Byron Writers Festival: Recent Episodes
Byron Writers Festival
Byron Writers Festival is a not-for-profit, member-based organisation offering a year-round program of workshops, seminars and events for writers and readers. Our annual festival, held in August, is the largest regional Writers Festival in Australia.
Our 2025 Festival podcast series continues with the session Cherrywood.Join multi-award-winning author Jock Serong for a discussion of his new novel Cherrywood, an imaginative, darkly playful and deeply meaningful delight, a novel about legacy, community, wonder, love and reinvention. With Angela Catterns.Supported by The Book Room
Our 2025 Festival podcast series returns with a special preview of NORPA's Dinner Party at the End of the World.Join NORPA’s Artistic Director Julian Louis and Artistic Associate Heather Fairbairn for a special preview of Dinner Party at the End of the World—a powerful new work in development.This intimate, sound-infused sharing features readings by local NORPA artists, underscored live by acclaimed film and television composer Matt Blackman (Colin from Accounts).The reading combines verbatim accounts from community members affected by the catastrophic 2022 Northern Rivers flood with scenes written by renowned playwright Suzie Miller (Prima Facie).Set at an imagined gathering of strangers who share food, memory, and survival, Dinner Party at the End of the World is both tragic and tender—an exploration of community, loss, and the radical power of kindness in crisis.This session offers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creative process of crafting theatre from lived experience. A panel discussion with the creative team will follow the reading.Creative Directors: Julian Louis and Heather Fairbairn | Concept by Julian Louis | Contributing Writer: Suzie Miller | Composer and Sound Designer: Matt Blackman | Image credit: Vanessa KellasA Byron Writers Festival and NORPA collaboration, assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.
Our 2025 Festival podcast series continues with the session Water: Our Life.From oceans to rivers, in flood and drought, for drinking, agriculture and industry, water is essential to life. Join Debra Dank (Terraglossia), Joëlle Gergis (Highway to Hell), Chris Hammer (The River) and James Sippo for an essential discussion on water and climate. With Erik Jensen.This session was supported by Southern Cross University
Our Festival 2025 podcast series continues with another feature event: Guardian Australia's Are You Game Show. Play along with Guardian Australia’s signature game show as two teams of writers – led by Guardian Australia’s TikTok queen Matilda Boseley and features editor Lucy Clark, and hosted by culture editor Steph Harmon – battle it out for the ultimate prize: bragging rights.An extremely enjoyable and deeply chaotic battle of the brains. With special guest contestants Robbie Arnott, Tigest Girma, Thomas Mayo and Michael Robotham.Presented by The Guardian
Our 2025 Festival podcasts series returns with the session Political Fictions.Join multi-award-winning authors Shankari Chandran (Unfinished Business) and Malcolm Knox (The First Friend) for an exploration of their thrilling new novels, set against high-stakes backdrops of politics, intrigue and danger. With Sunil Badami.This session was supported by The Holman Family
Our Festival 2025 series returns with the session We Are The Stars with Gina Chick and Mel Bampton.Get to know the real Gina Chick, inaugural winner of Alone Australia, and the story of her extraordinary, indomitable life in one of the most powerful, moving memoirs you will ever read, We Are the Stars. With Mel Bampton.This session was supported by Organic India.
Our Festival 2025 podcast series returns with one of our Feature Events: Beyond the Lines.Featuring powerhouse performer Ziggy Ramo, writer and singer Nardi Simpson, poetic provocateur David Stavanger, acclaimed Indian poet Akhil Katyal as well as Laurie May, Bebe Oliver, Kirli Saunders and Sarah Temporal. Plus winners from the Poets Out Loud Slam and Australian Poetry Slam heat.Presented with Red Room Poetry as part of Poetry Month 2025This session was supported by Kassa-Miller Giving.
BWF2024PodcastOur ABC? Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Kim Williams in conversation with Kerry O’Brien.In January 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced media executive Kim Williams as the next chair of the ABC. Join Kim in conversation with Kerry O’Brien to reflect on his new role at the beloved national broadcaster and to share his vision for its future, as well as his thoughts on the current state of Australian media and the arts.
BWF2024PodcastPrima Facie. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Suzie Miller in conversation with Steph Harmon. Drawn from the internationally acclaimed play, Prima Facie is a propulsive, raw look at the price victims pay for speaking out and the system that sets them up to fail. Join author and playwright Suzie Miller in conversation with Guardian culture editor Steph Harmon.
BWF2024PodcastMy Story. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Nicky Winmar in conversation with Gideon Haigh.Thirty years after creating one of the most memorable moments in sporting history, Indigenous AFL legend Nicky Winmar tells his story in a moving and compelling memoir, giving rare insight into his life
Stone Yard Devotional. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Charlotte Wood in conversation with Jill Eddington.Join Charlotte Wood to discuss her latest novel Stone Yard Devotional – longlisted for the 2024 Miles Franklin Award – a deeply moving novel about forgiveness, grief, and what it means to be ‘good’, from the award-winning author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.
BWF2024PodcastQuestion 7. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Richard Flanagan in conversation with Jill Eddington.Beginning at a love hotel by Japan’s Inland Sea and ending by a river in Tasmania, Question 7 is about the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows. Join Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan to discuss this love song to his island home and to his parents, in a melding of dream, history, place and memory.
BWF2024PodcastUnique. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Jodi Rodgers in conversation with Mandy Nolan. In Unique, beloved star of ABC TV’s award-winning Love on the Spectrum and disability rights advocate Jodi Rodgers shares stories from her three-decade career working with the autistic community and calls for a more inclusive and accepting society.
BWF2024PodcastSlick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Royce Kurmelovs in conversation with Isabelle Reinecke.Investigative journalist Royce Kurmelovs’ Slick is a riveting expose of the global oil industry’s multi-decade conspiracy to undermine efforts to address environmental devastation. It tells the stories of fire and flood survivors, and the activists engaged in a fight for the future of Australia.
Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with William McInnes in conversation with Mareike Hardy. Have you ever behaved like a drongo? Added mayo to a story? Lost your Reg Grundies? Join bestselling author and acclaimed actor William McInnes to discuss Yeah, Nah! – a collection of hilarious memories and moments inspired by Australia’s way with words.
BWF2024PodcastAlways Will Be. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival and join Mykaela Saunders in conversation with Daniel Browning.In her stunningly inventive and thought-provoking collection Always Will Be, Mykaela Saunders poses the question: what might country, community and culture look like in the Tweed if Gooris reasserted their sovereignty?
