What does the Australian country town of Gundagai make you think of? The statue of the "dog on the tuckerbox"? The old folksong, Along the road to Gundagai? Or do you think of the great flood of 1852 – the deadliest in our history - and the remarkable heroism of two Aboriginal men who saved over 60 people, using their bark canoes. Writer, Anita Heiss, a Wiradjuri woman, talks to Paul Barclay about her new book, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray, which celebrates unsung Aboriginal heroes, and the Wiradjuri language.
What it is like to be a feminist in the public eye? A discussion from the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival with Laurie Penny author ofBitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults addresses, Journalist Virginia Trioli, who has published a revised version of her book Generation F: Why We Still Struggle With Sex and Power, and the host is author and feminist Sisonke Msimang.
Opinions trump facts and truth is no longer absolute. Science is under attack in a world where misinformation thrives, fake news can go viral and conspiracy theories are more popular than ever. How have we arrived at this place of mistrust and what can we do to stand up for science? Why should we trust scientists? Or perhaps more tellingly, what does it mean if we can’t?
From the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival Annabel Crabbe in conversation with Rachel Cusk - the author of the Outline trilogy (Outline, Transit, Kudos); the essay collection Coventry; the memoirs A Life’s Work, The Last Supper and Aftermath; and several other works.
A conversation with the renowned author Ruth Ozeki, speaking to Kate Evans. We hear about some of the characters that inhabit The Book of Form & Emptiness. About the integral role of objects in Ozeki’s latest novel, and the books within books. This talk was for the Wheeler Centres series Postcards from Abroad in 2021.
Uluru is a spiritual place for indigenous people and it looms large in the national imagination. Historian Mark McKenna uncovered a hidden truth about an infamous frontier killing at Uluru in the 1930’s. Indigenous campaigner, Thomas Mayor, believes the “Statement from the Heart” could only have come from Uluru. Paul Barclay speaks to Mark and Thomas about Uluru, history, truth telling, and the importance of the Uluru statement.
Brit Bennett recently joined Claire Nichols in front of live audience at His Majesty's Theatre as part of the Perth Festival of Literature and Ideas. Together they discussed latest book The Vanishing Half, the complexities of race relations in America, her writing process and making the cover of Time Magazine.
From the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival, a conversation between journalist and writer Rick Morton, and the celebrated essayist, speech writer and author Don Watson - best known for his books Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, Bush & Watsonia.
It’s difficult to initiate social change - not only to make people understand that change is needed, but to get them to alter their behaviour and maybe even to get them to give up some things. Two young activists discuss strategies of how to motivate crowds and the power of taking action.
Presented by the Wheeler Centre, the Byron Writers Festival and the Newcastle Writers Festival — author Jonathan Franzen, with Sarah Kanowski, about his latest book Crossroads, his approach to religion, and how he's now being kinder to his characters.
From the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival Paul Kelly in conversation with journalist and presenter Stan Grant. A memorable discussion about the role of literature and poetry in both their lives and the power of a story sung well.
Filmmakers Leah Purcell (The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson), Tony Ayres (Barracuda, The Slap, Seven Shades of Ambiguity) and Sarah Lambert (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) talk to Benjamin Law (co-host, Stop Everything!) about the joys and perils of adapting books for screen.
A session from the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival in which we are doing the sort of traveling that we have all became familiar with during the pandemic – the journey of the imagination that books give us — transporting us in time and place. Guests: Tegan Bennett Daylight, Richard Fidler, Heather Rose and Maxine Beneba Clarke in conversation with RN's Kate Evans.
Following the first light to the dawn of the cosmos. New technology allows us to glimpse more of the earliest beginnings of the universe and with that it helps us to predict the future. Join a constellation of astrophysicists as they explore what the first stars looked like, the nature of dark energy and how the acceleration of the universe might end.
Two times booker Prize winning author Peter Carey is beaming in from his home in New York City, speaking about his life and in particular his award-winning book True History of the Kelly Gang. And he's in conversation with author Sarah Krasnostein at the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival.
Andrew Ford, host of The Music Show, speaks to Andrew O'Hagan (Mayflies) and David Mitchell (Utopia Avenue) about music in their stories, how shared lyrics make friendships, and all the emotions that music, and great writing, allow us to feel.
A 2021 Sydney Writers Festival session with a great panel of Australia’s leading crime writers. This discussion reveals how fiction can sometimes get you closer to the truth and asks ‘why do we take such delight in reading about crime? Guests: Sulari Gentill author of the Roland Sinclair mysteries. Chris Hammer author of Scrublands. Candice Fox, known for the Archer & Bennett series of books. chaired by crime writer Tim Ayliffe.
It’s difficult to initiate social change - not only to make people understand that change is needed, but to get them to alter their behaviour and maybe even to get them to give up some things. Two young activists discuss strategies of how to motivate crowds and the power of taking action.
Richard Flannagan is best known for his catalogue of popular novels, but this year he published Toxic - which examines the salmon farming industry in Tasmania. The book makes some disturbing accusations, but the industry has responded that the book includes selective claims, some of them wrong and many made without sufficient context. Guests: Richard Flanagan in conversation with Laura Tingle
Claire Nichols, host of The Book Show, speaks with Craig Silvey (Honeybee, Jasper Jones) about his life as a writer, and optimism in fiction, in front of a live audience at ABC Perth.
Vasu Arora
"If you can't make yourself laugh, you really can't make anyone else laugh either" -Amitav Ghosh Couldn't agree more!