Sydney Writers' Festival

This year marks 100 years since the first woman was elected to Australian parliament. Despite significant gains for women in politics, recent history leaves us in no doubt of the volatile, hostile and harmful environment politics can be for women. The numbers in federal parliament speak for themselves, while reports of sexism and harassment abound. Labor MP Kate Ellis (Sex, Lies and Question Time: The Successes and Struggles of Women in Australia’s Parliament), Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, former independent MP Cathy McGowan (Cathy Goes to Canberra: Doing Politics Differently) and journalist Annabel Crabb talk about how the gender divide runs deeper than party lines and the structural change needed to address its harsh costs, with historian Clare Wright (You Daughters of Freedom). Please note, there is some minor background noise during the first few minutes of this podcast episode that later resolves.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From 9/11 to Hurricane Sandy, we’ve seen New York weather many storms, the city an indestructible icon in our global imagination. But when COVID swept through Manhattan and surrounding boroughs, bustling restaurants, theatres, subways and sidewalks were forever changed. Renowned writer and photographer Bill Hayes has been hailed by Edmund White as “the great poet of the everyday”. When the world came to a halt, Bill took to the streets of Manhattan to document the lockdown. The resulting collection of poetry and images, How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic, is reminiscent of Insomniac City, Bill’s tender ode to New York and his partner, the late Oliver Sacks. It celebrates the shared humanity that emerged during a time of unanticipated catastrophe. In this podcast episode, Bill shares anecdotes and experiences from during the pandemic and beyond with journalist Anton Enus. Please note, photographs from How We Live Now were shown during this special immersive event.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Legend of theatre John Bell and stellar reporter ABC Melbourne’s Virginia Trioli come together to exchange their unique insights into leadership. John, an award-winning actor and director, and founder of Bell Shakespeare, sheds light on his new book Some Achieve Greatness: Lessons on leadership and character from Shakespeare and one of his greatest admirers. John’s book distils valuable lessons on leadership gleaned from some six decades spent bringing complex and fascinating characters to life (and death) on stage. Virginia brings her perspective as one of the country’s most formidable journalists, famed for cutting through scripted spin to find out what makes political leaders tick (and sweat). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Flanagan is a legend of Australian letters. His much-lauded novels are published in 42 countries. He won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North and the Commonwealth Prize for Gould’s Book of Fish. His latest novel, The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, offers a tender, haunting portrait of a world disappearing around us. With Laura Tingle, he reflects with characteristic eloquence on the purpose of literature, the nature of time, the democratic freedom of the novel and the truths of our world.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the climate crisis and pandemic have – in some respects – heightened our sense of the truly international nature of the challenges we face, the human consequences of global instability are too often overlooked, and the horrors faced by displaced people around the world both taken for granted and invisible. Zoe Holman (Where the Water Ends), Behrouz Boochani (No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison), Adama Kamara from the Refugee Council of Australia, and human rights advocate Zaki Haidari speak with The Guardian’s Ben Doherty about the struggle faced by so many to find a safe, permanent home.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Norman Swan and his son Jonathan Swan are two of Australia’s most discerning and dedicated journalistic minds. Over the past year, Australian audiences have looked to Norman, renowned physician, journalist, broadcaster and host of ABC Radio National’s Health Report and ABC’s Coronacast, and Jonathan, former Sydney Morning Herald reporter and now National Political Correspondent at Axios in the US – and host of that viral Trump interview from 2020 – as guiding voices of reason. In this special podcast, they discuss their careers in journalism and whether there’s a Swan family secret to great reporting, with ABC’s Geraldine Doogue.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the runaway success of Sarah Krasnostein’s debut The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster, Sarah spent time in Australia and the US talking to six extraordinary people who held fast to a belief even though it rubbed against the grain of conventional wisdom. Her research culminated in The Believer: Encounters with Love, Death & Faith, a deeply humane and deftly drawn enquiry into the power of belief. Sarah is joined by author of Axiomatic, Maria Tumarkin, to explore the writing process behind her remarkable works, the tension between non-fiction and confession, and the ceaseless lure of curious subjects.