BWF2024PodcastMedia & Justice. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Wayne Bergmann, Amy McQuire, Rob Waters, chaired by Merinda Dutton.The media’s treatment of Indigenous issues, including Black deaths in custody, legacies of the NT intervention, and treaty negotiations, shows we have a long way to go to accessing justice. Join talented writers and experts Wayne Bergmann (Some People Want to Shoot Me), Amy McQuire (Black Witness) and Rob Waters (2023 Australian Poetry Slam Champion) to explore how we can hold power to account and make the world a more equitable place.
BWF2024PodcastLola In The Mirror. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Trent Dalton in conversation with Julia Baird. Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton. Join this festival favourite in conversation with Julia Baird.
BWF2024PodcastIt's Not Just Cricket. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Gideon Haigh in conversation with Chris Hanley.Join journalist, author and polymath Gideon Haigh for an intimate discussion of his latest works, including the moving memoir My Brother Jaz, true crime investigation The Girl in Cabin 350, and biography The One Indiscretion of His Life. Widely known as Australia’s favourite cricket writer, Haigh is one of our most prolific and insightful writers today.
BWF2024PodcastFor The Earth. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Ali Cobby Eckerman, Richard Flanagan, Sue Higginson and David Lindenmayer, chaired by Bob Brown.In this festival highlight, join award-winning poet Ali Cobby Eckermann (She is the Earth), Booker Prize-winning novelist Richard Flanagan (Question 7), ecologist David Lindenmayer (Forest Wars), and local Greens MLC Sue Higginson for a conversation about the environment and the urgent need to care for the natural world
BWF2024PodcastFor Life. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Aisla Piper in conversation with Charlotte Wood. When her husband doesn’t answer his phone, Ailsa Piper knows something is wrong. For Life is an unforgettable and moving insight into loss, hope and starting again, aided by the incredible healing power of nature and a community of unexpected angels.
BWF2024PodcastFeminist Literatures. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Caoilinn Hughes, Melissa Lucasheko and Meena Kandasamy, chaired by Ashley Hay.Join three superstars of the festival to discuss the influences on their work and the way gender, race and class struggles inform their literary practice. Through fiction and poetry Caoilinn Hughes, Meena Kandasamy and Melissa Lucashenko address some of the most pertinent social and political issues today.
BWF2024PodcastClose To The Subject. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Daniel Browning in conversation with Rhianna Patrick.Close to the Subject is the collected works of one of Australia’s most accomplished media personalities. Chronicling his career since 2007, join Daniel Browning to reflect on his stellar career as a journalist, radio broadcaster, critic and interviewer.
BWF2024PodcastBob Brown In Conversation. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Bob Brown in conversation with Jan Fran.Join Bob Brown, former senator and parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens, for an intimate evening of discussion. What prompted Bob to write a young adult ‘novelette’, and what can it teach us about engaging young people in the fight for Earth’s future?
BWF2024PodcastBlack Duck- A Year At Yumburra. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Lyn Harwood and Bruce Pascoe, chaired by Ashley Hay.Following the phenomenon of his bestselling Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe and his partner Lyn Harwood invite us to imagine a different future for Australia, one where we can honour our relationship with nature and improve agriculture and forestry
BWF2024PodcastAmerica at War with Itself. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Nick Bryant in conversation with Chris Hanley.The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself tells the story of America’s extreme polarisation 250 years in the making. Nick Bryant explains how the hate, divisiveness and paranoia we see today are a core part of America’s story.
BWF2024Podcast36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Nam Le in conversation with Caoilinn Hughes.Fifteen years after his best-selling, award-winning collection of stories The Boat, Nam Le returns to his great themes of identity and representation in a virtuosic debut book of poetry. 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem is scathing, hilarious, and desperately moving.
Stories are passed down through the generations. Expectations are too. Three novelists whose writings reflect their diverse family backgrounds share how the stories they inherited inform their writing.Shankari Chandran, Shirley Le, Peter Polites with Jemma Birrell.
Speculating about the future, interrogating the past and understanding through storytelling unite three writers. A historian and two novelists describe how their approaches to writing allow them to imagine – and reimagine – past, present and future.Michelle Arrow, Grace Chan, Shankari Chandran with Phillipa McGuinness.
Silent quitting, climate quitting, goblin mode, human sustainability, leaning out. What are all these terms and what age are we living in? How is language evolving to describe how we live now and what do all those catch-phrases mean? Ellen van Neerven, Alison Pennington, Kristine Ziwica and Paul Barclay.
The science has long been there, but it will take imagination to win the world over to climate action. To authors who have reimagined songs and witchy tales discuss how fiction can spark the energy we need.Eliza Henry-Jones, Mark Smith with Nell Schofield.
Investigative journalist, Anke Richter, discusses how she immersed herself in the wild world of cults around the globe, exposing the ways they attract, entrap and destroy otherwise ordinary people.Anke Richter in conversation with Zacharey Jane.
One of Australia’s best-loved broadcasters, Richard Fidler takes us into the world of medieval wanderers who wrote of their travels to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age.In conversation with Kári Gíslason.
We are surrounded by death in news, true-crime podcasts and even nursery rhymes. Yet from an early age, we are told that death is to be feared. How can we know what we're so afraid of, if we don’t examine it?Hayley Campbell in conversation with Kerry Sunderland.
Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is a luminous, compelling and utterly surprising memoir by Heather Rose, the bestselling author of Stella Prize-winner The Museum of Modern Love and Bruny. Heartbreaking and beautiful, this is a love story brimming with courage and joy against all odds, one that will bring wonder, light and comfort to all who read it.Heather Rose in conversation with Jill Eddington.
Older women know that our society, smitten with youthfulness, devalues them in ways that can diminish their self-worth. In this episode Susan Johnson, Jacinta Parsons and Tracey Spicer discuss ways to reclaim pride in one’s ageing self – including by living disgracefully.
From the dangers of inherited magical powers, to haunted North Sea islands where witches were once hunted to a Danish fairytale about a woman swallowed by the sea, novelists Sarah Armstrong, Eliza Henry-Jones and Holly Ringland tell Kári Gíslason how old tales become new in their fiction.
With our social media feeds constantly inundating us with images of trauma, Black Joy is an expression of resistance and healing. Storytellers Maxine Beneba Clarke, Bebe Backhouse and Nakkiah Lui discuss with poet Cheryl Leavy what Black Joy means to them.
Sometimes the people who make us laugh find the joke is on them. Comic writers Shirley Le, Myf Warhurst and Oliver Phommavanh reveal to Mandy Nolan their wildest dreams and the day they came true.
Media is undergoing rapid change. Four journalists explore how that change can threaten democracy itself and how the Fourth Estate can retain its key tenets, safeguarding its role as the public’s watchdog.
