Episodes
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Imagine another world with the fantasy writers who are redefining the wildly popular genre.
Australian fantasy heavyweight Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom series) takes to the stage with ascending local star Shelley Parker-Chan (The Radiant Emperor duology) and global sensation Samantha Shannon (The Roots of Chaos series) to explain how they create expansive universes for their epic stories, heroes and heroines.
This is must-listen episode for YA and fantasy fans alike! Hosted by Aimée Lindorff.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.
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: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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She may be self-absorbed, adrift or unhinged, but the ‘sad girl’ is taking the publishing industry by storm.
Debut novelists Nadine J. Cohen (Everyone and Everything), Madeleine Gray (Green Dot) and Jessie Stephens (Something Bad is Going to Happen) have all created unforgettable protagonists who are fallible, at times unlikeable and painfully relatable.
Hear from these exciting debut novelists as they discuss making and breaking this emerging genre’s rules, and how they crafted compelling portraits of present-day womanhood. In conversation with The Guardian’s Steph Harmon.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.
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: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Missing episodes?
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From parched paddocks to sleepy coastal towns, the bodies keep piling up – and Australian readers can’t get enough.
This panel brings together some of Australia’s hottest local crime writers, with Sulari Gentill (The Mystery Writer), Dinuka McKenzie (Tipping Point) and Benjamin Stevenson (Everyone on this Train is a Suspect).
Dust off your Akubra for a thrilling chat about the outback noir genre and what makes Aussie crime fiction unique, with host Alex Adsett.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival.
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: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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In the wake of a shift in the global power balance, how can Australia best protect itself?
Two of Australiaâs most interesting foreign policy thinkers take a fresh look at Australiaâs place in the world and come to some surprising conclusions. Clinton Fernandes (Sub-Imperial Power) and Sam Roggeveen (The Echidna Strategy: Australiaâs Search for Power and Peace) tackle the big questions about the US alliance, the threat of China, and underneath it all, what kind of country Australia really is.
Listen as Sam and Clinton reshape Australiaâs understanding of itself in the international arena, in conversation with Verity Firth.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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What is the writerâs role in an era of profound ecological change?
This panel event brings together leading local nature writers James Bradley and Bruce Pascoe to discuss how best to defend our environment. Jamesâ latest book, Deep Water: The World in the Ocean, dives into the waves, and Bruceâs Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra investigates traditional agricultural practices that offer a blueprint for our farming futures.
Reflect on our relationship with the natural world and what lies ahead, as James and Bruce are joined in conversation by Ashley Hay.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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"People have crazy lives," says Paul Murray. "The stuff that happens to â quote-unquote â ordinary folks is very operatic."
Case in point: his Booker Prize shortlisted The Bee Sting which follows an unravelling household in the Irish Midlands who embody Tolstoy's proverb about unhappy families. Paul's third novel has been acclaimed by critics as âgenerous, expansive and glorious as a cathedralâ (The Guardian).
One of three superb Irish writers at this year's Festival, this is your chance to catch Paul solo, in conversation with Kate Evans (ABC RN's The Bookshelf).
This episode was recorded live in May 2024.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Four waves in, the feminist fight for gender equality is far from over.
This panel brings together the powerful and incendiary feminist voices of Hannah Ferguson, Sisonke Msimang and Jennifer Robinson. Hear from these leading writers and activists who between them offer daring feminist opinions on topics ranging from freedom of speech, right-wing politics, racism, xenophobia, belonging and identity, taboos around sex and pleasure, as well as the legal judgements that continue to silence and disadvantage women.
Be inspired by the feminist firebrands who are fighting for meaningful social change. Hosted by the inimitable Jo Dyer, this is an important examination of the most pressing issues facing women today.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Last year, Bryan Brown interviewed Sam Neill at the Festival. This year, it was Bryanâs turn in the hot seat as Sam interviewed him about his gripping new crime novel, The Drowning. Bryan is one of the most recognisable faces on our screens with more than 80 film and television projects to his name. This sensational new thriller with his characteristic laconic style â humorous, tough and suspenseful â confirms his place as one of the great Australian storytellers.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Going deep into the historical past, Lauren Groff (The Vaster Wilds, Matrix) and Francesca de Tores (Saltblood) create memorable heroines, real and imaginary, whose stories have not been told.
Their portrayals of ordinary women doing extraordinary things â a girl escaping alone into the wilderness, a pirate on the high seas â are richly detailed and vividly alive. Coming out of hiding into our imaginations, these heroines are so fierce they jump off the page. Join Lauren and Francesca in conversation with novelist and scholar Sophie Gee.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Join two of the most admired writers in Australia today, Booker Prizeâwinning Richard Flanagan and Miles Franklinâwinning Anna Funder as they discuss writing in the margins between fiction and non-fiction, history and memoir, personal and public.
Historian Clare Wright leads this conversation, examining their genre-bending masterpieces. Through a hypnotic melding of dream, history, science and memory, Question 7 traces the ripples of history through Richardâs own family and is described by Anna as holding âa life between its coversâ. Wifedom is Annaâs âcounterfictionâ, an attempt to write Eileen O'Shaughnessy, George Orwellâs first wife, back into the narrative from which history has so carefully excised her. Not only a New York Times Notable Book of 2023, Wifedom also described by Geraldine Brooks as âSimply, a masterpieceâ.
