning that long-held notions of masculinity and ‘manning up’ are not only limiting, they are causing real harm. Hear from memoirists Lech Blaine and Rick Morton and essayist Matthew Sini, in a discussion about men’s complicated relationship with stoicism, love, and empathy, and its role in grief, trauma and redemption. Blaine’s Car Crash examines Australia’s larrikin brand of toxic masculinity and how to recover from catastrophe when you’ve been taught to stare down heartbreak. Morton’s My Year of Living Vulnerably charts his hard-won healing from childhood neglect and complex PTSD. They speak with moderator Ronnie Scott.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Supported by Maurice Blackburn
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Hear authors Gabriel Bergmoser and Sophie Gonzales share stories of teenagers whose secret identities come completely unstuck, with moderator Will Kostakis. Bergmoser’s novel The True Colour of a Little White Lie centres on a geeky teen who reinvents himself on a family ski trip, with chaotic consequences. Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper is about a queer high schooler who gives anonymous love advice for a fee, but is blackmailed in exchange for keeping her identity a secret.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Can we claim to be a truly free and fair democracy with a government that raids the homes of reporters, aggressively pursues whistleblowers and remains tight-lipped on the fate of Julian Assange? One of the country’s most respected journalists Kerry O’Brien leads a timely panel discussion about state secrets, press freedom and open justice with Andrew Fowler, an award–winning reporter and author of the acclaimed Assange biography The Most Dangerous Man in the World, and lawyer Bernard Collaery, author of Oil Under Troubled Water, who faces trial for advising Witness K in relation to Australia’s spy operation against our ally East Timor during oil and gas negotiations.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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The Morrison government’s doubling of fees for humanities degrees is the latest manoeuvre in a long-waged culture war. But what do we stand to lose as arts, history and culture departments shrink, future students are saddled with huge loans or deterred from studying, and academia is forced to defend itself on increasingly neoliberal terms? Featuring Who Gets to Be Smart author Bri Lee, former ABC managing director and Sydney University vice-chancellor Mark Scott, and La Trobe emeritus professor of politics Judith Brett, in discussion with ABC RN’s Big Ideas host Paul Barclay.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
Supported by the Australia Institute
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Activist, academic and author Randa Abdel-Fattah (Coming of Age in the War on Terror) and Miles Franklin–shortlisted novelist Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Other Half of You) come together for a powerful dialogue on identity, xenophobia and the lives of young Australian Muslims. Drawing insight from their latest books, the duo speak with Tasneem Chopra about the crossroads of family, faith and tradition, and the experiences of a generation socialised in a climate of Islamophobia and rising polarisation.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Award-winning Wiradjuri writer Anita Heiss talks about Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams), her epic new historical novel centred on a young Aboriginal couple’s search for home, in conversation with Paul Barclay.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Australia, the geographically lucky country that shut up shop and crushed COVID. But has the politically popular hard-line response merely camouflaged a bungled vaccine rollout, resulted in a dereliction of duty to stranded citizens, and stoked xenophobic anxieties for political gain? Norman Swan, Osman Faruqi and Jamila Rizvi debate public safety and politics with ABC Radio Melbourne’s Raf Epstein.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Two of Australia’s most exciting debut authors, Melissa Manning and Adam Thompson, discuss their captivating short story collections set against the Tasmanian landscape, with Veronica Sullivan. Traversing a rugged coastline, Manning’s Smokehouse features a series of interlinked stories that bring into focus how the people we meet and places we live shape who we become. Thompson’s Born Into This showcases stories with Tasmanian Aboriginal characters at their heart, blending pathos and humour while touching on identity, racism and heritage.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Joe Biden’s recent calls to have Julian Assange stand trial in the US have renewed debate at home about free speech, whistle-blower protection and Australia’s loyalty to American interests. Hear from three champions for truth—human rights lawyer Julian Burnside, activist and former Greens senator Scott Ludlam, and Assange’s own lawyer Jen Robinson—about the long shadow of WikiLeaks, the lingering fate of Assange and the consequences of covert power.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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From Bob Hawke to ocker billionaires, the figure of the larrikin looms large in Aussie culture. But is it strictly the domain of top (white) blokes, how does it play out in our politics, and will Scott Morrison’s laidback daggy-dad persona succeed or sour with voters before next year’s election as we reel from bushfires, floods and the pandemic? Lech Blaine (The Larrikin Myth, Class and Power) joins The Age state political editor and author of The Accidental Prime Minister Annika Smethurst and presenter Jan Fran to get to the heart of our national character.