Sydney Writers' Festival

Dubbed the “undisputed laureate of ordinary lives” by The Sunday Times, Irish Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle has kept us laughing and crying in equal measure. From his prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha to The Commitments, which was adapted into a BAFTA-winning screenplay, Roddy’s customary humour and dialogue capture beautiful relationships between lifelike characters, making him a literary icon. Listen as Roddy reflects on his storytelling career and discusses his latest novel, The Women Behind the Door, which marks the return of beloved character Paula Spencer. In conversation with Kate Evans. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

After her New York Times bestseller, Writers & Lovers, Lily King returns to themes of love, desire, forgiveness and loss in Heart the Lover.     Our narrator is a successful writer who is familiar with the classic tropes of love stories. She lives her life with her husband and children until a surprise forces her to confront the lingering strings of her own romantic past. This is Lily at her masterful best, with an epic story that celebrates literature and young love.     Revel in unforgettable connection and untangle the pieces of this love story with Lily, in conversation with Melanie Kembrey.   This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:

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After being crowned the number one book of the 21st century by ABC Radio National, Australian literary sensation Trent Dalton’s newest book mixes gruesome true crime with a personal exploration of love and marriage. Noah Cork had the scoop of his journalistic career hand-delivered to his mailbox. But his decision to pursue the lead of a cold-blooded killer while the case is still under investigation invites more chaos and destruction into his life than he anticipated. In Gravity Let Me Go, Trent returns to age-old themes of love and family in this story of ambition, truth and deception. Listen in as Trent discusses his latest hit novel with Cassie McCullagh. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

There used to be a time when political leaders didn’t limit themselves to an election cycle. In his latest book, Grand Ambition, international affairs expert and historian James Curran draws on never-before-seen archival documents and extensive interviews to present former prime minister Paul Keating’s dynamic, compelling and contested vision for Australia’s role on the world stage. Listen in as Curran and Keating reflect on the bold politics of the past and ask how we should approach questions of independence, security and identity in these turbulent and unpredictable times. Hear Paul Keating and James Curran for a fascinating in-depth analysis of Australia’s national identity and its place in the world. This episode was recorded live at a Sydney Writers' Festival event at City Recital Hall in September 2026. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Two motherless girls begin their lives in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, but they take paths that are worlds apart. Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage, winner of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction, has written another unforgettable story. Her new novel, Kin, centres a complex relationship between childhood best friends, showing how the bonds between mothers, daughters and friends are tested by affluence and inequality, love and desire and a wide world of adventure. Hear Tayari talking with Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Shankari Chandran about her rich and emotional new work. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Louisa goes for a walk along the beach with her father, but only she returns. The new novel from Susan Choi, multi-award-winning writer including the National Book Award and a Lambda Literary Award, is a sweeping, international family drama that was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. Flashlight, described by The Guardian as a return to the great American novel of the 20th century, beguiled readers for its examination of absence and silence in a small family rocked by the assumed death of Louisa’s father. Listen to Susan as discuss relationships and alienation in her new novel, in conversation with Beejay Silcox. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, Endling is an inventive, bold and original debut which follows three angry women and one endangered snail on a road trip across contemporary Ukraine. Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Guardian, The Observer, The Washington Post, The New Yorker and NPR, Maria Reva’s debut novel Endling took the world by storm, delighting readers with its playfulness, dark humour, gripping plot and heartfelt message. Hear Maria discuss her wildly successful debut in conversation with Beejay Silcox. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

His deeply researched and intricately crafted non-fiction has captivated the world. Award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker and bestselling author Patrick Radden Keefe is known for his international bestsellers, including the Baillie Gifford Prize–winning Empire of Pain and National Book Critics Circle Award–winning Say Nothing. His newest work, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, starts with the tragic death of a teenager, swiftly revealing modern London’s terrifying underworld. Listen to Patrick unpack his riveting catalogue of true stories of greed, power and violence, in conversation with Walkley Award-winning writer Sarah Krasnostein. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