Our housing is in crisis. Ownership is out of reach for many, rents are through the roof and homelessness is on the rise. This panel explores the causes of the problem and possible pathways to a better future.
What does it mean to be free? Lea Ypi grew up in Stalinist Albania, one of the most isolated countries on earth and a place where Communist ideals had officially replaced religion.
Trustworthy news is essential to a healthy democracy but in 2023 misinformation is rife. Three panellists discuss with The Conversation Editor Misha Ketchell how and why misinformation and disinformation derail public debate and what we can do about it.
The Art of Noticing: Susan Johnson, Maggie MacKeller, Peter Polites with Jill EddingtonAt the heart of good fiction is a piercing appreciation for human motivation. Three novelists reveal how they mine everyday life for personal stories. These include discovering the perils of taking an elderly mother to live overseas, reflecting on being a mother living in nature on a farm and saluting a Greek mother who made her life in Australia.
Growing into Autism: Sandra Thom-Jones in conversation with Mandy NolanProfessor Sandra Thom-Jones thought she just had to try harder when daily life overwhelmed her, despite success in her career and home life. As she explains in her memoir, she grew to realise that she was autistic, her world very different to that experienced by neurotypical people.
Happy or Wise: James Kirby, Hilton Koppe, Robert Waldinger with David RolandHumans everywhere pursue happiness, but is compassion the most healthy mind state? Panellists discuss the merits of achieving tranquillity through compassion.
Living Recklessly: Marele Day in conversation with Susan JohnsonIn her youth, amidst the throes of a reckless grief, aspiring Australian writer Marele Day was caught up in a shipwreck adventure and forged an unlikely bond with an international fugitive travelling under a pseudonym. For the next 30 years they corresponded before reuniting, both older and wiser, in France.
Iconic Australian actor Bryan Brown became an international success in the early 80’s with critical acclaim, appearing in more than 80 films. In this conversation Bryan Brown chats with Chris Hanley about his debut novel, Sweet Jimmy. Together they discuss the essence of a good story, the sense of adventure that was instilled in Bryan Brown growing up in Sydney’s western suburbs, and how that experience shaped his career in the arts. An enjoyable discussion with one of Australia’s best loved actors.
A powerful conversation with Bundjalung poet Evelyn Araluen about her Stella-award winning collection Dropbear, and more broadly her creative and academic practice. Evelyn's poetry, together with her work as a literary editor and academic, interrogates the history of Australian literature; the tropes that curate our idea of Australianness and the influence of language - both English and Bundjalung - on our relationship to the land.Earmarked with evocative readings and ceremoniously facilitated by Daniel Browning, this is a simply stunning session from the 2022 Byron Writers Festival.
Hannah Kent discusses her bestselling third novel Devotion with Susan Wyndham. In this candid conversation, Hannah (also the author of Burial Rites and The Good People) discusses the seeds of inspiration that lie at the heart of her work, her approach to research, writing and character building, and the motivation behind her decision to write a queer love story this time around.
Trent Dalton has captured the hearts of thousands of readers with his remarkable storytelling, but it is his live conversations that have most endeared him to festival audiences around the country. In this heart warming conversation with David Leser, Dalton takes us on his quest to understand love as a ‘sentimental writer’ on the streets of Brisbane during the pandemic.
In this fascinating panel expertly chaired by Margaret Simons, Guardian Australia columnist Van Badham takes us on the journey behind her work where she joined some of the internet’s most extreme communities to understand conspiracy cults from the inside; Ed Coper schools us on the communications sectors' dark underworld, aptly coined ‘Pink Slime’; and Tim Burrows shares his wealth of knowledge on media monopolies and where to from here. The session ends with some practical tips on how to reconnect with loved ones who have fallen down the rabbit hole.
An expansive and fascinating discussion on healing from a First Nations perspective. Authors and academics Judy Atkinson, Paul Callaghan and Marcia Langton ponder the questions of what does it mean to heal, and what healing looks like, for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. They share the impacts of intergenerational trauma, examples of traditional First Nations healing methods and explore the Aboriginal concept of healing; of being well in mind, body and spirit, caring for oneself, one’s community and country.
Tackling this challenging topic with respect, breadth and depth of experience David Leser, Yves Rees, Mariam Veiszadeh together with Jess Hill consider patriarchy and how it affects us all. Through the lens of history, non-binary perspectives and cultures around the world, we are presented with hope and practical tools to become aware of patriarchy - external and internal, and the idea of change and how to achieve it. Smash the patriarchy? Let it ‘die out’? Or are there other ways to reform the system?
Authors and activists Dylin Hardcastle, Kathryn Heyman and Jess Hill explore their complicated relationship with anger and how it informs their creative practice, the personal and cultural cost of censoring anger and the reclaiming of controlled and organised anger as a catalyst for change. Powerful readings paired with shared personal experiences and deep dives in the writing process make for a truly memorable session that was cited by many as one of the highlights of the 2022 Festival.
Gabrielle Chan joins Bronwyn Adcock, Joëlle Gergis and Ed Coper to discuss the limits of modern science in a world where disaster mitigation and climate adaptation have become necessary for a sustainable future.
In this moving conversation Chloe Hooper and Tim Baker chat with Nikki Gemmell about the things we can draw on to live everyday life with awe, and how our mortality brings the fullness of life into sharp relief. Together they highlight the importance of conversations around mortality, and how to approach the subject as a community, to inspire robust discussion about how to live life to the fullest.
How can we approach our current moment with radical hope? In this powerful keynote address from the 2022 festival, storytellers, activists, philosophers and rappers each take to the stage with a response to this question, in doing so inspiring new ways to imagine our future. Featuring A.C. Grayling, Mia Thom, Damon Gameau, Anne-Marie Te Whiu and Luka Lesson.
Sarah Wilson sits down with filmmaker and activist Damon Gameau, the ‘electrify everything guy’ Saul Griffith and environmentalist Tim Hollo to imagine a greener future for our world. In a discussion that traverses history, policy, community action and technology, we’re presented with an array of possibilities that embody the 2022 festival theme of Radical Hope.
In this explorative conversation, authors Jessie Cole (Desire) and Nikki Gemmell (Dissolve) sit down with Zacharey Jane for an intimate and at times brutally honest chat about female desire in all its guises – from the purely physical to the more nuanced, deeper yearnings for personal growth, connection and fulfilment. Both Jessie and Nikki share how their writing practices have served to process lived experience and interrogate the impact of trauma, ultimately giving voice to the niggles of self-doubt that so-often pervade the female psyche.
