Festival Program
Celebrate the best Australian writing and meet your favourite authors at free and ticketed events.
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BOOKED OUT Workshop: Poetry with Rico Craig
This world is full of epic, otherworldly moments; clouds shifting, the hunt for new earrings, people changing car tyres. These everyday moments give poetry its texture and provide poets with...
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Workshop: Crafting Narrative Drive with Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Tension on every page is the key to narrative drive, whether you’re writing fiction, memoir or any narrative work. In this practical workshop, participants will learn why narrative drive is...
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Workshop: Writing Rom-Com with Melanie Saward
There’s no denying that romantic comedy is absolutely booming right now: walk into any bookshop and you’ll be confronted by a wall of fun, cute illustrative covers and cutesy titles....
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BOOKED OUT Entanglement: A Storymaking Workshop
What’s your story? Join Voices of Women artistic director Lliane Clarke for an open storymaking workshop exploring storytelling through spoken word and sound. We particularly encourage women from First Nations,...
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BOOKED OUT Book of Life: Deborah Conway in Conversation
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT HAS MOVED TO NUSPACE ROOM X201 In 1991, Deborah Conway sang ‘It’s only the beginning / But I’ve already gone and lost my mind’, in...
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BOOKED OUT Killing for Country: David Marr in Conversation
Lyndall Ryan will be replaced by Dr Margot Ford in today’s session. David Marr has spent his illustrious career untangling complex issues – from political censorship to clerical authority and...
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The Past and the Now: Melissa Lucashenko in Conversation
Spanning the 1800s to 2024, Melissa Lucashenko’s recent novel Edenglassie weaves together the lives of colonial-era and contemporary characters. Moving deftly from heartwarming and hilarious to harrowing, what shines through...
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Stop the Press
In an era when newsrooms are confronted with continuously evolving challenges in the face of dwindling resources and the demands of the 24-hour digital news cycle, have traditional media organisations...
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Coming of Age in Middle Age
In their recent fiction, Emily Perkins, Megan Rogers and Christos Tsiolkas created characters at a crossroads, disrupting the traditional narrative of ‘coming of age’ as an experience of youth. They...
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Sunbirds: Mirandi Riwoe in Conversation
As an artist, Mirandi Riwoe is concerned with recreating histories too few of us know. Her new novel Sunbirds, takes readers on a journey through time to West Java in...
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Sustainable Living for a Kinder Future
What could our future look like if we reconnected with communities, found conscious ways to shop, cultivated resilient ecosystems, and made the effort to live like it matters? Permaculturist Kirsten...
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Newcastle LIT: Celebrating Local Authors
Novocastrian authors Meg Gatland-Veness, Margaret McBride and Natalie Murray discuss the inspiration provided by our peninsula city when writing their young adult fiction, rom-coms and non-fiction books. Hosted by Nick...
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Book Launch: Seed to Sky by Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli
Celebrate the launch of the new children’s book Seed to Sky: Life in the Daintree by Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli. Hosted by Melissa Luckman. This is a free event;...
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Women & Children: Tony Birch in Conversation
At the end of Women & Children, Tony Birch leaves a note for readers: ‘It is not the story of my own family, but a story motivated by our family’s...
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Things We Don’t Speak About: Class
In this new series of conversations about issues we don’t speak about, we invite authors to share how they interrogate tough topics in their writing lives. Peter Polites and Jessie...
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BOOKED OUT Author, Academic, Activist: Bri Lee in Conversation
‘If you’re doing work that you feel is important, it will be impossible to have everybody like you.’ Bri Lee first captured the literary world’s attention with her debut memoir...
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The Rise of Rom-Com
From ‘rom-com core’ fashion trends to Tik-Tok influencers going viral over their fandom of new romance reads, it’s clear that a universal love of romantic comedy is on the rise....
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Crime Writer in Pink: Sally Hepworth in Conversation
Making her first festival appearance, New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth will speak about her stellar career, from writing her first novel on maternity leave and gaining interest from...
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Are We There Yet?
The road to the establishment of an Australian Poet Laureate has been long and somewhat circuitous. But in 2025, the inaugural Poet Laureate will be announced by the federal government....
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I’d Like You to Meet: Vidya Madabushi
In this returning series of conversations, we invite established writers to shine the spotlight on an emerging writer whose work they admire. Shankari Chandran introduces Vidya Madabushi, whose novel The...
