Sydney Writers' Festival

The Beekeeper of Sinjar by Iraqi journalist Dunya Mikhail is the deeply moving real-life account of an Iraqi honey trader who used his regional knowledge to help liberate Yazidi women enslaved by ISIS. Dunya weaves together recent tales of near-impossible escapes with her own experience of exile. A former journalist at The Baghdad Observer and winner of the UN Human Rights Award for Freedom of Writing, Dunya talks to SBS’s Janice Petersen to reflect on a remarkable story that offers a hopeful counterpoint to terror and hatred. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earlier this year, New Yorker writer Ian Parker published his viral investigation into the lies and deceptions – involving sickness, death and fake collaborations – shadowing Dan Mallory, the book editor who penned the bestselling debut thriller The Woman in the Window under the pseudonym A.J. Finn. Ian talks with Walkley Award–winning journalist Malcolm Knox about piecing together his article, the relationship between truthfulness and fiction, and the uncomfortable questions Mallory’s ascent raises about the publishing industry.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is not surprising that Helen Garner has kept a diary for almost all of her life – chronicling her thoughts, observations, frustrations and joys. Beginning in the late 1970s, following the publication of Monkey Grip, these accounts of her everyday life invite us into the world behind her celebrated work. In this special podcast, hear Helen in conversation with Michael Williams for an intimate insight into the mind of one of our greatest writers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister (Good and Mad) and bestselling novelist Meg Wolitzer (The Wife and The Female Persuasion) have contributed to important conversations about women’s lives and feminism through their acclaimed works. They are joined by Lisa Lucas to discuss the evolving articulation of female empowerment on the page and why once unsung and sidelined stories of female strength, friendship and mentorship are newly popular today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In these turbulent times, instincts and emotions seem to occupy an ever-expanding corner of our political world. In this podcast, a panel of globally respected thinkers consider why many people now rely on feelings more than facts, the shifting ideologies of our times and how people’s beliefs can (or can’t) be changed in a divided age. Featuring William Davies (Nervous States), Eleanor Gordon-Smith (Stop Being Reasonable) and Jeff Sparrow (Trigger Warnings) with The Guardian’s Bridie Jabour. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of Europe’s most respected political thinkers, Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran discusses How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship, a field guide to spotting the insidious patterns and mechanisms of a rising populist wave, in conversation with Sally Warhaft. Weaving memoir, history and argument, she delivers an impassioned warning that populism and nationalism creep into government rather than arriving fully formed, while identifying the tools to root them out. This podcast is for anyone who thinks it couldn’t happen here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Benjamin Law talks with three reporters who have each been the victim of online trolling about the rise of cyberhate. ABC’s Osman Faruqi, Troll Hunting author Ginger Gorman and Guardian Australia’s Jennine Khalik each share their stories, examine the mindset and motivations of cyberbullies, discuss the rise of ‘doxxing’ (publishing private information about somebody) and reflect on a cohort of mostly angry young white men who have emerged from websites like 4Chan and Reddit to spread their animus in increasingly coordinated ways. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Millennials have been blamed for everything from the death of the nine-to-five work week to the decline of the diamond industry. Delve beyond the facile headlines with three exuberant and incisive millennial writers as they share insights into the complexities and challenges of their generation. They give their takes on work, home, the economy, bodies and art. Featuring poet, educator and researcher Evelyn Araluen, Caoilinn Hughes (Orchid and the Wasp) and Fiona Wright (The World Was Whole) in conversation with Lifted Brow and Brow Books publisher Sam Cooney. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chloe Hooper and Susan Orlean join Matthew Condon to share their insights into the dark logic of arson, and how they reconciled confusion and culpability in piecing together portraits of maddeningly elusive subjects. Chloe’s The Arsonist investigates the bullied loner who lit two of the Black Saturday fires. Susan’s The Library Book examines the prime suspect of the devastating 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire, a handsome drifter who yearned for stardom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Land Before Avocado is Richard Glover’s uproarious and anti-nostalgic portrait of Australia in the 60s and 70s. Described by Annabel Crabb as a “hilarious and horrifying intergenerational conversation starter”, The Land Before Avocado vividly charts the shortcomings of the Australia that baby boomers like Richard grew up in. In this special podcast, the ABC Radio Sydney host and Fairfax columnist discusses his warm, witty and wise look at how we used to be and how far we’ve come. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two of the Festival’s most exciting millennial authors explore how their darkly funny, profoundly moving debut works engage with the excesses of late capitalism. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s stinging satire Friday Black dissects the dehumanising forces of capitalism and racism in America. Ireland’s Caoilinn Hughes examines art, privilege and the meritocracy myth in her hilarious and anarchic Orchid and the Wasp. In conversation with Peter Polites. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the bestselling author of The Flamethrowers comes the Man Booker Prize shortlisted The Mars Room, an unflinching portrait of a young woman’s life in a Californian prison where inmates must hustle and fight for the bare necessities. Rachel Kushner discusses her fearless black comedy about love, friendship and the illusion of free will with Wheeler Centre Director Michael Williams. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reckoning with his identity as a Korean–American, gay man, activist and artist, Alexander Chee examines everything from his father’s death to the AIDS crisis to moonlighting as a Tarot reader in his non-fiction essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. Join the author described as "masterful" by Roxane Gay and "incendiary" by The New York Times as he discusses his commanding, heartbreaking and wry work with Ronnie Scott. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After years of sleepless nights, British writer and editor Marina Benjamin penned Insomnia, a lyrical, witty and humane account of a malady that’s a source of deep angst for its sufferers and often afforded scant analysis by others. She sits down with Angela Ledgerwood to expand on a memoir that weaves together musings on everything from Nabokov’s dream diaries to Greek mythology, with reflections on the rituals and remedies she’s turned to in her ongoing quest for rest.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A surreal and startling short story collection tackling racism and cultural unrest, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Friday Black heralds the arrival of a thrilling new literary star. George Saunders describes this instant bestseller as “an excitement and wonder” while The New York Times praises it as “an unbelievable debut”. Khalid Warsame joins Nana Kwame to discuss his unstinting reckoning with the brutal prejudice of the US justice system, the horrors of consumerism and the toll it takes on us all.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.