Let us take you on a wild rollercoaster ride of love and other stories! Trent Dalton (Love Stories) , Nigel Featherstone (My Heart is a Little Wild Thing) and Hannah Kent (Devotion) - three incredible novelists in their own right – come together for this wonderful panel about the forever beguiling subject of love. We hear tales of heartbreak and jubilation, we shed tears of sorrow and laughter, we go on a journey so doggedly awkward that we cheer victoriously when love is finally, triumphantly found. Let your heart sing and enjoy this stand-out session from the 2022 Byron Writers Festival.
This conversation from the 2022 Byron Writers Festival takes a deep dive into stillness in the modern age. We hear from Paul Callaghan about what we can learn from Indigenous wisdom and ways of being, Indira Naidoo discusses how our relationship with the natural world can bring stillness and Christine Jackman provides us with ways of turning down the noise (and turning off our screens).Ultimately this is a conversation about how we can change the way we live; to learn from those that have come before us to find ways to achieve tranquility in the fast-paced future that awaits us.
In this uplifting conversation Matthew Evans and Costa Georgiadis chat with Indira Naidoo about the joy and experience of gardening. They discuss the intimate connection of working with soil, and gardening as the ultimate act of optimism. With practical advice to connect with nature from many different entry points, this chat will leave you inspired and motivated to get your hands dirty and reap the many benefits for individuals and the planet.
Sarah Armstrong interviews Kathryn Heyman about her memoir Fury. They unpack questions around the writing process: What stories do we choose to tell and why? When is the right time to write about personal or traumatic events? Kathryn also talks about her early writing life, the books that inspired her, gender politics and the reverberations of the #metoo movement.
About the book: At the age of twenty, after a traumatic sexual assault trial, Kathryn Heyman ran away from her life and became a deckhand on a fishing trawler in the Timor Sea.
After one wild season on board the Ocean Thief, the only girl among tough working men, facing storms, treachery and harder physical labour than she had ever known, Heyman was transformed.
A roadmap of recovery and transformation, this is the story of becoming heroic in a culture which doesn't see heroism in the shape of a girl.
Produced in collaboration with Griffith Review, Sarah Sentilles talks with Ashley Hay about her latest works. They discuss her essay, ‘Creation Stories’, from Griffith Review 73: Hey, Utopia! as well as Sarah’s new memoir Stranger Care.
In this insightful discussion, Ashley and Sarah discuss many topics, including the collision between bureaucracy and love, the nature of creativity and the ability of art to change the way we see the world.
About Stranger Care: The moving story of what one woman learned from fostering a newborn — about injustice, about making mistakes, about how to better love and protect people beyond our immediate kin.
About Creation Stories: An essay about the world-making power of art. Published in Griffith Review 73: Hey Utopia!
Nicole Abadee talks with Kavita Bedford about her book Friends and Dark Shapes. They discuss the contours of contemporary life in the city, from insecure employment and housing, to second-generation identity, waves of migration, online dating and social alienation.
About the book: A group of friends moves into a share house in Redfern. They are all on the cusp of thirty and big life changes. Friends & Dark Shapes is a novel of love and loss, of constancy and change. Most of all, it is about looking for connection in an estranged world.
In this Byron Writers Festival X BooksBooksBooks podcast collaboration, Pip Williams talks with Nicole Abadee about her novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words. They discuss the history of the Oxford English Dictionary, and how the exclusion of particular words inspired Williams' sweeping story of Esme as she sets about collecting the discarded vernacular of the English lexicon.
About the Book: Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It’s a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape our experience of the world.
Chris Raja talks with Sunil Badami about his insightful and moving memoir, Into The Suburbs. They discuss the roles of truth and fiction in memoir, as well as family, migration, homelands and identity.
About the book: Exploring topical issues of race, class and migration, Into the Suburbs is an affecting portrait of one family’s search for home.
Sophie Hardcastle talks with Emily Brugman about their novel Below Deck. They discuss writing techniques and processes, as well as the characters and themes of the book, including sexual violence, trauma, nature and renewal.
About the book:
Below Deck is a heartbreakingly poetic and haunting story about the vagaries of consent, about who has the space to speak and who is believed.
Tristan Bancks, longtime Byron Writers Festival supporter and Room to Read ambassador, chairs a discussion with Sisonke Msimang, Jennie Orchard and Alice Pung about their contributions to the anthology The Gifts of Reading, including the books they all love to give.
The Gifts of Reading is an anthology of essays about the joys of reading and of giving books, from some of the world's most beloved writers, inspired by Robert Macfarlane, curated by Jennie Orchard, and published on the 20th anniversary of the global literacy non-profit Room to Read.
Fiona Murphy kept her deafness a secret for over 25 years. After an accident to her hand, she discovered that sign language could change her life, and that Deaf culture could be part of her identity. In this podcast, Fiona talks with Caroline Baum about her memoir The Shape of Sound, and her journey from a position of shame to one of pride as she navigated the world of d/Deafness and disability.
Blending memoir with observations on the health industry, The Shape of Sound is a story about the corrosive power of secrets, stigma and shame, and how deaf experiences and disability are shaped by economics, social policy, medicine and societal expectations.
Transcript available here: http://byronwritersfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/The-Shape-of-Sound-transcript_FM.pdf
Described as a spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark and tender book, full of pathos, fury and wit, Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss has received wide critical acclaim. In this podcast, Sarah Kanowski from Radio National’s Conversations talks with Meg about her unforgettable characters, the interplay between humour and suffering, and about her gentle rendering of mental illness.
Join celebrated Australian storyteller Jock Serong and acclaimed writer Mirandi Riwoe for a lively discussion about Jock’s new novel The Burning Island, recorded live at Lennox Cultural Centre, in collaboration with Lennox Arts Board (LAB).
Irresistible prose, unforgettable characters and magnificent, epic storytelling: The Burning Island delivers everything readers have come to expect from Jock Serong. It may be his most moving, compelling novel yet.
Yuwaalaraay writer and founding member of Indigenous folk duo Stiff Gins, Nardi Simpson talks with Bundjalung writer, editor and Byron Writers Festival board member Grace Lucas-Pennington about her debut novel Song of the Crocodile.
Full of music, Yuwaalaraay language and exquisite description, Song of the Crocodile is a lament to choice and change, and the unyielding land that sustains us all, if only we could listen to it. This debut novel is a captivating Australian saga from the winner of the 2018 black&write! fellowship.
At the close of the conversation Nardi performs her original track 'Song of the Crocodile' on ukulele.
