Sydney Writers' Festival

The latest novels of celebrated writers Sophie Cunningham and Gail Jones explore the lives of extraordinary artistic figures at turning points in history. Sophie’s This Devastating Fever interweaves the lives of Leonard and Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Set with modern-day climate change disasters. Gail’s acclaimed Salonika Burning imagines how the stories of famous figures who served in the first world war, including author Miles Franklin and painters Grace Pailthorpe and Stanley Spencer, may have overlapped. They speak with Ashley Hay about their blending of history and fiction. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A panel of fascinating figures discuss their new memoirs and what it means to live a creative life – on stage, on screen, or in journalism. Mawunyo Gbogbo’s Hip Hop & Hymns recounts growing up African Australian and forging a media career via New York. Shane Jenek’s Caught in the Act charts his hard-won journey to fame as drag artist Courtney Act. Heather Mitchell’s Everything and Nothing depicts the light and shade that co-exist in love, family and the arts. They talk with host Maeve Marsden. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the great Australian writers, Don Watson has done much to hold a mirror up to the nation. His latest title, The Passion of Private White, tells the true story of an anthropologist and Vietnam veteran, Neville White who has devoted fifty years to the Yolngu clans of the Donydji homeland in north-east Arnhem Land; at once mapping and recording their culture, law, lands and languages and helping them build a successful community – one precariously poised between their traditions and European ideology and institutions. Don speaks with Laura Tingle about his storied career and his new book, which brings unique insight into the deep past and the troubled present. Supported by ARA. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwit

Home cooking is at the heart of our food cultures and brings a comfort that can satisfy our physical and emotional needs. Join a panel of celebrated chefs and writers as they discuss their own home cooking, compare comfort dishes and consider the rich conversation between time-honoured ways of preparing meals and the sometimes-showy food culture of today. Featuring restaurateur Durkhanai Ayubi (Parwana: Recipes and Stories from an Afghan Kitchen), prize-winning chef Rosheen Kaul (Chinese-ish), cook and star of Netflix’s Chef’s Table Asma Khan (Ammu) and culinary writer Alice Zaslavsky (The Joy of Better Cooking) in conversation with writer and comedian Jennifer Wong. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWriter

Admonished or admired for their moxie, ‘difficult women’ make themselves heard, challenge the status quo and shun gendered notions of niceness. In this panel event, two authors reflect on the difficult women who grace the pages of their books, sometimes with no grace at all. What makes these characters so striking? And why do we need them in the world? Anne Casey-Hardy (Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls) and Fiona Kelly McGregor (Iris) share the stage with interviewer Sophie Cunningham. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bestselling author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and debut Australian author André Dao come together to discuss their new books in which the tumult of Vietnamese history converges with the present day. The follow-up to The Mountains Sing, Quế Mai’s Dust Child is a suspenseful saga of family secrets, hidden trauma and the overriding power of forgiveness. André’s Anam moves through a series of displacements from Hanoi to Paris and Melbourne to explore themes of memory, colonialism, inheritance and belonging. They appear in conversation with Sheila Ngọc Phạm. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trinidadian-British poet, novelist and musician Anthony Joseph was awarded the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize in 2022 for Sonnets for Albert. A series of elegies to his mostly absent father, it explores the wider edges of Caribbean masculinity, loss and longing, drawing praise from the judges as “a luminous collection which celebrates humanity in all its contradictions and breathes new life into this enduring form.” Hear from Anthony as he discusses his craft and career, spanning five poetry collections and three novels, in conversation with Felicity Plunkett. Supported by Jibb Foundation. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Award-winning journalist Kate Legge discusses her search for answers after she learned of her husband’s affair, as chronicled in her memoir, Infidelity and Other Affairs. She reflects on a journey that led to the discovery of a fault line of betrayal spanning generations, and the ensuing path to healing. Kate is in conversation with Ailsa Piper. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can’t get enough romance literature in your life? Join bestselling historical fantasy romance author Freya Marske (A Restless Truth), acclaimed debut novelist Saman Shad (The Matchmaker) and Wiradjuri councillor turned fiction-writer Yvonne Weldon (Sixty-Seven Days) for a panel event that reveals the thrills, spills and secrets of penning page-turning love stories that bring fresh life to the genre while making our hearts beat a little faster. They chat with ABC radio host and self-professed romance novel addict Rudi Bremer. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, artist and The New York Times–bestselling author Jenny Odell extolled the value of rest as resistance in a culture that always expects us to be productive. In conversation with Jess Scully she takes the discussion further and introduces her new book Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock which makes a radical argument about our concept of time and offers a hopeful antidote for anyone grappling with burnout and anxiety about the future. Supported by ARA. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After penning the Pulitzer Prize–winning novels The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, American author Colson Whitehead set out to write a trilogy of stories centred on a furniture salesman-turned-crook named Ray Carney. The first in the series, Harlem Shuffle, is a hugely entertaining tale of race, power and the history of New York in the guise of a page-turning heist novel. Join Colson in conversation with Michael Williams about the book and its forthcoming follow up, Crook Manifesto, which continues the saga in an increasingly combustible 1970s Manhattan. Colson Whitehead appears thanks to the support of Matthew and Fiona Playfair. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfe