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Writing the Lives of Writers
Bernadette Brennan, Catharine Lumby and Brigitta Olubas have written about literary greats such as Helen Garner, Gillian Mears, Frank Moorhouse and Shirley Hazzard. They speak with Susan Wyndham about literary...
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BOOKED OUT The James Fletcher Hospital Site: Sounds of the Past
THIS EVENT IS BOOKED OUT Join historians and writers Cathy Coleborne, Jude Conway, Nancy Cushing, Mark Dunn, Helen English, Keri Glastonbury, Ann Hardy, and Adam Manning as they share historical,...
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BOOKED OUT Workshop: Short Stories in Cyanotype
THIS EVENT IS BOOKED OUT In collaboration with WH!P Collective’s exhibition, photomedia artist Clare Weeks is leading this workshop. Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print....
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When Worlds Combine: Shelley Parker-Chan in Conversation
History, fantasy, and queer culture combine in Shelley Parker-Chan’s No. 1 bestseller She Who Became the Sun and follow-up novel He Who Drowned the World. Described as ‘Mulan meets The...
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36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem: Nam Le in Conversation
Fifteen years after his award-winning debut The Boat, Nam Le brings us 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, an explosive, devastating book of poetry with praise from Nick Cave,...
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The Last Daughter: Brenda Matthews in Conversation
At two years old, Brenda Matthews and her siblings were taken from their parents. For five years, she lived happily as a much-loved daughter within a white family, before being...
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Sh*tty First Drafts: On Creative Practice
Three beloved authors discuss overcoming fear and self-doubt to tap into the magic of storytelling. Emily Perkins, Christos Tsiolkas and Charlotte Wood speak with Kate Mildenhall about their creative practice...
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Restless Dolly Maunder: Kate Grenville in Conversation
Kate Grenville starts each book with a question. The latest one she asked is ‘What happened in my grandmother’s life to make her cranky and a bit scary?’ The result...
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Finding it in the Family
When stories are passed through generations, how does that shape the ones we tell ourselves? These novels use memory and lore to blend the real with the imagined. Tony Birch,...
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Earth, Sea and Sky
When the world feels like it’s falling apart, how do we find hope? Can we still feel wonder and awe, even as temperatures rise and forests burn? Krystal De Napoli,...
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Family Fun: The Fruit Nerd with Thanh Truong
Join Thanh, the Fruit Nerd, as he talks you through which fruits are the gassiest, which play nicely with others (and which shouldn’t be allowed to hang out together), and...
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Family Fun: My Heart: Loving Our Mums by Katrina McKelvey
Celebrate the launch of My Heart: Loving our Mums by Katrina McKelvey. My Heart depicts the many ways a mother’s heart can experience love and emotion while her baby journeys...
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Family Fun: Ideas Everywhere by Sara Acton
Read, draw and imagine with children’s author and illustrator Sara Acton. Explore where ideas come from and how to draw inspiration from the world around you. Create characters and draw...
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Family Fun: Bringing a Forest to Life with Liz Anelli and Pamela Freeman
How does a tall tree fit on a small page? How can you make a dense and very green rainforest using words and colours? Join in as award-winning illustrator and...
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The Love Language of Food
Linda Marigliano will no longer be appearing on this panel. After twice appearing on Masterchef and reaching the top five, Reece Hignell now runs the popular Newcastle bakery, Cakeboi. Linda...
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Reimagining Colonial History
At the heart of the recent works of fiction by Sharlene Allsopp, Jane Harrison and John Morrissey lies the question: ‘What if?’ What if history could be rewritten to reflect...
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Advocacy, Activism and Coming-of-age: Hannah Diviney in Conversation
Hannah Diviney is many things: writer, actor, co-founder of a media company. A disability and women’s rights advocate, the face of the ‘Disabled Disney Princess’ campaign, and the one who...
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Lies My Mirror Told Me: Wendy Harmer in Conversation
In Lies My Mirror Told Me, Wendy Harmer reflects on her life as one of Australia’s most versatile entertainers. Author, journalist, stage performer and more – prepare to hear an...
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An Affair to Remember
Three young queer writers navigate power, morality, and sexuality in their debut novels. Maeve Marsden speaks with Anna Kate Blair, Madeleine Gray and Amy Lovat about millennial mess, the ethics...
