Stories of displacement, nostalgia, and exploding zombies with Aleksandar Hemon, Hanya Yanagihara, the author of A Little Life picks her masterpiece; and Canadian author and illustrator Jon Klassen chats about his bestselling children's books and why he can't stop writing about hats.

Michael Cathcart hosts a conversation with three guests at the Sydney Writer's Festival. The writers are Herman Koch, Marie Darrieussecq and Magda Szubanski.

Literary superstar Julian Barnes chats about composer Dmitri Shostakovich and his new novel The Noise of Time, and we take a tour of the sculpture park, Jupiter Artland, and meet Australian arts philanthropist, Tim Fairfax.

Playwright Young Jean Lee explores race, gender and privilege in her play Straight White Men, the first Australian exhibition of Filipino artist Pio Abad, American writer Helen Ellis and cherry music about death in the Vinyl Frontier.

Artists from small and large organisations respond to the latest round of Australia Council funding, which saw 60 companies lose out; a new political party standing candidates in the 2016 election is calling for a boost to the Australia Council's budget, the second Jewish Writer's Festival is on in Melbourne this weekend, and an exhibition of Tracey Moffat's art opens at the AGNSW in Sydney.

Things I Know to be True. Dying: A Memoir. Destination Art: Mexico City. Painting a picture of family violence.

Tales of a City by the Sea is a play about love set in war-torn Palestine, artist and illustrator Mo Willems is the creator of the hugely popular children's books 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!', Geoffrey Drake-Brockman's works fuses art and robotics, Jack Cox reads from his novel Dodge Rose, and Ronnie Scott reviews it.

Gorgeous singing and terrible acts of violence are counterpointed in The Events starring Catherine McClements; Lisa Owens on her hilarious new novel Not Working; Artists tackle the borders, barriers and walls being raised all around us in a new exhibition at MUMA; and Museum Victoria's success in an international museum dance-off.

Novelist Charlotte Wood has won the very first Writer in Residence Fellowship at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, worth $100,000; family, loyalty and property prices in regional Australia are explored in a touring play, Boy Out Of The Country; an exhibition of costumes from The Dressmaker shows how frocks drive the plot of the film.

A new play by Tom Holloway explores forgiveness, The Inaugural Dance Affair is part theatre, part mass participation social dance event; Jack Cox talks about his new novel Dodge Rose, and Ronnie Scott reviews it, along with Don De Lillo's Zero K.