Florence Knapp: The Names

[Content warning: Family violence] Instant bestseller and “best debut novel in years” (The Sunday Times) starts in a literal and metaphorical storm. While registering her son’s birth, Cora faces a decision that could change his life: what will she name him? Her options – Bear, Julian or Gordon – …

David Szalay: Flesh

In a novel, the words on the page are our entrance into another’s mind. But sometimes it’s the space between the lines that define a character. In David Szalay’s 2025 Booker Prize–winning Flesh, István is caught between the boundaries of Hungary and England, his teenage years and adulthood, his bo…

Lyse Doucet: The Finest Hotel in Kabul

The history of the Kabul Inter-Continental Hotel is the history of a nation. Built in 1969, it has stood through Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a civil war, a US invasion and waves of Taliban control. Legendary international war correspondent Lyse Doucet arrived at the ‘Inter-Con’ for the firs…

Mick Herron in Conversation

In the latest instalment of Mick Herron’s internationally bestselling series, palms are itching among Jackson Lamb’s cohort of misfit spies. A legendary former spy’s missing book, a state secret and some mischievous blackmail: which underhanded action will rock the carefully calibrated boat of Slo…

2026 Program Announcement: Yumi Stynes and Ann Mossop

Join Yumi Stynes and Artistic Director Ann Mossop as they discuss the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival program. The pair talk about the 2026 Festival theme, Show Me The Truth, and how fiction, poetry and creative writing and bring us closer to the truth. Unpack the program and get a glimpse behind th…

A.C. Grayling on Cancel Culture

‘Cancel culture’ may seem like a 21st century invention sparked by contemporary politics and stoked by social media, sometimes with deadly consequences. However, as philosopher A.C. Grayling illustrates in Discriminations: Making Peace in the Culture Wars, disagreement and public shaming are ancie…

Ian Rankin: Master of Crime

Detective Inspector John Rebus first hit bookshelves in 1987 as a witty Scottish crime fighter but now the legendary detective is behind bars himself, living a literal locked-room mystery. Midnight and Blue is Ian Rankin at his tense and thrilling best, mixing the police procedural genre with a l…

Your Favourites’ Favourites: Michael Robotham and Chris Whitaker

In Your Favourites’ Favourites, our most loved writers introduce one of their favourite authors. Bestselling Australian crime writer Michael Robotham speaks with British crime novelist Chris Whitaker about his sensational new thriller, All the Colours of the Dark, described as a “must-read” by fa…

Maggie O’Farrell: Portrait of a Writer

Over a masterful career spanning 10 novels, a memoir and various children’s books, Maggie O’Farrell has established herself as a modern literary monument. Her two latest novels, Hamnet, inspired by Shakespeare’s family, and The Marriage Portrait, set in 16th-century Italian court, represent a tur…

Spies, Lies and Secrets

Undercover agents aren’t just the stuff of stories for writers Jack Beaumont and Ben Macintyre. A French intelligence officer turned spy thriller writer, Jack (Dark Arena) has all the insider knowledge to craft true-to-life operations in his novels. Ben (The Siege) is an espionage expert and he’s…