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BOOKED OUT Things We Don’t Speak About: Mental illness
In this new series of conversations about issues we don’t speak about, we invite authors to share how they interrogate tough topics in their writing lives. Elfy Scott, Jessie Stephens...
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The Verse Memoir: Engaging with Trauma Through Poetry
Magdalena Ball’s Bobish and ali whitelock’s a brief letter to the sea about a couple of things explore death, mourning, and laughter against a backdrop of menopause, potty-mouthed self-actualisation, and...
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Family Fun: Eww Gross with Dan Marshall
Join author and illustrator Dan Marshall as he takes you on a revolting ride through his new book, Eww Gross, which contains the foulest facts and the most putrid pictures....
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Family Fun: Food Wise with Lucy Bell
Did you know that each year, Australians throw away enough food to fill almost 17,000 jumbo jets? Foodwise takes you on a journey to discover food in new and exciting...
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On Remembering, On Forgetting: A poetry performance
As we negotiate a world of co-existing crisis and beauty, poetry can help us make sense of our place in the contemporary moment. What we remember and what we forget...
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Think Global, Write Local
Authors Joanna Atherfold Finn, Paula Morrow and Claire O’Rourke have spent their careers writing about global environmental topics. They share why they think it’s important to contextualise global issues for...
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Covered: Newcastle Artists Respond to Festival Books
Celebrate this annual exhibition, which features 18 Hunter region artists including Anne-Maree Hunter, Jane Kerrigan, Haylee Knight, Paul O’Brian, and Jerry Ray. The artists have responded to the work of...
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Book Launch: The Nights by Helen Hopcroft
“Soon the night will come, and to save my life, I must tell another story.” So begins the famous tale of Scheherazade, kidnapped from her parent’s home in the desert...
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Nerds & Music: Free lunchtime performance
Free lunchtime performance by Nerds & Music. Clark Gormley and Wayne Thompson will perform their most ‘literate’ songs. This is a free event; no bookings required.
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BOOKED OUT 2023 Miles Franklin Winner Shankari Chandran in Conversation
From being told her books ‘weren’t Australian enough’, to winning the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her third novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, Shankari Chandran’s writing journey has...
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Things We Don’t Speak About: Death
In this new series of conversations about taboo topics, we invite authors to share how they interrogate tough topics in their writing lives. Nadine J Cohen and Jackie Dent discuss...
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The In-Between: Christos Tsiolkas in Conversation
Can we meet each other halfway? This is one of the central questions in Christos Tsiolkas’ new novel The In-Between, which follows two heartbroken men in their early 50s who...
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How to Create a Better World
We all want to live in a world where we feel loved and safe; where we can achieve a fulfilling balance of life and work, reflection and action, fun and...
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Dark Places: Chris Hammer and Louise Milligan
After decades working as journalists, it might seem a natural progression for Chris Hammer and Louise Milligan to turn their attention to crime fiction. Chris covered international affairs and federal...
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The Responsibilities of Women
In Emily Perkins’ book Lioness, protagonist Therese Thorne asks, ‘Who are you if you’re not looking after someone?’ But what happens when women’s ambitions clash with responsibilities? Can we love...
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Writing Country and Connection
‘Be part of something bigger / hear the ancestral lines speak / more connected yet clearly less one “self”’ writes Susie Anderson in The Body Country. Susie is joined by...
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Book Launch: Paris Light by Jean Kent
Join us for the launch of Paris Light, A Personal Plan de Paris, a book of poems by Jean Kent, with paintings by Martin Kent. Judith Beveridge will be in...
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Book Launch: Flying Islands Press
Ivy Ireland will no longer be appearing in this session. Celebrate the launch of three new poetry collections published by Flying Islands: Tide by Ivy Ireland, Beautiful Flames by Mark...
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Closing Time at the King’s Head: A Carer’s Experience of Dementia
For six years, poet Karin De Novellis cared for her husband who was living with dementia. In 2022, she self-published Closing Time at the King’s Head, a collection of poems...
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Haunted by the Past
To be human is to be haunted by the past: the narratives of our collective and subjective worlds. Three authors grapple with colonial, personal, and family history in their recent...
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Bright Young Lives: Writing First Nations Youth
Describing his debut novel Borderland, Graham Akhurst has said, ‘It’s the book I wish I had access to when I was in high school’. It is the desire of many...