The story of the Trojan War, like so many wars real and imagined, is a story most often told by the victors, the princes and the powerful. In this new imagining of the ancient legend, Son of Nobody, Yann Martel tells the familiar tale from an unheard perspective: that of a commoner and goatherd who becomes a soldier, Psoas, the son of nobody. Acclaimed for his Booker Prize–winning Life of Pi, adapted into an Oscar-winning film, Yann’s first novel in a decade sings a universal song about the power of story. Unravel ancient traditions with Yann, in conversation with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols (The Book Show). This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

An incomparable storyteller, lucid analyst and eloquent polemicist, acclaimed writer Amitav Ghosh’s rich body of fiction and non-fiction work has shaped our contemporary understanding of history and the environment. Listen in as Amitav reflects on his career and range of bestselling books including the Ibis trilogy, ground-breaking non-fiction in The Great Derangement and The Nutmeg’s Curse and his newest novel Ghost-Eye, set in 1960s Calcutta. Explore the themes of history, post-colonialism and environmentalism behind his ongoing work, in conversation with Michael Williams. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

[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 – each come with their own legacies, expectations and risks. In The Names, novelist Florence Knapp tells a powerful story of darkness and hope through three vastly different versions of a boy’s life. Explore the profound force of family with Florence, in conversation with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols (The Book Show). This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

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 body and sense of self and desire and indifference. With spare, propulsive prose, David paints an intimate portrait of a man slowly unravelling as he asks profound questions about the strangeness of being. Hear David trace the evolution of his singular novel and its protagonist, in conversation with Michelle de Kretser. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

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 first time in 1988. The Finest Hotel in Kabul chronicles 40 years of visits, during which Lyse reported on events that made world news and formed intimate connections with the people of Kabul. Listen as Lyse reflects on the story of modern Afghanistan as told by its people, in conversation with Debbie Whitmont. This episode was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival.  If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.   Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.   After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:  Instagram: @sydwritersfest  Facebook: @SydWritersFest  TikTok: @sydwritersfest 

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 Slough House? An instant Sunday Times bestseller and continuation of the adapted Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, Clown Town is a spy thriller with a witty twist and an unforgettable band of characters.     Listen as Mick reveals details about the evolution of the Slough House thrillers and what comes next, in conversation with Michael Williams. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

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 the scenes of the Sydney Writers' Festival office. The 2026 Sydney Writers' Festival is out now. Head to our website to explore the program: https://www.swf.org.au/ Tickets on sale Saturday 14 March at 10am. Thank you to 2SER for facilitating the recording of this podcast.

‘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 ancient traditions. Learn how ‘cancel culture’ evolved and what effect it’s having on intellectual discourse. Festival favourite A.C. Grayling searches for a middle ground in an environment where everything is up for debate. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

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 literary character study of his best-known detective and his home city of Edinburgh. Explore the latest instalment of the Inspector Rebus series and reflect on Ian’s bestselling career in crime writing, with television adaptations and translation into more than 20 languages. In conversation with Michael Williams. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

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 favourite thriller writer Gillian Flynn. Over decades, Saint Brown has been hunting the man who kidnapped her best friend, Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley, when they were teens. Meanwhile, Patch is on his own hunt for a girl named Grace, who saved him in a dark room years ago. But his search turns to obsession with little evidence that Grace ever existed. Hear Michael and Chris discuss his unforgettable story, already in development for the screen. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

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 turn into historical fiction. The former won the UK’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, while the latter was shortlisted for it. In conversation with Kate Evans, Maggie teases out the details of her writing life, including her interest in the depth of women’s stories and the intricate intimacy of families, and the wild popularity of Hamnet. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