Although many of us are lucky enough to eat well, we live in a food system that is broken. Ultra-processed products abound, food workers are exploited, hunger coexists with massive food waste, and farming methods have toxic consequences. Hear from a panel of inspiring advocates as they consider solutions to these problems and the path towards a better food future. Featuring champion of First Nations food practices and Warndu co-founders Damien Coulthard and Rebecca Sullivan, chef and writer Matthew Evans and food rescue activist Ronni Kahn in conversation with Margot Saville. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hear from a panel of speakers whose works have, in different ways, illuminated Afghanistan’s kaleidoscopic past and present through war and unrest, but also through culture and community. Durkhanai Ayubi shares her family’s food, heritage and culture in Parwana. Zaheda Ghani speaks to her debut novel Pomegranate & Fig, a story of tradition, family, war and displacement. Andrew Quilty recounts the capture of the country’s capital in 2021 through the eyes of Afghans in August in Kabul. They speak with writer and director Benjamin Gilmour, whose film Jirga tells the story of an Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan seeking to make amends for a war crime. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFes

RBG: Of Many, One playwright and lawyer Suzie Miller (Prima Facie) read her way into Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s character and intellect via hundreds of pages of cases and judgements. To bring her to the stage, actor Heather Mitchell (Everything and Nothing) even brushed her teeth ‘as Ruth would’. Find out more about the alchemy that brought RBG to life on the page and the stage in this very special conversation between two unique artists. They are joined by Ailsa Piper. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Biographies of public figures are perennially popular with readers eager to gain insight into the lives and legacies of political leaders and media titans. But are they beholden to scandals and scoops, or can they bring valuable perspectives to historic events and how we see ourselves as a nation? Hear from Paddy Manning, Niki Savva and Margaret Simons about how they balance public and private as they discuss their accounts of those in public life, on stage with host Laura Tingle. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Regarded as one the great Sri Lankan novelists, Shehan Karunatilaka won the 2022 Booker Prize for his epic, searing and darkly funny satire The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Narrated by the ghost of a gay atheist photojournalist, it follows a week in the afterlife in which he reckons with his sexual escapades, a gambling habit, and the state-sponsored death squads he sought to expose. Shehan speaks with Michael Williams about a novel that breaks with conventional modes of storytelling to illuminate the humanity and horrors of wartime Sri Lanka. Supported by ARA. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jane Harper has been hailed “the queen of outback noir” (The Sunday Times) for a string of crime novels that have sold more than 3 million copies in 40 territories worldwide. Her latest book, Exiles, brings back federal policeman Aaron Falk, who was first introduced in The Dry. He investigates the disappearance of a woman from a country wine festival whose infant daughter is found unharmed in her pram. Listen to Jane in conversation with Michaela Kalowski about the thrilling and final instalment of the much-loved Falk series. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.  If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two-time world debating champion Bo Seo and former High Court justice Michael Kirby examine how we might better listen to and disagree with each other in an era of increasingly harsh and divisive discourse. They discuss Bo’s new book, Good Arguments, part memoir of how he discovered the art of debating as a shy, conflict-adverse child, and part treatise on why the pillars of good debate – fact finding, reason and persuasion – offer an antidote to political spin, fake news and social media slugfests. Supported by the Jibb Foundation. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How is fiction evolving with our times? Is the novel a vulnerable art or more vital than ever? Could AI one day pen a masterpiece or do our storytellers guard an inimitable craft? Join some of the leading names in literature today – Eleanor Catton, Richard Flanagan, Tracey Lien and Colson Whitehead – for a lively discussion about the state of the novel and the future of fiction. They are joined in conversation by ABC RN’s The Bookshelf’s Kate Evans. This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are fascinated by stories of crime and how they unfold. There are no finer narrators of such stories than legendary author Helen Garner and The Teacher’s Pet podcaster Hedley Thomas, whose work explores the link between confronting terrible things that happen and the people who are involved. They sit down with Sarah Krasnostein to explore the compelling nature of crime and the pressing question of what happens when justice takes a lifetime – or if it never comes at all? This episode was recorded live at the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:Instagram: @sydwritersfestFacebook: @SydWritersFestTwitter: @SydWritersFestTikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.