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Just how far should a creative non-fiction author immerse themselves in a subject when writing a book? Acclaimed authors Sarah Krasnostein and Jenny Valentish discuss meticulously researched new releases that delve deep into the lives of extraordinary people, with Elizabeth McCarthy. Exploring the power of conviction in The Believer, Krasnostein spent time with six people in Australia and the US who hold fast to ideas—from UFOs to assisted dying—even when they sit outside the mainstream. Valentish immersed herself in the lives of body builders, dedicated fighters and BDSM practitioners to find out what drives those who push the limits of endurance in Everything Harder Than Everyone Else.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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This year marks 20 years since the Tampa boat was famously turned away from our shores, sparking debate between Australia, Norway and Indonesia over their responsibility to those on board and marking a watershed moment in the creation of a border protection policy that has informed successive governments’ approach to refugees who arrive by boat. Tampa survivor turned Fulbright scholar Abbas Nazari (After the Tampa) discusses the legacy of the incident, the life he has since built in New Zealand, and the power of hope, with journalist Michael Green.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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To find out how the story ends, we need to understand how it began. How have our brutal beginnings endured to this day, and how do we reckon with our history of dispossession? When did we start to see ourselves as a bunch of battlers, larrikins and top blokes in the land of the fair go? And what fibs, both big and small, help our leaders stay in power? Stan Grant, Santilla Chingaipe and Claire G Coleman share readings on Australia’s foundational myths.
Recorded for MWF in 2021.
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Your Own Kind of Girl is the wise, big-hearted and startlingly candid memoir from the multi-talented Clare Bowditch. Told with brutal honesty and playful humour, this book captures the triumphs and tragedies as well as the loves and losses that shaped her life and allowed her to find a sense of her own place in her story.
Join one of Australia’s best-loved storytellers as she discusses her memoir and writing journey. With Jess McGuire.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan is back with an intoxicating new story of love, lust, and the impossibly gilded lives of the elite, that flits from the sun-drenched isle of Capri to the grandeur of the Hamptons.
Sex and Vanity is both escapist love story and a witty exploration of Asian-American identity. Join Kwan for a lively discussion on fame, fiction, and the Crazy Rich Asians phenomenon. With Beverley Wang.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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In this propulsive and mesmerising debut, A Burning, a young Muslim woman’s Facebook post lands her in jail on terrorism charges—and the story that follows is a vivid portrait of contemporary India’s social and political complexities.
Join author Megha Majumdar for a discussion of power, nationalism, corruption and justice in a work that is both gripping literary thriller and compassionate social commentary. With Roanna Gonsalves.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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The Last Migration is a haunting love letter to the natural world, to the wild places and creatures threatened by climate change. It’s also a profoundly observed story of one young woman’s quest to bear witness to the migration of the world’s last remaining flock of Arctic terns.
Join author Charlotte McConaghy for an insight into what has been hailed as 'an astounding meditation on love, trauma, and the cost of survival'. With Nadia Bailey.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Casey McQuiston loves stories with big, beating hearts. Her bestselling novel, Red, White & Royal Blue is a delicious, frothy, very queer romantic comedy, and also one of the sharpest books you’ll read all year.
The US author sits down with Will Kostakis to talk about why we need escapism, the pure joy of the rom-com, and what it’s like when your debut novel goes viral.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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‘Real feminism (if such a thing can be defined) isn't going to be found in replicating racist, transphobic, homophobic, ableist, or classist norms,’ writes Mikki Kendall in Hood Feminism.
In this session, author and cultural critic Kendall discusses how mainstream feminism fails to consider how race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender—and offers practical guidance on how we can do the work to enact meaningful change. With Santilla Chingaipe.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Lisa Fuller, a Wuilli Wuilli woman and descendent of Gooreng Gooreng and Wakka Wakka peoples, weaves her culture and spirituality into her storytelling. Her new book Ghost Bird is a page-turning thriller about a girl’s search for her missing twin, and was recently named the winner of the Readings YA Prize 2020.
Fuller sits down to discuss her action-packed novel, her writing process, and the importance of First Nations Australian representation in YA stories. With Amie Kaufman.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Winner of the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript, Kokomo is the superbly written debut from Melbourne-based author Victoria Hannan.