Redefine genre with Richard and Anna as they discuss the craft of writing, the parts of themselves left excavated on the page and the consequences of the choices we make.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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While everyone has dirty laundry in their lives, not everyone will choose to air theirs publicly.
Whether on social media, in written memoir, public speaking or on television, how can sharing the âselfâ when the story touches on family and community, still be navigated ethically? What are the consequences and ramifications of bringing the personal into the public realm? Join writers Benjamin Law, Rhys Nicholson and Amy Thunig as they unpack the fallout on the other side of publication, with host George Haddad.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Sean Turnell spent almost two years in Myanmarâs terrifying Insein Prison, accused of being a spy. Ma Thida was also incarcerated there, where, denied medical treatment, she came very close to dying.
How did they survive? What hope do these important players in Myanmarâs government and politics hold for the return of democracy three years after the military seized power in a coup? In conversation with Catherine Renshaw.This event was presented in partnership with PEN Sydney and recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writers' Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Melissa Lucashenko describes her latest novel, Edenglassie, as her âbig bookâ â a multigenerational epic that torches Queenslandâs colonial myths and reimagines Australiaâs future.
Set in Brisbane and rivalling the romances of Too Much Lip and Mullumbimby, two parallel love stories play out two centuries apart. In both the colonial era and the present day, no one knows how far legacies will reach into modern lives.
Sit down with this celebrated author as she is joined on stage by ABC RNâs Kate Evans to discuss her critically acclaimed novel, described by The Weekend Australian as being âas heart-warming as it is heart-breakingâ.This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Following broadcaster and author Julia Bairdâs multi-award-winning international bestseller, Phosphorescence, comes a beautiful and timely exploration of that most mysterious but necessary human quality: grace.
Bright Shining: How grace changes everything asks what grace looks like today, how we recognise it, nurture it within ourselves and express it. For Julia, grace can be found by being kinder, bigger and better with each other.
Sit down with Julia to discuss this luminous work, which The Guardian described as âa book the world needs nowâ. In conversation with journalist Jacqueline Maley.This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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As conflict plays out across an unnamed region, the protagonist in Parramatta Laureate of Literature Yumna Kassabâs Politica imagines how she will later narrate her experiences: âWe hadnât spoken for years but then the war broke out...â
Sharing difficult stories is also at the heart of Miles Franklin Award winner Shankari Chandranâs Safe Haven, which follows a refugee threatened with deportation when she speaks out for other detainees. Sit down with Yumna and Shankari as they discuss their poignant and timely novels, which ask how, if possible, we can measure the cost of war and what lengths we will go to in the search for safety. With host Ashley Hay.
This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.âŻ
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.âŻ
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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After smash-hit Fates and Furies, the modern-day marriage story that was Barack Obamaâs book of the year in 2015, Lauren Groffâs novels have looked to the past to understand the present.
Her latest historical novel, The Vaster Wilds, is set on the edge of the New World at an unnamed British settlement in the Americas. Fleeing violence, disease and starvation, a servant girl enters the wilderness alone. This spirited survivalist story has been critically acclaimed as âexhilaratingâ (The Guardian), âvisionaryâ (The Observer) and âtimelessâ (The Times).
Join Lauren and host Melanie Kembrey as they explore this prophetic novel, which encapsulates the story of America in miniature.
This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.âŻ
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.âŻ
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Join Richard Flanagan as he discusses this hypnotic, genre-defying new book which entwines memoir, biography, autofiction and history through a daisy chain of stories both intimate and collective.
Opening with his father as a prisoner of war, the book leads readers through a literary love affair into nuclear physics of the 1930s and 40s and finally towards a young Richard fighting for his life in Tasmanian river rapids in a rumination on lifeâs choices and their intergenerational chain reactions. Richard speaks with Kerry OâBrien.
This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.âŻ
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.âŻ
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Social change is driven by conversation, in sharing ideas, and translating those ideas for audiences who donât agree or understand what is at stake.
For many First Nations writers and journalists, this has been a huge priority over the last year, in particular, and one that comes with a cost. In a conversation with legendary truth-tellers, find out what sustains them to keep on going in the face of profound challenges. With Larissa Behrendt, Tony Birch, Narelda Jacobs and Amy Thunig.
This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.âŻ
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.âŻ
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The quest for a life worth living has been the business of philosophers for millennia. How can we pursue answers to lifeâs big questions in a world that feels increasingly dangerous and unstable thanks to big tech and AI?
Unpack the âhowâ in this unmissable episode from the pre-eminent philosopher A.C. Grayling.
This episode was recorded live at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.âŻ
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.âŻ
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Anti-fatness is a system of oppression, argues Kate Manne, afflicting vulnerable bodies in intersectional ways.
Building on her incisive studies of misogyny and male privilege, the Melbourne-born feminist philosopherâs latest book, Unshrinking: How to Fight Fatphobia, unpicks the dangerous virtues associated with dieting and deprivation, using a blend of first-hand stories and trenchant analysis.
Praised by US writer Roxane Gay as ârequired readingâ, this timely intervention calls for a radical re-evaluation of who our bodies exist for â âŻourselves and no one else.
Learn from an acclaimed, accessible new voice in moral philosophy, in conversation with host Maeve Marsden.
This episode was recorded live in May at the 2024 Sydney Writersâ Festival.
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.
Sydney Writersâ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
After more? Follow Sydney Writersâ Festival on social media:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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