In this conversation, recorded live as part of Byron Writers Festival's out-of-season program, author and academic Jenny Hocking joins celebrated journalist Kerry O’Brien to discuss her revealing new book The Palace Letters: The Queen, the governor-general, and the plot to dismiss Gough Whitlam. In this ground breaking account, Hocking discloses the obstruction, intrigue and duplicity she faced during her 10-year campaign to expose the truth behind the dismissal.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Jock Serong speaks with Chris Hanley about his new book The Burning Island. They discuss creating in the time of Covid-19, while Jock walks us through some of his researching and writing habits. Delving into the book itself, Jock explains where the idea for the story originated and its relationship to his previous novel Preservation. They go on to discuss some of the numerous themes present in the novel, from seafaring to parent-child relationships and problems of addiction.
About the book:
Eliza Grayling, born in Sydney when the colony itself was still an infant, has lived there all her thirty-two years. Too tall, too stern—too old, now—for marriage, she looks out for her reclusive father, Joshua, and wonders about his past. There is a shadow there: an old enmity.
When Joshua Grayling is offered the chance for a reckoning with his nemesis, Eliza is horrified. It involves a sea voyage with an uncertain, probably violent, outcome. Insanity for an elderly blind man, let alone a drunkard.
Unable to dissuade her father from his mad fixation, Eliza begins to understand she may be forced to go with him. Then she sees the vessel they will be sailing on. And in that instant, the voyage of the Moonbird becomes Eliza’s mission too.
Irresistible prose, unforgettable characters and magnificent, epic storytelling: The Burning Island delivers everything readers have come to expect from Jock Serong. It may be his most moving, compelling novel yet.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Mirandi Riwoe speaks with Melanie Cheng about her experience of researching and writing about the Australian gold rush. They discuss Chinese-Australian history and its place within our broader colonial literature, and explore how stories like this one can help bring the once invisible and voiceless to the forefront of our imaginations.
About the book:
Family circumstances force siblings Ying and Lai Yue to flee their home in China to seek their fortunes in Australia. Life on the gold fields is hard, and they soon abandon the diggings and head to nearby Maytown. Once there, Lai Yue gets a job as a carrier on an overland expedition, while Ying finds work in a local store and strikes up a friendship with Meriem, a young white woman with her own troubled past. When a serious crime is committed, suspicion falls on all those who are considered outsiders.
Evoking the rich, unfolding tapestry of Australian life in the late nineteenth century, Stone Sky Gold Mountain is a heartbreaking and universal story about the exiled and displaced, about those who encounter discrimination yet yearn for acceptance.
Nazeem Hussain is a grown man whose Mum won’t let him go to Sri Lanka. At least, not without her by his side. But he’s just had a kid, and he’s started thinking ahead to the questions his son might ask him one day, like ‘why are we brown?’ So Naz flies to Sri Lanka with the echoes of his Mum’s protests in his ears.
In his new Audible Original Podcast, Rogue Son, we follow comedian Nazeem Hussain as he journeys through his ancestral lands, considering what life would’ve been like had his parents not migrated to Australia. Naz tours Sri Lanka at a pivotal time for the country, politically and culturally. A new government is elected while Naz is in the air, so he lands in a strange atmosphere of confusion and change.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast Nazeem talks with friend and fellow comedian Matt Okine about the making of the podcast. They discuss race, identity and the experience of returning to your place of heritage as a first generation migrant.
Kindred, Kirli Saunders’ debut poetry collection, is a pleasure to lose yourself in. Kirli has a keen eye for observation, humour and big themes that surround Love, Connection & Loss in an engaging style, complemented by evocative and poignant imagery. Kindred talks to identity, culture, community and the role of Earth as healer. It has the ability to grab hold of the personal in the universal and reflect this back to the reader.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Ellen van Neerven chats with Kirli Saunders about the moments that inspired Kindred, about her role in the Poetry in First Languages project, and about her own personal journey to reclaim language.
The Thea Astley Address, named in honour of one of Australia’s most influential and distinctive novelists, has been presented annually at the Byron Writers Festival since 2005 - by some of Australia’s best writers and most interesting minds. This year, we add to the prestigious list Professor Marcia Langton, one of our country's most important voices for Indigenous Australia. The 2020 Thea Astley Address, entitled Black Lives Matter, is supported by The Conversation and the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.
In this powerful address, Marcia Langton explores how Black Lives Matter in Australia, through history, in the present and for our future. She takes us back to the death of Mulrunji, or Cameron Doomadgee, in custody on Palm Island in 2004, and the subsequent failure of the police and the criminal justice system to deliver justice for the deceased and his family. Langton tracks many similar cases, shining a light on the crisis in which we find ourselves as a nation, and demands the implementation of long-overdue recommendations from the 1987 - 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
S. Shakthidharan’s award-winning play, Counting and Cracking, is a story about Australia as a land of refuge, about Sri Lanka’s efforts to remain united, and about reconciliation within families, across countries and generations. Shakthi’s latest play, The Jungle and The Sea, was due to open on the day of this interview, but has been put on hold due to Covid-19 restrictions.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Shakthi talks with Sunil Badami about what makes an Australian story. They discuss multiculturalism throughout our nation’s long history, and explore themes of family, identity and migration. Shakthi also tells us about his path to playwriting, his love of community arts practice, and the realities of making theatre in the time of Covid-19.
Jean Kittson's warm and witty practical guide is a one-stop shop for information on how to support your ageing loved ones: how to protect their health and wellbeing, keep them safe and secure, and enable them to be self-determining and independent for as long as possible. Compelled to discuss some of life's most confronting questions, Jean shares heartfelt, personal stories alongside expert advice.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Jean talks with fellow author and comedian Mandy Nolan about what she learned throughout the writing of this book. Jean shares some of her own family’s experiences, and talks us through the complex aged care system in Australia. Together, Mandy and Jean consider how we might re-frame the way we think about caring for our elderly parents.
Join some of Australia’s finest writers for a collection of unexpected tales: reflections on lives well lived and battles fought, pride, prejudice, love and humour. The LGBTQI+ community has been sharing stories for centuries, creating their own histories, disrupting and reinventing conventional ideas about narrative, family, love and community. There’s more to being queer than coming out and getting married.
Fast becoming an institution around the country, Queerstories is a national LGBTQI+ storytelling project curated by Maeve Marsden. Over the past 5 years, more than 250 people have shared their stories at live Queerstories events around the country, and many of these readings are now available on the award-winning Queerstories podcast.
This special Byron Writers Festival podcast edition brings together a beautiful mix of light, warm, thought-provoking and heartbreaking tales from an exceptional line-up of Queer storytellers, including Ellen Van Neerven, Sally Rugg, Michael Sun and Hayley Katzen.
On June 4, Federal Police raided the home of Walkley award-winning journalist Annika Smethurst, changing her life forever.
