Grand Ambition: Paul Keating and James Curran in Conversation
There used to be a time when political leaders didn't limit themselves to an election cycle. In his latest book, Grand Ambition , internatio...
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Society & Culture
Sydney Writers' Festival
Australia's largest celebration of literature, stories and ideas. Bringing together the world's best authors, leading public intellectuals, scientists, journalists and more.
Episodes
20 of 111 episodes
Tayari Jones: Kin
Two motherless girls begin their lives in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, but they take paths that are worlds apart. Tayari Jones, author of An Amer...
Susan Choi: Flashlight
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 incl...
Maria Reva: Endling
Longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, Endling is an inventive, bold and original debut which follows three angry women and one endangered sn...
An Evening with Patrick Radden Keefe
His deeply researched and intricately crafted non-fiction has captivated the world. Award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker and bestsel...
Yann Martel: Son of Nobody
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. I...
Amitav Ghosh in Conversation
An incomparable storyteller, lucid analyst and eloquent polemicist, acclaimed writer Amitav Ghosh's rich body of fiction and non-fiction wor...
Florence Knapp: The Names
[Content warning: Family violence] Instant bestseller and "best debut novel in years" ( The Sunday Times ) starts in a literal and metaphori...
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 charact...
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...
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....
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 Fe...
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 c...
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 bar...
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...
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 lite...
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 thr...
Robbie Arnott: Dusk
Myths of cryptid big cats stalking the Australian landscape are as old as colonisation. In Dusk , the puma hunting Tasmania's lowlands has l...
Zoë Foster Blake Things: Will Calm Down Soon
Zoë Foster Blake is a multi-talented and ambitious novelist, beauty journalist and skincare entrepreneur whose bio is long enough to le...
Ben Macintyre: The Siege
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 aro...