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 written the definitive account of the siege that put the SAS on the world stage. Hear these two connoisseurs of the clandestine share the truth behind the spy stories that thrill us. With Michael Williams. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Myths of cryptid big cats stalking the Australian landscape are as old as colonisation. In Dusk, the puma hunting Tasmania’s lowlands has left enough evidence – in the form of dead and missing men – to prove her existence. Two-time winner of The Age Book of the Year and winner of the Voss Literary Prize Robbie Arnott returns with another immanently beautiful story of loss and redemption. Hear Robbie discuss his new novel, told with his renowned mastery of language, and the gothic myths of beasts and prey that underpin it. In conversation with Michaela Kalowski. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Zoë Foster Blake is a multi-talented and ambitious novelist, beauty journalist and skincare entrepreneur whose bio is long enough to leave you wondering how she does it all. Channelling that can’t-stop, won’t-stop energy is Kit, a thriving hairstylist and the protagonist of Zoë’s latest novel, Things Will Calm Down Soon. Kit has itchy feet and always wonders what’s next. So when she can’t find the perfect product for a look, it makes sense for her to make it herself, right? Sit down with Zoë, in conversation with Mamamia’s Holly Wainwright, for a breather and reminder that things will definitely calm down soon. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

On 30 April 1980, armed gunmen stormed the Iranian embassy in London and took 26 hostages in what would become a six-day siege. Millions around the world were glued to their TVs as the previously secret SAS planned and executed a rescue mission. Ben Macintyre’s The Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama recounts minute-by-minute the negotiations, media frenzy and cutting-edge intelligence work that changed a nation forever. It draws on unpublished source material and interviews with members of the SAS, hostages and witnesses, providing unprecedented insight. Join Ben as he discusses his definitive account of this astonishing event. In conversation with Richard Fidler (ABC Radio National’s Conversations). This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

As politicians and analysts attempt to manoeuvre with the global superpower, these writers reflect on how the 20th century got the nation where it is today. Bombard the Headquarters!: The Cultural Revolution in China is Linda Jaivin’s account of the ideological quarrels and personalities that underpinned the violent beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Louisa Lim’s Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong and Edward Wong’s At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China mix national history with personal archives to paint detailed portraits of Hong Kong and China, respectively. Hear Linda, Louisa and Edward in conversation with Peter Hartcher as they discuss the crucial history that made China what it is today. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Commonwealth Writers’ Prize winner Catherine Chidgey’s 9th novel, The Book of Guilt, sparked an international bidding war. With undertones of Shirley Jackson and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, the story’s teenage triplets discover – when the government decides to shut down their home – that some lives are valued more than others in this dystopian 1970s England. Join Catherine, in conversation with Beejay Silcox, to hear about her deeply unnerving new novel. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

This trio of Australian literary talents make writing a family affair. The Moriarty sisters, Jaclyn (the Kingdom and Empires series), Liane (Here One Moment, Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers) and Nicola (Every Last Suspect and The Fifth Letter) have decades of writing experience between them. Their achievements include international bestsellers, film and television adaptations and prestigious awards. In this panel discussion, they reflect on their career beginnings – including how they used to earn pocket money for writing stories – their different publishing paths and their many successes over the years. Hosted by writer and broadcaster Sarah Macdonald. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Every family has a secret but not every family has a memoirist to reveal it to the world. Writer and former restaurant reviewer Candice Chung’s memoir Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You is a tender account of reconnecting with her family and breaking down the barriers of cultural taboos. Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars is award-winning writer Peter Godwin’s exploration of his changing relationship with his mother, his sister and his ex-wife and the winding histories that got them where they are now. Journalist Michael Visontay in Noble Fragments unravels a rare-book mystery linked by a legal document to his family’s history. Hear Candice, Peter and Michael in conversation with Georgina Godwin reveal the tender underbellies of their family memoirs. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.  If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Space, in all its awe-inspiring, mind-blowing expanse, is still the final frontier. Its greatness and grandness force us to reflect on our humanity, our existence and our place within the universe. In Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize–winning Orbital, six astronauts contemplate the Earth and its inhabitants from the International Space Station. Ceridwen Dovey’s newest short story collection, Only the Astronauts, imagines the perspectives of non-humans in space, from an abandoned mannequin orbiting the Sun to a team of ‘tamponauts’ journeying to Mars. Consider the limits of humanity in the universe with Samantha and Ceridwen in conversation with host Ashley Hay. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