Described as ‘a disarmingly profound novel about the violence and the softness of navigating the world as a young woman’, Kokomo is both tender and fierce, heartbreaking and funny, and announces a brilliant new voice in Australian fiction. With Ronnie Scott.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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No one observes the beauty of ordinary lives quite as astutely as Elizabeth Strout. Ten years after she won a Pulitzer Prize for Olive Kitteridge, she has returned to small-town Maine—and her flawed, cantankerous and much loved heroine—in the delightful Olive, Again.
The master storyteller sits down to discuss her career, her craft, and what compelled her to revisit Olive after all these years. With Kate Torney.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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What would happen if we could understand what animals were saying? Laura Jean McKay (The Animals in That Country), Chris Flynn (Mammoth) and Erin Hortle (The Octopus and I) have each explored this question in their latest books—with fascinating results. Harnessing both the surreal and the serious, these works pose inventive and urgent questions about our place in the world and what it means to be human. With Elizabeth McCarthy.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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At once an enthralling family mystery and a meticulously-researched exposé of a dark chapter of history, How We Disappeared bears unflinching testimony to the experience of Singaporean ‘comfort women’ during World War II. Join Jing-Jing Lee as she discusses her powerful and elegiac debut novel, which has been hailed as an ‘unforgettable image of how women were silenced and disappeared by both war and culture’. With Adolfo Aranjuez.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Genealogy isn't a simple story,’ says Michael Christie. ‘In my own personal life and experience, families are built much more than they are born.‘ A novel that reckons with legacy, inheritance, nature and sacrifice, Greenwood reveals layer by layer one family’s secrets—and the forest that binds them across generations. Christie has constructed a time-hopping, world-spanning, page-turning family saga that’s as intricately constructed as the rings of a tree. With Sophie Cunningham.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Anne Enright’s new novel Actress is a beguiling tale of fame, creativity, courage, survival, and the troubled love between a magnetic, capricious mother and the daughter who’s unable to escape her long shadow. Here, Enright sits down to discuss her funny, unsentimental and shrewdly observed new book—and delves into her craft, the writer’s life, and her brilliant career. With Gail Jones.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Patrick Radden Keefe (Say Nothing) takes complicated histories and transforms them into riveting works of narrative journalism—whether a deep-dive podcast into the alleged CIA origins of a 90s power ballad or a sweeping, switchblade-sharp account of the 1972 disappearance of Jean McConville in Northern Ireland. Join Radden Keefe as he reflects on a lifetime of following the evidence, and the fascinating, compelling, and sometimes outlandish stories he’s uncovered along the way. With Raf Epstein.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Stella and Desiree, identical twin sisters, run away from their small southern town in search of self-determined futures. Both light-skinned Black women, their lives take strikingly divergent paths as one passes as white, while the other marries ‘the darkest man she could find’.
Brit Bennett sits down to discuss The Vanishing Half, an expansive, multi-generational saga that dramatically exposes racial inequality and the emotional stakes of identity. With Areej Nur.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Everywhere we look, we’re faced with dire predictions about the future of the planet. How can coming from a place of hope give us the tools we need to create a better, fairer and more equitable world?
Join Damon Gameau (2040: A Handbook for the Regeneration) and Jess Scully (Glimpses of Utopia) as they discuss the importance of optimism in creating concrete solutions for a more sustainable future. With Connor Tomas O'Brien.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Written by Ngāi Tahu author and journalist Becky Manawatu, Auē is a work of gritty, social realist fiction centring on the lives of orphaned brothers: eight-year-old Arama and teenager Taukiri.
Dealing with themes of domestic violence, gang culture, curdled masculinity and fractured families, this award-winning debut from a uniquely New Zealand voice captures remarkable insights into the minds of children and young men. Join Manawatu in conversation with Tara June Winch.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Books are often seen simply as a source of diversion and pleasure. But they are more than that. They can offer not an escape from real life, but a richer engagement with the business of living. Two great readers—Charlotte Wood (The Weekend) and Tegan Bennett Daylight (The Details)—sit down to discuss how they find comfort, refuge and power in both reading books and writing them. With Nicole Abadee.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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‘The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper,’ Eden Phillpotts once wrote. Robbie Arnott and Jan Carson have both written novels that bring that magic to the fore—while still being grounded in the familiar world—in The Rain Heron and The Fire Starters respectively.
The authors sit down to discuss magic, meaning, and why sometimes the only proper response to reality is to disregard it. With Angela Meyer.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Six of Australia’s most clear-eyed, insightful writers—2020 Stella Prize–winner Jess Hill; actor and screenwriter Michelle Law; writer and founding editor of Liminal magazine Leah Jing McIntosh; award-winning novelist Favel Parrett; Queensland Literary Award–winning poet Ellen van Neerven; and award-winning poet and scholar Alison Whittaker—deliver addresses that explore, interrogate and challenge what holds our attention, what fails to, and why.
