Festival picks from Benjamin Law, must-see non-fiction events, win a Festival book stack and more!
Non-fiction must-sees >
Richard Fidler:
The Book of Roads & Kingdoms
Thursday 25 May, 12pm | Carriageworks
Much-loved Conversations host and bestselling author Richard Fidler‘s The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is an account of medieval wanderers who travelled to the edges of the known world during Islam’s fabled Golden Age. Richard is joined by Caroline Baum to discuss his newest work, hailed by The Sydney Morning Herald as “a bewitching tale consisting of stories within stories that radically tilts the Western reader’s perspective.”
George Monbiot:
Regenesis
Thursday 25 May, 4pm | Carriageworks
Are we farming the planet to death? Bestselling author and activist George Monbiot turns his attention to farming as one of the often-overlooked causes of environmental destruction in his book Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet. In this urgent yet hopeful account, he considers how we can make peace with our planet, restore its living systems, and replace the age of extinction with an age of regeneration. See George live via video in conversation with Rebecca Huntley.
Meet our guest curator >
Meet our guest curator:
Benjamin Law
Benjamin Law is a journalist, columnist, TV screenwriter and author of The Family Law, Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East and Quarterly Essay 67: Moral Panic 101. Additionally, he is one of the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival guest curators. In the lead-up to this year’s Festival, we sat down with Benjamin to discuss his experience as a guest curator, his recommended sessions and the books he’s currently reading.
Highlight event >
Doing Nothing and Saving Time
Sunday 28 May, 11am | Carriageworks
Artist and The New York Times–bestselling author Jenny Odell captured audiences with her inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, How to Do Nothing, where she extolled the value of rest as resistance in a culture that expects constant productivity. In her latest release, Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock, Jenny makes a radical argument about our concept of time and offers a hopeful antidote for those suffering from burnout and anxiety concerning the future.
Beyond our borders >
Sri Lankan Stories
Friday 26 May, 7:30pm | Carriageworks
Since its cessation in 2009, the Sri Lankan civil war has found an important place in our cultural canon. Join lawyer and novelist Shankari Chandran, Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka and Western Sydney composer and playwright S. Shakthidharan as they discuss the island nation’s turbulent recent history and its influence on their own storytelling with Roanna Gonsalves.
Andrey Kurkov:
Diary of an Invasion
Saturday 27 May, 2pm | Carriageworks
Celebrated Ukrainian novelist and International Booker Prize longlisted author Andrey Kurkov has become a crucial voice for the people of Ukraine following the 2022 invasion by Russia. His searing on-the-ground account of the toll of the war, Diary of an Invasion, discusses the interrelated history between the nations and how language itself has become a battleground. Andrey appears live via video with Matt Bevan.
Intern with us >
Applications for podcasting internships open now!
The Sydney Writers’ Festival Short Internship program is open for applications from university students. These internships are two weeks long and offer a practical learning opportunity in production of a large-scale festival event. Interning also provides great networking opportunities with professionals in Sydney’s thriving arts sector.
Win a Festival book stack >
Enter and win!
In the lead-up to this year’s Festival, each week we are giving away a book stack featuring books from 2023 participants. Email us with your name and postal address to go into the running to win this week’s stack featuring Colson Whitehead, Tom Ballard, Richard Fidler and Jane Harper.
From our Partners >
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Sydney Writers’ Festival acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which our events take place. We pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present.
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