Police claim they were investigating the publication of classified information, her employer called it a 'dangerous act of intimidation', Smethurst believes she was simply doing her job. Smethurst became the accidental poster woman for press freedom as politicians debated the merits of police searching through her underwear drawer.
In On Secrets she discusses the impact this invasion has had on her life, and examines the importance of press freedom.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Annika talks with Sunil Badami about her path to political reporting, and how she approaches questions of confidentiality, national security and truth-telling in her occupation. She tells us about the day her home was raided by the AFP, and how the experience impacted her personal and professional life, as well as its effect on journalism as a whole.
- On a remote island off the Pacific coast of British Columbia stands the Greenwood Arboreal Cathedral, one of the world’s last forests. Wealthy tourists flock from all corners of the dust-choked globe to see the spectacle and remember what once was. But even as they breathe in the fresh air and pose for photographs amidst the greenery, guide Jake knows that the forest is dying, though her bosses won’t admit it.
- Two passenger locomotives meet head-on. The only survivors are two young boys, who take refuge in a trapper’s cabin in a forest on the edge of town. In twenty-six years, one of them, now a recluse, will find an abandoned baby — another child of Greenwood — setting off a series of events that will change the course of his life, and the lives of those around him.
Structured like the rings of a tree, this remarkable novel moves from the future to the present to the past, and back again, to tell the story of one family and their enduring connection to the place that brought them together.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Michael Christie speaks with Sophie Cunningham about the interconnectedness of people and nature, about families, relationships and love, and about his and Sophie’s shared obsession with trees.
Tegan Bennett Daylight has led a life in books – as a writer, a teacher and a critic, but first and foremost as a reader.
In this deeply insightful and intimate work, Daylight describes how her reading has nourished her life, and how life has informed her reading. In both, she shows us that it’s the small points of connection – the details – that really matter: what we notice when someone close to us dies, when we give birth, when we make friends. In life’s disasters and delights, the details are what we can share and compare and carry with us.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Tegan talks with long-time friend and writing confidant Charlotte Wood about her love of books. They touch on the varied subjects of Tegan’s essays, from her mother’s influence on her reading life, to childhood and its aftermath (as in her celebrated essay ‘Vagina’), the authors who have shaped her, and the power of language to spark joy.
Narrated by a 13,000-year-old extinct mammoth, this is the (mostly) true story of how a collection of prehistoric creatures came to be on sale at a natural history auction in New York in 2007. By tracing how and when these fossils were unearthed, Mammoth leads us on a funny and fascinating journey from the Pleistocene epoch to nineteenth-century America and beyond, revealing how ideas about science and religion have shaped our world.
With our planet on the brink of calamitous climate change, Mammoth scrutinises humanity’s role in the destruction of the natural world while also offering a message of hope.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Tony Birch talks with friend and author Chris Flynn about the writing of Mammoth. Their candid discussion touches on many subjects, including Chris’ Irish upbringing, climate change, fossils, world leaders, and the role of humour in climate fiction.
Gabriel Fox, the young son of an old English house, arrives in a land both ancient and new.
Drawn by the promise of his heart's desire, and compelled to distance himself from pain at home, Gabriel begins his quest into Van Diemen's Land.
His guide, a Cannibal who is not all he seems, leads him north where Gabriel might free himself of his distracting burden and seek the woman he must find. As Gabriel traverses this wild country, he uncovers new truths buried within his own memory.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, winner of the 2020 Australian Vogel Literary Prize, K.M. Kruimink speaks with fellow Vogel shortlister Emily Brugman about the characters and themes of her novel, about the experience of winning the Vogel, and where her love of literature comes from.
Life in a troubled neighbourhood demands too much too young. But Sonny wouldn’t really know.
Watching the world from her bedroom window, she exists only in second-hand romance novels and falls for any fast-food employee who happens to spare her a glance.
Everything changes with the return of Vince, a boy who became a legend after he was hauled away in handcuffs at fourteen. Sonny and Vince used to be childhood friends. But with all that happened in-between, childhood seems so long ago. It will take two years of juvie, an inebriated grandmother and a porn stash for them to meet again.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Vivian talks with friend and Executive Director of Story Factory, Cath Keenan, about being published at 19, and how the stories she was told as a child inspired this novel.
Christos Tsiolkas' stunning new novel Damascus is a work of soaring ambition and achievement, of immense power and epic scope, taking as its subject nothing less than events surrounding the birth and establishment of the Christian church. Based around the gospels and letters of St Paul, and focusing on characters one and two generations on from the death of Christ, as well as Paul (Saul) himself, Damascus nevertheless explores the themes that have always obsessed Tsiolkas as a writer: class, religion, masculinity, patriarchy, colonisation, exile; the ways in which nations, societies, communities, families and individuals are united and divided - it's all here, the contemporary and urgent questions, perennial concerns made vivid and visceral.
In Damascus, Tsiolkas has written a masterpiece of imagination and transformation: an historical novel of immense power and an unflinching dissection of doubt and faith, tyranny and revolution, and cruelty and sacrifice.
Join Christos as he speaks candidly with fellow author and long-time friend Malcolm Knox about his own winding path to Damascus.
The lives of three women weave together across four centuries in the dazzling new book from Evie Wyld, winner of the Miles Franklin Award.
Surging out of the sea, the Bass Rock has for centuries watched over the lives that pass under its shadow on the Scottish mainland. And across the centuries the fates of three women are linked: to this place, to each other.
Each woman’s choices are circumscribed, in ways big and small, by the men in their lives. But in sisterhood there is the hope of survival and new life. Intricately crafted and compulsively readable, The Bass Rock burns bright with anger and love.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Evie speaks with Nicole Abadee about the creation of her three female protagonists, and about violence against women both in the book and in the world around us.
This debut collection of short stories by Yumna Kassab is remarkable for its minimalism. Set in the suburbs of Western Sydney, it portrays the lives of Lebanese immigrants, and their families. The stories revolve around their hopes and regrets, their feelings of isolation, and their nostalgia for what they might have lost or left behind. In particular, The House of Youssef is about relationships, and the customs which complicate them: children growing away from their parents, parents anxious about their children’s futures, the intricacies of marriage, the breakable bonds of friendship. The stories are told with an extreme economy – some are only two pages long – and a spareness of detail which heightens their emotional intensity.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Sunil Badami talks with Yumna about the writing of the book, its reception, about growing up in Western Sydney, and how our identity informs our writing.
When urban academic Hayley Katzen moves to a remote Australian cattle property to live with her farmer girlfriend, she hopes, at last, to find home.
