Sydney Writers’ Festival Live & Local
Australia’s most beloved celebration of literature, stories and ideas.
South East Arts and Bega Valley Shire Library present a LIVESTREAM of the Sydney Writers’ Festival sessions at Tura Marrang Library.
Join us for one of Australia’s most loved forums for literature, ideas and storytelling. Click on the links below to read more and BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE. All tickets only $5 each.
SATURDAY PROGRAM
Tura Marrang Library - Sunday 28 May, 10:00am-5:00pm
10:00am – 11:00am: A Life In Food - Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer.
Culinary icons Stephanie Alexander AO and Maggie Beer have inspired generations of home cooks and fundamentally transformed how we think about food. They reflect on their decades-long friendship, and their partnership in running a cooking school for Australians in a medieval villa in Italy. They also talk about their influential books on preparing, cooking and savouring delicious food, including their co-authored Tuscan Cookbook, which was recently optioned to be made into a feature film. They are joined on stage by cook, writer and presenter Adam Liaw.
12:00pm – 1:00pm: Crime and Justice - Helen Garner and Hedley Thomas
We are fascinated by stories of crime and how they unfold. There are no finer narrators of such stories than legendary author Helen Garner and The Teacher’s Pet podcaster Hedley Thomas, whose work explores the link between confronting terrible things that happen and the people who are involved. They sit down with Sarah Krasnostein to explore the compelling nature of crime and the pressing question of what happens when justice takes a lifetime – or if it never comes at all?
Four favourite writers come together to give the lowdown on having their works adapted into TV shows and movies and adapting the work of others. Hear from Eleanor Catton, whose novels The Rehearsal and The Luminaries have made their way to the screen; Holly Ringland, whose bestseller The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is being turned into a series starring Sigourney Weaver; and Tom Rob Smith, whose novel Child 44 became a movie with Tom Hardy and whose adaptations for the screen The Assassination of Gianni Versace have won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe. They chat with Benjamin Law.
4:00pm – 5:00pm: The Bookbinder Of Jericho - Pip Williams
Australian novelist Pip Williams drew wide acclaim for her bestselling debut, The Dictionary of Lost Words, “a marvellous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress” (Geraldine Brooks). Her new novel, The Bookbinder of Jericho, covers similar terrain, with the story of a young British woman working in a book bindery who gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when the first world war upends her life. Pip is in conversation with Cassie McCullagh.
SUNDAY PROGRAM
Tura Marrang Library - Sunday 28 May, 10:00am-5:00pm
10:00am – 11:00am: Barrie Cassidy and Friends, State of the Nation
Relive all the thrills and spills of the year in Australian politics with veteran journo Barrie Cassidy and his hand-picked squad of the country’s sharpest pundits. From ScoMo’s secret ministries to the climate reckoning of the Teal wave and the verdict on Labor’s first year in office, it’s all up for dissection as they take the pulse of the nation. Barrie shares the stage with Amy Remeikis, Niki Savva and Laura Tingle.
12:00pm – 1:00pm: Fifty Shades of Teal - MP Helen Haines, Simon Holmes
Last year saw Teal candidates spectacularly oust Liberal Party stalwarts from once safe seats and upend the electoral rulebook. Hear from a panel with different perspectives as they consider the role of issues like climate action and political integrity in the independent candidates’ victories, what their ascension reveals about the country’s mood for change, and how they might shape our politics into the future. Independent MP and The Indi Way contributor Helen Haines, The Big Teal author Simon Holmes à Court and The Teal Revolution: Inside the Movement Changing Australian Politics author Margot Saville speak with Barrie Cassidy.
Could you use some wise counsel? A panel of first-rate advice givers convenes to dish out wisdom, guidance and the occasional hot take on the thorny questions of our time and other vexing modern-day dilemmas. With speaker and storyteller Paul Callaghan (The Dreaming Path: Indigenous Thinking to Change Your Life), philosopher and Guardian advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith, the internet’s most-loved agony aunt Daniel Lavery (Dear Prudence), and YouTube sensation and mental health advocate Nat’s What I Reckon (Life: What Nat To Do). They take to the stage with moderator Yumi Stynes.
4:00pm To be advised