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Literature has played a significant role in the colonial imagination and the domination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Bundjalung author and Miles Franklin Award winner Melissa Lucashenko (Too Much Lip) and Yuwaalaraay musician and author Nardi Simpson (Song of the Crocodile) have a profound discussion on writing Country with Festival Guest Curator, Gunai/Kurnai, Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta writer, Nayuka Gorrie. As Nayuka reflects, “The way our land and non-human kin have been written formed part of the justification for the control and brutalisation of Country. This is in stark contrast to the way Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people write of Country. No one writes Country like we do.”  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian authors Kylie Maslen, Fiona Murphy and Jacinta Parsons discuss their memoirs of living with invisible disabilities or chronic conditions and navigating the healthcare system. Kylie’s wry and incisive Show Me Where it Hurts: Living with Invisible Illness details life with chronic pain and mental illness, and was named a stand-out book of 2020 by Guardian Australia. Fiona’s The Shape of Sound chronicles how she overcame shame and secrecy to claim her Deaf identity, drawing praise from Helen Garner, who said, “I devoured this in a day, fascinated, enlightened, moved”. Jacinta’s Unseen trains a microscope on the unique challenges of living with an invisible condition and was dubbed “a generous, brave, moving and deeply insightful work that will change lives for the better” by Clare Bowditch. The three speak with writer, producer, podcaster and illustrator Chloe Sargeant, co-host of the podcast Chronically Fully Sick.  Please note that towards the end of this podcast episode, there is a discussion around euthanasia.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Few authors wield the skill, consistency and imagination of two-time recipient of the Booker Prize, Peter Carey. A consummate writer and keen observer of life, Peter’s novels span continents and centuries, often zeroing in on Australian identity and the cruel and complex history that formed it. His 14 books include award-winning titles such as Oscar and Lucinda, Bliss, Jack Maggs and True History of the Kelly Gang. Hear one of modern fiction’s most celebrated novelists discuss his – and Ned’s – curious and compelling past, the writers he loves and his storied life in writing with Sarah Krasnostein (acclaimed author of The Believer: Encounters with Love, Death & Faith).  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three of Australia’s most admired and influential writers from across three generations deliver an extraordinary Opening Night Address. Miles Franklin Award winners Melissa Lucashenko (Too Much Lip) and Tara June Winch (The Yield), and debut poet and essayist Evelyn Araluen (Dropbear), reflect on literature, who gets a voice, and the ways that stories define and shape us as a culture. Together, they invite us to consider what worlds the right words can bring within reach. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Annabel Crabb and Sydney Writers’ Festival Artistic Director Michael Williams for a special unveiling of the 2021 Festival program. The pair discuss this year’s Festival theme then Michael introduces the Festival’s Guest Curators, the acclaimed writers in the Opening Address, exciting new events and what he’s most looking forward to. Prepare to have a reading list a mile long after listening.  Thank you to 2SER for facilitating the recording of this podcast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2020 Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart discusses his modern masterpiece, Shuggie Bain. Douglas has been compared to Alan Hollinghurst, Frank McCourt, Hanya Yanagihara and countless others, but this extraordinary debut makes it clear that he is a true original, and there is only one Shuggie Bain. Douglas is joined by Benjamin Law. This recording was taken from a live Sydney Writers' Festival event in January 2021 as part of Sydney Festival. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We asked some of Australia's smartest, most thoughtful, most imaginative writers to turn their thoughts to what we might reasonably expect from the next 12 months. In their areas of expertise, RN’s Health Report and Coronacast host Norman Swan, acclaimed Indigenous author Gayle Kennedy, award-winning writer Maxine Beneba Clarke, leading investigative journalist Kate McClymont and award-winning journalist and broadcaster Jan Fran read the tea leaves, take some temperatures and share with us their account of things to come. This recording was taken from a live Sydney Writers' Festival event in January 2021 as part of Sydney Festival. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Set across the far-flung reaches of the universe, The Old Lie, by Stella Prize–shortlisted novelist Claire G. Coleman, examines Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers after World War II. Hailed by Gomeroi poet Alison Whittaker as “a hoot [and] a rollick through both sci-fi and speculative fiction”, The Old Lie takes us to a futuristic yet familiar world to ask what we have learned from the past. It holds a mirror up to colonialism and the erasure of Indigenous peoples’ stories from history. Claire speaks with Declan Fry about her ambitious follow-up to the prize-winning Terra Nullius. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.