After a lifetime of bringing Shakespeare’s female characters to life on stage, multi-award-winning British actor Harriet Walter lends them her pen in She Speaks!.  Shining a new light on classic stories, Harriet writes between the lines of some of Shakespeare’s most compelling characters – from servants to sovereigns. She imagines what Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Juliet’s nurse, Cleopatra and others could have said without the constraints of the Bard’s perspective and reveals what might be their true desires Join Harriet in conversation with Ailsa Piper as they delve into the unexplored depths of the English literary canon.  This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

[Content warning: sexual assault] Feminism has a checkered past, but what can we expect from feminist ideas these days?  CEO of independent news commentary platform Cheek Media Co. Hannah Ferguson (Taboo: Conversations we never had about sex, body image, work and relationships), Stella Prize winner and investigative journalist Jess Hill (See What You Made Me Do, Quarterly Essay 97, Losing It) and human rights lawyer and Fulbright Scholar Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts (Long Yarn Short) discuss whether feminism can find solutions to some of our current crises. Join them as they reckon with what feminism has to offer and predict future solutions to complex social problems in this panel discussion with host Sisonke Msimang.  This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement probes complex racial and social dynamics much like his New York Times bestselling Leave the World Behind, which was adapted into a Netflix film starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali. In his new novel, Rumaan introduces themes of wealth and philanthropic aspirations when an ageing white billionaire hires an ambitious young African American woman to help him dispose of his money – through worthy causes, of course. Join Rumaan in conversation with Sisonke Msimang as they examine the promise (or the lie) of the American Dream in the 21st century.  This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

International bestselling novelists Liane Moriarty and David Nicholls share the experience of seeing their powerful local stories turn into bingeable television series and films. Liane’s Big Little Lies was the first book by an Australian to debut at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list and, since then, all 10 of her novels have been optioned for screen adaptation. David executive produced the Netflix adaptation of his bestselling novel One Day and has written screen adaptations for Far from the Madding Crowd and Great Expectations. Join Liane and David as they talk about their new books, Here One Moment and You Are Here, and being sensations across page and screen. With host Claire Nichols (ABC Radio National’sThe Book Show). This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Wars, coups and economic and climate crises: each new headline can make it feel like the world is suddenly falling apart. But behind many dramatic world events are long-term historical patterns and the rise (and sometimes the fall) of tyrannical and authoritarian rulers. From the Arab Spring to the fall of dictators like Syria’s Assad, find out more about telling these stories from the inside with award-winning foreign correspondent Peter Greste (The Correspondent) and political scientist and author Marcel Dirsus (How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive). In conversation with Avani Dias. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

After the success of her two best known works, The Secret River, adapted for stage and television, and Restless Dolly Maunder, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Festival favourite Kate Grenville is still grappling with what it means to be a descendant of colonisation in Australia. Journey through time and place with Kate as she reframes her family’s history in Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place, placing First People in the same picture. With Kate Evans. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Stories about brotherhood are a mainstay of classical writing, from brothers Romulus and Remus to brothers-in-arms Achilles and Patroclus. Ferdia Lennon's award-winning debut tells the story of two unemployed theatre-loving best friends in ancient Sicily who tempt Athenian prisoners of war with food and drink in exchange for recitations of their favourite Greek poetry. From there to a full production of a Greek tragedy is only a small step in this this exhilarating story of friendship, art and war that brings the ancient world vividly alive. Find out more about the best and worst that humans are capable of with Ferdia Lennon, in conversation with Australian playwright Tom Wright. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Colm Tóibín returns to the world of Brooklyn – adapted into a BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated film starring Saoirse Ronan – with the long-awaited sequel, Long Island. Set 20 years after Rose Lacey’s death, Long Island follows Eilis Lacey after an unknown Irishman unexpectedly brings a baby into her family’s midst. Full of longing and regret, the book exhibits the hallmarks of a master storyteller’s restraint and Colm’s customary wit. In conversation with Kate Evans (ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf), Colm discusses his latest portrait of the people of picturesque Enniscorthy, which is being heralded as his best work yet.  This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Home is a beginning, an origin, a safe harbour, a memory or a dream. Some homes we arrive at, some find us and some we make ourselves.     International bestselling novelist Hannah Kent (Burial Rites and Always Home, Always Homesick), academic and writer Abbas El-Zein (Bullet, Paper, Rock: A memoir of words and wars) and George Orwell Prize winner Peter Godwin (Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars) have had markedly different experiences of home. Divided between countries, dismantled by conflict and erased through exile, home becomes a symbol of identity and a beacon of hope. Hannah, Abbas and Peter tell host Sisonke Msimang what ‘home’ means to them. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

