Leslie Jamison in Ghosts: An Evening of Storytelling

Ghost stories are everywhere. In fairytales, folklore, Gothic novels and modern fiction alike. There are the ghosts that plague our minds – old flames, past wrongs and regrets that come to us in the dead of night – and those that haunt history itself, restless spirits that refuse to rest in peace. …

The Ghost in the Machines

As AI advances and outstrips our notions of its limits and potential, could it capture that essential, undefinable human quality of great art? And if so, how might we preserve the rights of artists?   Leading AI experts Marek Kowalkiewicz (The Economy of Algorithms), Toby Walsh (Machines Behaving …

Sinéad Gleeson in Ghosts: An Evening of Storytelling

Ghost stories are everywhere. In fairytales, folklore, Gothic novels and modern fiction alike. There are the ghosts that plague our minds – old flames, past wrongs and regrets that come to us in the dead of night – and those that haunt history itself, restless spirits that refuse to rest in peace. …

Tony Birch: Women and Children

The Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature Tony Birch discusses his award-winning novel, Women and Children, with Bec Kavanagh.    With tender yet forthright prose, Birch unravels the trauma of violence and the power of family in 1960s Fitzroy, writing ‘convincingly on power and the blinding n…

An Afternoon with Andrew O'Hagan

Following the runaway success of Mayflies, three-time Booker nominee Andrew O’Hagan penned another magnificent portrayal of male friendship in his latest book, Caledonian Road. He joins Michael Williams to discuss his biting portrait of British class, politics and money.  Supported by ARA. Record…

AC Grayling: Philosophy and Life

Join eminent philosopher A.C. Grayling as he delivers an address that draws on a lifetime of thinking and writing about the biggest question of all: how should I live my life?  Inspired by his work Philosophy and Life, he brings together the ideas of a fantastically eclectic range of writers and …

David Marr: Killing for Country

David Marr was shocked to discover that members of his family were officers in the Queensland Native Police, an armed force believed to have massacred some 40,000 First Nations people during the 19th century.    Killing for Country is his relentless exposé of those forebears and the greed, hatred …

Mykaela Saunders: Always Will Be

Resisting cynicism or despair, Festival Curator Mykaela Saunders celebrates the forward-thinking wisdom of ancestors in Always Will Be – a book that “writes Aboriginal people, dreams, radical hope and love into the future” (Natalie Harkin).   Saunders speaks with Jeanine Leane about imagining a fu…

Paul Murray: The Bee Sting

Irish novelist Paul Murray discusses the buzziest word-of-mouth hit of the past year, The Bee Sting.  Murray's dazzling tragicomedy charts the undoing of a once-prosperous Irish family haunted by the ghosts of the past through the perspective of multiple characters and has been hailed as ‘a 650-pa…

Who Gets to be Human?

Content note: This episode contains discussion of suicide.   After 235 years of colonisation, who truly gets to be human in so-called Australia?     Join Wik and South Sea Islander rapper and 2024 Festival Curator Ziggy Ramo, Munanjahli and South Sea Islander author Chelsea Watego, and Egyptian-A…