But this is no happy-ever-after tree change. Lecture halls, law reform and the arts are replaced with castrating calves, shovelling manure, fire-fighting and anti-gas blockades. In a place that attracts people who live by their own rules, Hayley must confront her limitations and preconceptions to forge her own identity.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Hayley speaks with long-time friend Sarah Armstrong about learning to love the bush, about the craft of memoir writing, and about all of the things, the histories and experiences, the people and the landscapes, that ultimately lead us home.
James Bradley’s new novel Ghost Species is a beautiful and deeply affecting exploration of connection and loss in an age of planetary trauma. Set against the backdrop of hastening climate catastrophe, a group of scientists are working to re-engineer the climate by resurrecting extinct species. The protagonist Kate becomes enmeshed in another, more clandestine program to recreate our long-lost relatives, the Neanderthals. But when the first of the children, a girl called Eve, is born, Kate finds herself torn between her growing love for Eve and her obligations to the project, and makes a decision that will alter her and Eve’s lives forever.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, James speaks with Sophie Cunningham about the writing process and his hopes for the book. James delves into some of the central questions of Ghost Species: deep time, ethics and what it means to be human. They discuss grief in both a personal and global context, from climate grief, to pandemic grief and the very personal grief of losing a parent.
Journalist Jess Hill‘s now Stella Award-winning book 'See What You Made Me Do', calls for a radical rethink on how we see and deal with domestic abuse in Australia. She spoke to Margot Saville at the 2019 Byron Writers Festival about the three somewhat harrowing years she spent writing the book, and how it changed her perception of the issue.
Our fascination with fire goes back millennia and with changing climate conditions, fire will only take greater hold on our collective psyche. This important session brings together 'The Arsonist' author Chloe Hopper, fire historian Stephen Pyne and RFS veteran Peter Watt to discuss our evolving relationship with fire and how to better work WITH fire, rather than against it.
Toni Jordan and Barbara Toner speak with Mandy Nolan about the challenge of writing funny characters and creating humourous moments in fiction, and where they find their inspiration.
Vicki Laveau-Harvie talks with Kate McClymont about 'The Erratics' - her 2019 Stella award-wining memoir which took the literary world by storm with its ferocious, yet darkly funny depiction of familial dysfunction.
Vicki Laveau-Harvie, Rick Morton and Andrew Stafford speak with Caro Llewellyn about their recent works of memoir, in which they interrogate the ups and downs of family life, the ongoing impacts of trauma, and the strength of the human spirit to survive in times of adversity.
John Birmingham, Hung Le and Caro Llewellyn speak with Sunil Badami about the often complex relationships we have with our fathers, and the enduring influence they have on our lives and who we become.
What is it exactly about children's books, and reading to children that is so special? How do stories contribute to a child's development? What are you earliest memories of being read to? This magical session explores these questions and more, as we explore 'Why we should read to children' with Alison Lester, John Flanagan and Morris Gleitzman, chaired by Jesse Blackadder.
Benjamin Law explores what is was like growing up queer in Australia with author S.L. Lim, author and activist Nevo Zisin and musician Evelyn Ida Morris.
Harry Saddler takes us on the epic 10,000km journey of the Eastern Curlew, from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to the east coast of Australia. In this fascinating session, he talks with Ailsa Piper about these remarkable birds and their plight for survival.
In this Festival session, novelist and former anti-Mafia judge Gianrico Carofiglio, former police commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg and investigative journalist Kate McClymont join Matthew Condon to discuss their experiences of working to expose corruption in politics and organised crime.
How reliable is your memory? In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr Julia Shaw discusses with Tracey Spicer the astonishing variety of ways in which our brains can indeed be led astray.
Phil Brown, Hung Le and Sisonke Msimang speak with Sunil Badami about belonging, both in Australia and in the countries their parents left behind.
Tara June Winch chats with Melissa Lucashenko about the writing of her latest book, 'The Yield' and the deep connections she feels to the vivid characters she has created. In this relaxed conversation, interviewer becomes interviewee, as Tara turns a few questions back on the recent Miles Franklin winner.
David Leser speaks with Jennifer Byrne about his book 'Women, Men and the Whole Damn Thing', which follows his 2018 article of the same name. Once gain, Leser positions himself at the rhetorical intersection of the #MeToo movement, running the gauntlet of gendered violence and inequality in an attempt to rethink masculinity beyond patriarchy.
Matthew Evans speaks with Sarah Armstrong about his new book 'On Eating Meat', in which he grapples with the thorny issues around the ways we produce and consume both animals and crops.
Respected community leader and Chief Advocate of World Vision, Reverend Tim Costello, speaks with Chris Hanley about his new memoir, 'A Lot with a Little'. From family life and faith, to the current state of the world, activism and leadership, Tim gives us an insight into who he is, where he has come from, and how he retains hope in the face of injustice.
Daniel James, Samia Khatun, Patrick Nunn and Tara June Winch speak with Adam Shoemaker about the importance of preserving indigenous languages not only in Australia but around the world. They discuss what is lost when languages die, and what can be done to ensure their continuation.
David Gillespie speaks with Mandy Nolan about the negative impacts of technology on young minds. In his book 'Teen Brain' he argues that screens are making our teenagers depressed, anxious and prone to lifelong addictive illnesses.
Three acclaimed novelists, Min Jin Lee, Jennifer Clement and Markus Zusak speak with Benjamin Law about the complexities of writing about the modern family.
Damon Gameau, Alice Gorman and Bruce Pascoe speak with Sarah Armstrong about their hopes for the future of the planet. Without shying away from the biggest challenges facing mankind today, they explore the possibilities for change and remind us of the importance of hope over despair.
Maxine Beneba Clarke, Ginger Gorman, Sarah Hanson-Young and Julia Shaw speak with Tracey Spicer about the world of cyber-bullying, their experiences of being harassed online, and the roots and causes of trolling in wider society.
Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu has been heralded as the book that rewrote Australian history. He talks candidly and passionately with Kerry O'Brien on what needs to change for us to truly 'love' our country.
In this Byron Writers Festival podcast, Trent Dalton, Matt Haig and Elise Valmorbida speak with Nicole Abadee about ways in which their books, and others, foster empathy. They discuss how characters in fiction, like most ordinary people, should be complex and nuanced, and explore the question, raised first by Dalton, 'can you be both good and bad at once?'
Jessie Cole, Bri Lee and Gregory Smith have all written powerful memoirs. Three very different lives take three very different paths, but their stories share a similar strand of personal discovery and resilience. Chaired by Zacharey Jane.