Join us for an unmissable gala event hosted by Jamila Rizvi.
Funded by the Victorian Government through Women Victoria
Content Warning: Contains discussions about family violence.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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In The 99 Percent Economy: How Democratic Socialism Can Overcome the Crises of Capitalism, Paul Adler argues that the only way to save society from catastrophic collapse is to adopt democratic socialism. Adler joins Sally Warhaft for a discussion that elucidates how our current economy serves about one per cent of the world population, why it barely works for the rest of us, and what we can do to change it—before it’s too late.
In partnership with the Wheeler Centre
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Former prime minister Julia Gillard and economist and international development expert Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala have some strong ideas about the impact of gender on the treatment of leaders—so they wrote a book about it. Join the former PM for a discussion of Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons and broader issues of gender bias, politics, and the long road to equality. With Patricia Karvelas.
In partnership with the Wheeler Centre
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Jessie Tu’s debut novel explores love, sex, and female desire through the eyes of Jena Lin, a Taiwanese-Australian former child prodigy whose journey of self-discovery forms the heart of this book. A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing has been hailed as ‘gutsy, bold and surprising’. Join Tu in conversation on writing complex characters, the model minority myth, and the intersections between power, sex and race. With Alice Pung.
Content warning: This podcast contains references to sexual assault, which some listeners may find distressing. Audience discretion is advised.
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Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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An extraordinary showcase of emerging and established voices, New Australian Fiction 2020 is the second anthology of its kind curated by literary journal Kill Your Darlings. These stories, by writers from all around Australia, explore some of the most intriguing and urgent issues of our time, including genetic experimentation, nuclear fallout and white-settler colonialism. In this showcase, contributors Elizabeth Flux, Laura McPhee-Browne and Mirandi Riwoe present readings from their work and discuss their craft with Kill Your Darlings editor Alan Vaarwerk.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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As certain branches across politics and the media push mistruths, half-truths and lies about the cause and severity of the climate crisis in Australia, identifying reliable, science-backed information is increasingly a challenge. But how do we identify misinformation in the battle against climate change, and what can we do to counter it? Academic Judith Brett (The Coal Curse) joins renewable energy expert Ketan Joshi (Windfall) in conversation.
Supported by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
Recorded at MWF Digital in 2020.
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In this daring collection of speculative fiction, 12 Indigenous writers and writers of colour offer up visions of Australia’s possible futures: after colonisation, after white supremacy, and after climate change. Authors Claire G Coleman and Omar Sakr sit down with After Australia editor Michael Mohammed Ahmad to discuss their contributions and the broader aims of this bold, provocative, and galvanising anthology.
Recorded at MWF Digital in 2020.
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As we struggle to recover after last summer’s devastating bushfires—and with the next fire season less than six months away—urgent questions must be addressed. What is missing from Australia's climate change response? How can First Nations’ knowledge and practices help us? And what must change in the way we talk about climate change? Join Ketan Joshi (Windfall), Rebecca Huntley (How to Talk About Climate Change In A Way That Makes A Difference), and Victor Steffensen (Fire Country) in conversation. With Adam Morton.
Supported by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
Recorded at MWF Digital in 2020.
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The Uluru Statement, created in 2017, is a rallying cry to enshrine First Nations’ voices in the Australian Constitution. Torres Strait Islander writer Thomas Mayor spent 18 months travelling across the country to garner support for the Statement—now, with Finding the Heart of the Nation, Mayor brings that journey to all Australians. Mayor is joined by academic Megan Davis and lawyer Teela Reid to discuss what Black Lives Matter should mean in a land wrought by colonisation and in which First Nations’ sovereignty was never ceded, and the vital importance of the Uluru Statement in the fight for Indigenous rights.
Supported by Australian Communities Foundation
Recorded at MWF Digital in 2020.
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Join Evelyn Araluen, Toby Fitch, Ursula Robinson-Shaw and Darlene Silva Soberano for poetic performances responding to the increasingly precarious state of the world, and a tribute to the late, radical poet, Sean Bonney (1969–2019), whose final book Our Death is a work of radiant fury, lament and refusal.
In partnership with Australian Poetry
Recorded at MWF Digital in 2020.