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The Long Haul
In three years, ‘Long Covid’ has become one of our most significant health conditions, estimated to have affected about one million Australians – and that number is rising. Until now,...
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BOOKED OUT The Palestine Laboratory: Antony Loewenstein in Conversation
Israel’s spying technology and defence hardware is being used by despots and democracies around the world – from the Pegasus software that hacked Jamal Khashoggi’s phones, and the weapons sold...
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Things We Don’t Speak About: Sex
Esme Louise James will no longer be appearing in this session. In this new series of conversations about issues we don’t speak about, we invite authors to share how they...
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The Case Against Marriage: Clementine Ford in Conversation
In Clementine Ford’s most controversial book to date, she argues an impassioned case against the institution of marriage. I Don’t reveals the capitalist, patriarchal structures that work to maintain control...
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BOOKED OUT Book Launch: Wear Next, Fashioning the Future by Clare Press
Celebrate the launch of Wear Next, Fashioning the Future by Clare Press at Momo Wholefood, 227 Hunter Street. What will you be wearing in 10 years? Will your jacket have...
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The Rise and Fall of Toleration
In his new book, How We Became Post-Liberal, Newcastle philosopher and legal scholar Russell Blackford examines how Western liberal democracies became nations where traditional liberal principles of toleration, individual liberty...
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The Teacher’s Pet: Hedley Thomas in Conversation
Thought you knew the story of The Teacher’s Pet? Walkley Award-winning journalist Hedley Thomas shares insights from behind the scenes of one of the most intriguing Australian murder cases of...
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Stone Yard Devotional: Charlotte Wood in Conversation
Stone Yard Devotional is prize-winning writer Charlotte Wood’s seventh novel and critics and readers alike have declared it her best. Following a professional crisis and failed marriage, an unnamed protagonist...
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Life on the Page
Jessica Kirkness grew up close to her grandparents, who were deaf in a hearing world. Sophie Matterson walked across Australia with her beloved camels. Ben Mckelvey experienced a sudden stroke,...
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CANCELLED Love Language: Linda Marigliano in Conversation
This event has now been cancelled. You’d think Linda Marigliano would know what it feels like to be loved. For years, she hosted Triple J’s Good Nights for a loyal...
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On Art and Desire
‘There’s art, and then there’s everything else,’ declares Lally in Bri Lee’s first book of fiction, The Work. Bri joins Anna Kate Blair and Kylie Needham for a discussion about...
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Settling the Score: Ellen Van Neerven in Conversation
‘This is an ugly book that was born of the ugly language I grew up hearing in this country,’ writes Ellen van Neerven in the introduction to Personal Score: Sport,...
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Poetry Salon
Join us for an evening of poetry readings. Featuring Richard James Allen, Susie Anderson, Deborah Conway, Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon, Yvette Henry Holt, Kirli Saunders, and Ellen Shelley. Hosted by Michele Seminara....
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Giyi Para – the convening of a gathering
For thousands of generations First People in our country have gathered in a continuing practice of coming together to share knowledge, celebrate country, and strengthen ongoing relationships. In the spirit...
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Nerds & Music: Free lunchtime performance
Free lunchtime performance by Nerds & Music. Clark Gormley and Wayne Thompson will perform their most ‘literate’ songs. This is a free event; no bookings required.
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Complex Communities
Recent novels by Amal Awad, Peter Polites and Laura Elizabeth Woollett explore definitions of identity, place, and displacement. What do we owe to tradition and family, culture and community? They...
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Rage and Resistance
‘…Art sustains life … showing people things they otherwise might not see’, observes a protagonist in Sara M Saleh’s Songs for the Dead and the Living. In fiction and in...
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Life, Interrupted
What happens when all we know about our lives is lost? How do we recover when trust is broken? Steph Lentz concealed her sexuality from her church community for many...
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I’d Like You to Meet: Andre Dao
In this returning series of conversations, we invite established writers to shine the spotlight on an emerging writer whose work they admire. Nam Le introduces Andre Dao, whose critically acclaimed...
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Man-Made: Tracey Spicer in Conversation
When her son said, ‘Mum, I want a robot slave’, Tracey Spicer had an epiphany, and set about exploring who should be held accountable as society grapples with the rise...
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Bright Shining: Julia Baird in Conversation
From the religious to the secular, wonder to mystery, humanity to the natural world, grace can be found everywhere – and, according to Julia Baird, it changes everything. In conversation...