Ashley Hay speaks with Charles Massy about his path into regenerative agriculture. Massy highlights the ways in which industrial agriculture impacts on both human health and the health and future of our planet, and advocates for a move towards regenerative agricultural principles.
Jane Harper is the author of international bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature and most recently, The Lost Man. In this podcast, Marele Day speaks with crime writer Jane Harper about her spectacular rise to literary fame. Harper speaks about getting started on her first novel, about her approach to writing and how she tackles the drafting process.
In this session, recorded live at the 2018 Byron Writers Festival, Ali Alizadeh, Jesse Blackadder and Chris Womersley speak with Nicole Abadee about how they bring the past to life in each of their recent historical novels.
In this session, science writer Joelle Gergis, author and public intellectual Clive Hamilton and Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter, offer their thoughts on the future of the planet and our role in it.
Lemn Sissay is one of Britain’s most loved poets, and the Chancellor of Manchester University. In this podcast, recorded live at the 2018 Byron Writers Festival, Lemn discusses his childhood spent in foster care and in a children's home, and his miraculous rise to university chancellor. With passion and fury, Lemn talks about the injustices felt by many single mothers and their children as a result of forced adoptions in Britain during the twentieth century.
In this session, recorded live at the 2018 Byron Writers Festival, crime writer Candice Fox, non-fiction writer Sarah Krasnostein and journalist Kate Wild speak with Bernard Zuel about writing in the wake of traumatic events.
In this poignant session, recorded live at the 2018 Byron Writers Festival, Jessie Cole, Walter Mikac and Hannah Richell talk to Jesse Blackadder about their experiences of writing through grief. They have each lived through devastating experiences, and here, they bravely share their stories.
Anne Aly, Ellen Broad and Matthew Condon discuss with Jennifer Rayner our changing perceptions of privacy in the modern world of social media, data collection and information sharing.
Eddie Ayres, Brigid Delaney and Kari Gislason regale us with travels tales tall and small in this hilarious, insightful session on the joys and challenges of travel and why we, as Australians, love a good travel story. Chaired by Michael Williams.
In this 2018 Byron Writers Festival podcast, local children’s and teen’s author Tristan Bancks talks to musician and avid reader Tim Rogers, N.Z. poet Selina Tusitala Marsh and author Ben Hobson about how to get boys into books. With warmth and humour, they discuss the joys of reading and of reading to others, as well as their own reading habits and those of their children.
Kon Karapanagiotidis founded the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre at age 28. He shares his powerful story of love, hope and passion with Melissa Lucashenko.
In this 2018 Byron Writers Festival podcast, twice Miles Franklin Award winner Michele de Kretser and novelist Ceridwen Dovey discuss their latest books with Caroline Baum.
Both authors explore the weight of things left unspoken. De Kretser's award-winning work, 'The Life to Come', is a mesmerising novel about the stories we tell and don't tell ourselves as individuals, as societies and as nations, while Dovey's 'In the Garden of the Fugitives', is a tale of obsession, guilt, and the power of the past to possess the present.
Sarah Sentilles is a writer, teacher, critical theorist, scholar of religion, and author of many books, including 'Breaking Up with God: A Love Story', and most recently, 'Draw Your Weapons'. In this podcast, Sarah Sentilles speaks with Margaret Throsby about God and war, her decision to leave the church, and about how violence is waged, witnessed and resisted.
Andrew Ford, Sebastian Smee and Peter Thompson in conversation with Geordie Williamson.
Tim Flannery, David Haskell and Nicolas Rothwell discuss the nature of all living things with Steven Lang
What do you get when you put a Muslim, a Monsignor and Buddhist on a writers’ panel? A ‘Hunger for Spirituality’ with Susan Carland, Tony Doherty and Meshel Laurie, chaired by the always-charming Ailsa Piper.
Explore contemporary Indian literature and art with ‘Midnight’s Children’: Kunal Basu, Roanna Gonsalves, Vayu Naidu and Vankat Shyam in conversation with Wendy Were.
Barry Jones, Tracey Spicer and Susan Wyndham wax lyrical on the books that changed their lives with Adam Suckling.
Join Clementine Ford, Bri Lee, Michael Sala and Mandy Nolan in this hilariously assertive session on all things gender.
In this touching session we listen to the stories of two vastly different friendships and reflect on what ties us together. With Deng Adut, Ben Mckelvey, Ailsa Piper, Tony Doherty and chaired by Rosemarie Milsom.
Adam Spencer gets his geek on and gives us the low-down on why mathematicians will rule the world!
Delta Kay, Bruce Pascoe and Kim Scott open our eyes, ears and hearts to the richness that lies within Indigenous Storytelling. Chaired by Adam Shoemaker.
When Baird set out to write Victoria, she wanted to examine how the queen wielded power during her reign and how far – or little it seems – our acceptance of powerful women has come. The book chronicles Victoria’s life, but unlike other histories of the queen it charts her role as an “incredibly powerful working mother”, and explores how she managed her nine pregnancies and raising children while the monarch.
On Festival Friday Roger Cohen, Mei Fong, Christina Lamb, and Kerry O'Brien discuss the state of the world to a packed tent with Ben Knight.
Sarah Amrstrong chats with Nikki Gemmell, Heather Taylor Johnson and Charlie Veron about all forms of grief: the loss of a loved one, the grief of chronic illness and the grief that comes with the devastation of the natural world.
Kate Cole-Adams, Nikki Gemmell and Kate Grenville chat with Ashley Hay about 'The Extreme Boundaries of the Sayable'
World Vision CEO, Tim Costello speaks to Russell Eldridge about life, religion, spirituality and Hope.
Global heavyweight Tariq Ali discusses Australian and global politics with Kerry O'Brien at the 2015 Byron Bay Writers Festival.
Kate Grenville, one of Australia's most celebrated writers, speaks to Rosemarie Milsom at the 2015 Byron Bay Writers Festival.
Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma appeared at the 2015 Byron Bay Writers Festival. His startling debut novel, The Fishermen, has received plaudits from across the literary world. Jennifer Byrne, host of ABC TV's 'The Book Club', speaks to Obioma about his novel and growing up in Nigeria.
Don Watson spoke to David Leser about his book 'The Bush' at the 2015 Byron Bay Writers Festival.
Krissy Kneen, David Vann and Joshua Yeldham discussed the themes 'Grief and Creativity' in a conversation chaired by Jane Caro at the 2015 Byron Bay Writers Festival.
Julia Gillard was the 27th Prime Minister of Australia. Her #1 bestselling memoir 'My Story' recounts the nation-changing achievements and challenges of her public life. Julia Gillard talks openly with historian Clare Wright about the challenges and triumphs as Australia's first female Prime Minister.