Join Annabel Crabb and Artistic Director Ann Mossop as they discuss the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival program.

The pair talk about the 2024 Festival theme, Take Me Away, and how books let us escape into different worlds, live other lives and travel in time and space. 

The 2024 Sydney Writers' Festival is out now. Head to our website to explore the program: https://www.swf.org.au/

Tickets on sale Saturday 9 March at 10am. 

Thank you to 2SER for facilitating the recording of this podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

[Content warning: Child sexual abuse]

Join internet darling Daniel Lavery as he lifts the lid on his writing life and Dear Prudence, a collection of the weirdest and wildest questions received during his tenure as Slate’s agony aunt. Filled with his always sympathetic, thoughtful and good-humoured advice, it offers a good dose of sense and compassion in an increasingly wonky world. Daniel reveals the secrets to dispensing wise counsel and talks about his broader career as the co-founder of legendary website The Toast and a New York Times–bestselling author. In conversation with Mon Schafter.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Curiosity Lecture series returns to the Festival with a line-up of our most thought-provoking speakers delivering one-time talks on topics of intrigue, interest and importance. In this entertaining talk, author Tabitha Carvan shares the story of how falling for Benedict Cumberbatch while stuck at home with two young children became an unlikely catalyst for self-discovery. She casts light on what becomes of women’s passions in adulthood and what happens if you subvert the narrative and simply love something like you used to.

Supported by UNSW Sydney.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

[Content warning: Sexual assault and paedophilia]

Women and girls have long been pressured to conform to written and unwritten rules about how to think, act, look and feel. But a new generation of writers and activists are breaking down barriers to allow women and girls to show their real selves.  Hear from Wadjanbarra Yidinji, Jirrbal and African-American filmmaker and Gigorou author Sasha Kutabah Sarago and activist for sexual assault survivors and The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner author Grace Tame in conversation with disability and women’s rights advocate Hannah Diviney about their pathbreaking work.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Celebrated Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov has been one of the most important voices throughout the Russian invasion of his adopted homeland, releasing frequent dispatches from Kyiv and the remote countryside. See him in conversation about Diary of an Invasion, his searing on-the-ground account of the human toll of the war, the interrelated history between the nations, and how language itself has become a battleground in the conflict. Andrey speaks live via video with on-stage interviewer Matt Bevan.

Supported by ARA.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Ghassan Hage’s seminal study on racism in Australia, White Nation, was published 25 years ago, the Cronulla riots, Christchurch massacre and Black Lives Matter movement all lay ahead. Hear from a lively panel of writers and thinkers as they consider how racism and white privilege have changed here since then and what lies ahead. Anthropologist and social critic Ghassan Hage, Palestinian-Egyptian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, The Sydney Morning Herald culture editor Osman Faruqi, and Gomeroi academic and author Amy Thunig are joined in conversation by global diaspora expert Andonis Piperoglou.

Presented with Sweatshop: Western Sydney Literacy Movement.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian author Holly Ringland became a publishing sensation with the release of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, a gripping coming-of-age novel that has been adapted for TV, starring Sigourney Weaver and Leah Purcell. Her latest novel, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, is an equally enthralling tale, tracing the far reaches of grief, courage and sisterly love in a story spanning Tasmania, Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands. Holly speaks with Michaela Kalowksi about her new masterwork.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Osman, bestselling novelist of The Thursday Murder Club series and king of British television trivia, talks with Sydney Writers' Festival's Artistic Director Ann Mossop in his first Australian appearance.  

The beloved murder mystery series has gripped readers worldwide – soaring to success as an international bestseller with over 10 million copies sold worldwide.

Richard talks about the fourth book in the series, The Last Devil to Die, and the antics that await the unlikely crime-fighting friends of Coopers Chase retirement village. In setting out to solve the murder of an antiques dealer, the gang encounters art forgers, online fraudsters, drug dealers, and heartaches close to home. Richard discusses his career as a leading television producer and presenter, what drew him to writing crime novels, and the upcoming screen adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club helmed by Steven Spielberg.

Catch up on this thrilling conversation for fans of murder, mystery and more!

Presented in partnership with BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival. 

This episode was recorded at a special Sydney Writers' Festival event in November 2023.  

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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did podcasts kill the radio star – or completely revitalise storytelling for the 21st century? Join a special line-up of crime podcasters for a discussion about the rise of the medium and how it is changing journalism. They consider how the format fosters creativity and intimacy, and why it may yet rank among the most exciting cultural innovations of our times. Featuring Patrick Abboud, Kate McClymont, and Hedley Thomas, on stage with the Schwartz Media’s 7am host, Ruby Jones.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
X (Twitter): @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a special series of events, Your Favourites’ Favourites sees our most beloved writers speak with a breakout Australian author from the past year. Join globally bestselling crime novelist Jane Harper as she chats with fellow crime writer and stand-up comedian Benjamin Stevenson about the secrets to crafting a suspenseful story. They talk about the worldwide success of Benjamin’s third novel, the darkly funny meta-murder mystery Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, which is soon to be adapted into a major HBO TV series.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
Twitter: @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

[Content warning: Explicit language]

Eleanor Catton became the youngest winner of the Booker Prize in 2013 for her sprawling Victorian mystery The Luminaries. Its keenly anticipated follow-up, Birnam Wood, is a psychological thriller set in rural New Zealand, where super-rich foreigners face off with ragtag locals on the eve of a global catastrophe. Eleanor is in conversation with Beejay Silcox about her gripping story that brings kaleidoscopic insight into what drives us to survive.

Eleanor Catton appears thanks to the support of Rosemary Block.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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
Twitter: @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.