Adelaide Writers' Week

With Leo Robson.What does the rise and fall of autofiction suggest about contemporary subjectivity? Is ‘lived experience’ the only form of truth available to the neoliberal author, be it the patient on the analyst’s couch or the modern novelist? Can audiences no longer suspend disbelief? Psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster and literary critic Leo Robson discuss the problem.

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Mon 03 Mar, 10:45am | West Stage

With Debbie Whitmont.

Columnist and journalist Peter Beinart says, “I still believe in the metaphor of Jews as a family. But it has been corrupted. Our leaders have turned our commitment to one another into a moral sedative.” He discusses these issues with Debbie Whitmont.

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Mon 03 Mar, 9:30am | West Stage

With Jonathan Green.

Legendary former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Mark Scott, former managing director of the ABC and now Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, talk to Jonathan Green about the state of the modern media and why it is that journalists are routinely viewed as unethical and untrustworthy.

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Sun 02 Mar, 5:00pm | West Stage

In conversation with Natasha Stott Despoja, award-winning and bestselling author Nikki Gemmell discusses her latest determinedly feminist literary thriller, Wing. It’s the story of four girls and their teacher who disappear for four days and refuse to explain what happened.

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Sun 02 Mar, 3:45pm | West Stage

With Kim Williams.

Kim Williams chairs a discussion with Martin Baron, Eric Beecher and Alan Rusbridger on the blokes with ink in their veins and asks what happens when the ink runs out and the presses grind to a halt.

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Sun 02 Mar, 2:30pm | West Stage

With Alice Grundy.When some of the institutions fundamental to democracy are struggling both here and overseas, when it feels like progress is slipping and hard-won rights are being wound back, how can the power of writing show us a way forward? Amy McQuire, Clare Wright and Anna Spargo-Ryan offer ideas for working our way out of some of the wicked problems of our time, in discussion with chair Alice Grundy.

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West Stage

With Natasha Mitchell.

The international community is busy coming to terms with the re-election of President Trump, but he is a symptom of American malaise, not its cause. Americans are neither willing nor able to save themselves from themselves – in a fundamental sense, America is down and out. But it has enormous resilience, which it needs to empower, and it has close friends, like Australia, that can offer practical assistance in designing and implementing the political and social reforms that are necessary if America is to become truly great. Join Allan Behm, Emma Shortis, Dr Prudence Flowers and Nick Bryant in conversation with chair Natasha Mitchell.Event details:

Sun 02 Mar, 12:00pm | West Stage

With Natasha Mitchell.

The influence of the gas and coal industry on our politicians and policymakers is an open secret in Australia. What is less well understood is why this small industry, with little economic significance, wields such apparent power and how easy it would be to free our democracy from its grip. Richard Denniss, Royce Kurmelovs, Ross Garnaut and Sarah Hanson-Young talk through the issues with chair Natasha Mitchell.

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Sun 02 Mar, 10:45am | West Stage

With Natasha Mitchell.

The Australian Dream used to be to own your own home, but young people are being increasingly locked out of home ownership. In fact, young people today are on track to be the first generation to be worse off than their parents. How did we as a nation get here and how do we fix it? Alan Kohler, Maiy Azize, Amy Remeikis and Jordan van den Lamb discuss the issues with chair Natasha Mitchell.

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Sun 02 Mar, 9:30am | West Stage

With Tory Shepherd.

Bestselling author John Crace and his much-loved companion Herbert Hound offer a lacerating and hilarious account of post-Brexit Britain, from the fall of BoJo through the ensuing series of clusterf*cks, in Crace’s latest book, Taking the Lead. Join him in conversation with Tory Shepherd.

Sat 01 Mar, 5:00pm | West Stage