The Safekeep, the debut novel from Yael van der Wouden, took the literary world by storm when it was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Incorporating desire, family loyalty and betrayal in this twisted tale set in post-WWII Netherlands, Yael captivates and tantalises readers in equal measure with the forbidden love between Isabel and her brother’s graceless new girlfriend Eva. Hear how Yael uncovered unexpected secrets of the past, both familial and national, in conversation with Claire Nichols (ABC Radio National’s The Book Show). This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Jessica Townsend, one of Australia’s bestselling and most loved authors, discusses the highly anticipated fourth book in The New York Times bestselling Nevermoor series. In Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow readers rejoin Morrigan in her Wundrous world of magic on another adventure to go somewhere she’s never been before. In conversation with Reece Carter (A Girl Called Corpse). This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Distinguished international and local writers working across the crime genre unpick the relationship between fact and fiction. Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Shankari Chandran, whose newest novel is a gritty thriller set in Colombo, ten-time Walkley Award–winning investigative journalist Kate McClymont and international bestseller and Diamond Dagger Award winner Ian Rankin each have a lifetime of mysteries under their belt. Listen to them question the line between truth and fiction and interrogate the ethics of telling crime stories and exploring the search for justice. With host Michael Robotham. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Torrey Peters burst onto the literary scene in 2021 with her debut novel, Detransition, Baby, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and was named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st century by The New York Times. Her kaleidoscopic follow-up, Stag Dance, combines three gender-blurring novellas for a romp through gender apocalypse, secret romance and cross-dressing lumberjacks. Join Torrey and host Yves Rees as they discuss Torrey’s eye for the rough edges of the LGBTQIA+ community and her desire to push the limits of trans writing in this new work about womanhood, trans identity and queer relationships. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Meet the baking besties who are queens of the Australian pastry game. Nadine Ingram of Sydney’s Flour and Stone, Natalie Paull of Melbourne’s Beatrix Bakes and Kate Reid of nationwide Lune Croissanterie come together to talk all things pastry – from building their baking empires to their favourite recipes and their friendships. With host Jennifer Wong, pull out your recipe cards, line your baking trays and get special insight into the poetry of pastry. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

The Ministry of Time landed on multiple bestseller lists thanks to its highly original, genre-defying story, which combines elements of time travel, romance and spy thriller. Described by Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton as “outrageously brilliant”, Kaliane Bradley’s debut challenges the boundaries of literary and genre fiction as the past meets the future when a disaffected civil servant accepts a job at a mysterious new government ministry specialising in ‘historical expats’. Hear Kaliane and host Spectrum editor Melanie Kembrey unpack the triumph of Kaliane’s debut novel and what it means to change the world by defying history. With an introduction from Fiona Morrison. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