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Book Launch: Castellorizo to Woolloomooloo by Zeny Giles
Celebrate the launch of Castellorizo to Woolloomooloo by Newcastle writer Zeny Giles, who continues exploring the migrant experience. The enrolment of her mother and uncle at Plunkett Street Primary School,...
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BOOKED OUT Book Launch: The Silver River by Jim Moginie
THIS EVENT IS BOOKED OUT Celebrate the launch of The Silver River: A Memoir of a Family Lost, Made and Found by one of the founding members of legendary band...
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BOOKED OUT Boy Conquers Universe
The screen adaptation of Trent Dalton’s much-loved novel Boy Swallows Universe has been applauded by the book’s loyal fans since its January release on Netflix, but no one could have...
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Family, Fame and Finding Who You Are: Pia Miranda in Conversation
In 2000, Pia Miranda graced our screens as the adorably sassy Josie Alibrandi in the film adaptation of the beloved novel, Looking for Alibrandi. In 2019, she won Australian Survivor...
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Best Wishes: Richard Glover in Conversation
Described by Trent Dalton as ‘a soaring tribute to the power of wishful thinking’, Richard Glover’s most recent book, Best Wishes, centres on his hopes for making the world a...
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BOOKED OUT Biting Back: Hannah Ferguson in Conversation
Hannah Ferguson co-founded an independent news commentary platform at a time when the world needed it most. In 2020, Cheek Media Co. quickly established itself as the go-to platform for...
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Blurring Genre, Building Worlds
Sharlene Allsopp, Kate Mildenhall and Shelley Parker-Chan have redefined world-building in their new fiction – weaving together the past and the present to disrupt the stories we’ve always told ourselves....
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Laugh or You’ll Cry: Writing for Page, Stage and Screen
From exploring debilitating grief on the page, to creating a heartwarming rom-com, and rewriting colonial history from a new perspective, Nadine J Cohen, James Colley and Jane Harrison laugh in...
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Text Messages From the Universe with Richard James Allen
What does it feel like to know you are dead? Join us for this immersive, hybrid, interactive screening of the multi-award-winning film Text Messages from the Universe. Drawing inspiration from...
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Date with a Debut Author
Meet the memoirist published for the first time at 92, the short story writer who won a mentorship that led to a dream book deal, and the editorial assistant who...
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If You’re Listening LIVE with Matt Bevan
The ABC’s award-winning podcast and TV show If You’re Listening returns to the festival with a live event, looking at the historical context of current news events. In an event...
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Poetics and Practice: Jazz Money in conversation
Jazz Money is a nationally acclaimed Wiradjuri poet and artist. With a practice centred in poetics, their work has been published internationally and exhibited around Australia as art installations, digital...
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Literary Trivia
Our literary trivia night is back! Do you know the name of the suburb where Boy Swallows Universe is set? Can you name all three Sally Rooney novels? Who is...
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Opening Night: News Maker: An Evening with Leigh Sales
As one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists, Leigh Sales knows news. In her most recent book Storytellers, the highly respected ABC anchor, bestselling author, and popular podcaster turns her attention...
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Celebrating Microlit
Join renowned microlit expert Cassandra Atherton to explore the theme of ‘remnant’ with Australian and international authors published in Spineless Wonders’ new microlit anthology. Emma Ashmere, Katharine Coles, Sally Egan,...
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Welcome to Sex: Yumi Stynes and Melissa Kang in Conversation
Australia has a troubled relationship with sex education, and never has this been more evident than the controversy surrounding the publication of Welcome to Sex: Your No-Silly-Questions Guide to Pleasure,...
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Lies My Mirror Told Me: Wendy Harmer in Conversation
In Lies My Mirror Told Me, Wendy Harmer reflects on her life as one of Australia’s most versatile entertainers. Author, journalist, stage performer and more – prepare to hear an...
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Words & Music
‘Music is the shorthand of emotion.’ – Leo Tolstoy This special event returns for its second year and celebrates music, literature and the nature of inspiration. Drawing on the work...
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BOOKED OUT A Bloody Good Idea: Bryan Brown in Conversation
He is a beloved Aussie actor who has become a best-selling writer. Bryan Brown appears at the festival for the first time to chat about his first novel, The Drowning,...
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