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When Lawrence Wright wrote The End of October—in which a deadly virus works its way around the world, leaving economic meltdown, conspiracy theories, and mass death in its wake—he understood that such a disaster was a possibility. But he had no idea it would be realised so soon. Here, the author and The New Yorker staff writer sits down to discuss his brilliant and all-too-prescient novel. With Claire Nichols.
Recorded at MWF Digital in 2020.
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In the Festival's closing address, Jenny Odell (How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy) applies her framework of thinking beyond capitalist narratives to our current moment of historical urgency.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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How can we attend to unheard truths and reach a more nuanced understanding of our past and the present? In the Festival’s opening address, acclaimed author Kate Grenville (A Room Made of Leaves) considers truth, fiction and the stories that urgently need our attention.
Recorded for MWF Digital in 2020.
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Could an artificial neural network ever write Hamlet? Or Home and Away? With advancing technology, could AI replace artists altogether? Join theatre scholar Rachel Fensham and digital artist Chris Rodley for a performance of scripts authored by AI.
Recorded live at the 2018 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Activism is tireless, brave, beautiful, exhausting work. So how do those constantly at the battlefront ensure their own emotional wellbeing? Join activists Nic Holas, Tarang Chawla and Queenie Bon Bon as they discuss what forms of support and self-care they reach for in challenging times.
Content Warning: This recording contains discussions about domestic violence, illness, and sex.
Recorded live at the 2018 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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An insightful conversation between authors Jamila Rizvi (Not Just Lucky, The Motherhood) and Christian White (The Nowhere Child), and their longsuffering editors Cate Blake and Martin Hughes, exploring the often complex and always emotional journey of a novel from conception to publication.
Recorded live at the 2018 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Giving voice to young black Americans and chronicling their experiences of racism, The Hate U Give is the year’s most outstanding YA novel. Hear from author Angie Thomas as she argues for writing that can turn the political into the deeply personal as a way to inspire action and speak truth to power.
Recorded live at the 2017 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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British journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge (Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race) explores the issues surrounding white supremacy, feminism, class and race through her lived experience as a black woman. How can those who’ve never experienced racism acknowledge and help fight it, while not speaking over marginalised voices? With Benjamin Law.
Recorded live at the 2017 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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White Tears/Brown Scars deconstructs archetypes including ‘damsel in distress’ and ‘angry brown woman’ to interrogate how race privilege allows white women to position women of colour as aggressors in times of conflict. Ruby Hamad discusses her searing debut with Amal Awad.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Australia’s lauded reputation with regards to women’s voting rights belies the disenfranchisement many have faced on the basis of class and race. Activist Tarneen Onus Williams, former Greens MP Lidia Thorpe and historian Clare Wright discuss the bumpy road to the ballot box. With Amy Gray.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Statistics show that romance remains a genre for—and populated by—those who are white, straight and non-disabled. Authors Daniel de Lorne and Maria Lewis, and sex columnist Maureen Matthews, discuss this lack of diversity. With Kate Cuthbert.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2019.
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Consent, coercion, protection. Authors must navigate these issues when writing those steamy chapters. Angelita Biscotti, Maria Lewis and Melanie Milburne explore the responsibility writers have when writing about sex. With Kate Cuthbert.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Engorged flesh is the beating pulse of many romance novels and it says a lot about the genre: the culmination of desire, virile masculinity, the creative euphemisms. Romance writers Clare Connelly, Daniel de Lorne, Leisl Leighton and Maria Lewis unpack its role.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Putting oneself on the line as an activist can be costly—not only in terms of career, family and romantic relationships, but emotional and mental health. So what does it feel like for those who have publicly gone into battle? Youth activist and poet Aretha Brown, HIV activist Nic Holas, ex-Greens MP Scott Ludlam and former race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane talk about how best to survive in the fray.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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We've all felt passionately about a novel from our past, but have we ever taken the time to write a heartfelt note to it directly, thanking it for the way it shaped and moved us? Hear Amal Awad, Ruby Hamad, Sarah Krasnostein and Daniel Mallory Ortberg do just this.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Civil rights activist and author DeRay Mckesson is one of the leading voices in the Black Lives Matter movement. He speaks to Benjamin Law about his new book, millennial activism and the power of politics translated through social media, and why it's so important to keep hope alive.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Writer and prominent feminist Jane Caro's new book explores the trailblazing feminists of her generation—those whose lived experience and determination paved the way for future women. She celebrates wild political victories of the past and the women who made them happen with Denise Scott.
Recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival.
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