It seemed improbable enough in 2016, but here we are now in Donald Trump’s second term at the White House. What does the return of the 45th President of the United States mean for the international superpower?  And how will it affect the rest of us? Listen in as journalist and political commentator Peter Beinart, foreign correspondent Nick Bryant and Director of the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program Emma Shortis join host Barrie Cassidy to unpack the election outcome, Trump’s first few months in office and what to expect over the next four years.  This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Beloved Irish author Marian Keyes unpacks her latest story of lost sparks and old flames and what happens when high-flyer Anna swaps New York’s skyscrapers for the rugged Irish coast. Readers were first introduced to the loveable and chaotic Walsh Family 30 years ago. They’ve watched the five beloved sisters, including middle daughter Anna, grow into middle age. Anna enjoys a solid and enviable life in New York until her spark goes out and she needs the warm embrace of her family in Dublin to kickstart her passion for life. A thorny local public relations project and the reappearance of an old flame might just do the trick. As Marian introduces a wonderful cast of new characters to fall in love with in her sixteenth novel, she also sheds light on the novel’s themes including midlife lessons, friendship break-ups, letting go of mistakes, regret and perceiving yourself differently. Expect laughter, heartfelt moments and inspiring storytelling that showcases Marian’s fearless honesty, warmth and wit for an uplifting event with one of the most beloved voices in fiction today. Hear bestselling author Marian Keyes discuss the latest Walsh Family instalment in conversation with author and Mamamia podcast host Holly Wainwright.  This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

In 1998, at the beginning of his esteemed career as an international human rights lawyer, Philippe Sands was invited to advise Augusto Pinochet as the Chilean dictator faced arrest in London. Instead, Philippe chose to act as a barrister for Human Rights Watch, where he uncovered the well-hidden connection between Pinochet and former SS commander Walther Rauff. In his latest book, part memoir and part detective story, Philippe draws on interviews and archives to link two of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century at the infamous 38 Londres Street in Santiago. Hear Philippe in conversation with Rosalind Dixon. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

The dead permeate the supernatural and strange worlds of Argentinian writer Mariana Enriquez. Sometimes they’re simple ghosts, but other times they’re a different kind of haunting: apparitions of queer counterculture and a country’s brutal past that follow you off the page. Following her International Booker Prize–shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed and Premio Herralde de Novela winner Our Share of Night, Mariana’s third short story collection, A Sunny Place for Shady People, presents a delicious array of macabre and horrible happenings. Hear Mariana exorcise the inspiration for these queer and twisted tales in conversation with Carody Culver. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

Acclaimed columnist and political commentator Peter Beinart issues a bold appeal to rewrite the narrative of Jewish identity to embrace nuance, tradition and culture. Bringing together his personal experience and understanding of politics with history and a clear vision for the future, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning is a provocative work that grapples with persecution, victimhood, supremacy, morality and the distinction between the nation-state. Hear Peter tell a new story of Jewish identity in conversation with Debbie Whitmont.  This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

On the one hand, food is about comfort, love and passion. On the other, it’s about the economics of the restaurant rat race and the politics of identity and historical context. Hear chefs, restauranteurs and culinary stars Parwana’s Durkhanai Ayubi (Returning the Moon), Adam Liaw (Time for Dinner) and Melbourne icon Tony Tan (Tony Tan’s Asian Cooking Class) discuss the good and bad of food culture. They consider our relationship with food, the flavours of identity, capitalism’s control of the restaurant industry and the social change on the horizon. With host Virginia Trioli. This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.  Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest

On the International Space Station, a team of astronauts watch our big blue planet as it silently turns beneath them. This 2024 Booker Prize–winning novel is largely observations of the astronauts as they collect data and record small, slow changes in their environment and their own bodies. Yet Samantha Harvey’s prose is expansive, delicately encompassing life and death, fragility and strength, hope and fear in concentric circles of human life. Hear Samantha discuss the profundity of this meditative novel in conversation with ABC Radio’s Claire Nichols (The Book Show). This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.  After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media: Instagram: @sydwritersfest Facebook: @SydWritersFest TikTok: @sydwritersfest