Chaired by David Marr.

CW: Discussion of homophobia, assault. It’s fifty years since the infamous drowning of law academic Dr Duncan in the River Torrens, a crime and outrage that provoked horror in the community and pioneering gay law reform. As the Adelaide Festival premieres a new oratorio about the still unsolved case, Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan, award-winning author and acknowledged authority on the subject Tim Reeves publishes the definitive account of the devastating case that rocked the state and changed the nation.

Chaired by Yves Rees

CW: Discussion of rape, assault. When Kathryn Heyman was 20, she was raped by a taxi driver on her way home from a party. He was found not guilty on account of Kathryn’s alcohol consumption and choice of underwear. “So if he is not guilty? What then? What am I? Did I have to be an innocent to be innocent?” asks Kathryn. This scorching memoir blazes with an eloquent rage, but also hope and transcendence, as Kathryn rewrites the ending to become the heroine in her own grand adventure on a fishing trawler in the Timor Sea.

Chaired by Michael Williams

Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Doerr’s best-selling All the Light We Cannot See was particularly popular in Australia. His new book, Cloud Cuckoo Land, described by The Guardian as a “lungful of fresh air”, crystallises around an imagined novel written by historical author Diogenes for his recuperating niece. A fabulous adventure story, the book becomes the common thread throughout Anthony’s magical novel, with all its subsequent characters connected to this book within a book, whether as champion, custodian or threat. A joyous epic story of survival and love.

Chaired by Paul Barclay

After consistent reform at a Federal level across the Hawke, Keating, Howard and Gillard Governments, policy ambition seems to have stalled. In his book A Decade of Drift, Martin Parkinson recounts serving six prime ministers as an integral part of key policy development at the highest levels. As CEO of the Grattan Institute for eleven years, John Daley has published widely across key policy areas, his writings underpinned by themes of prioritising government initiatives and the limits to government effectiveness. They argue Australia should demand more courage and commitment from their political leaders.

Chaired by Sally Warhaft

Wildly ambitious in scope and ideas, Scott Ludlam’s Full Circle seeks nothing less than a new form of ecological politics. At once an analysis of the art and science of social movements and an urgent call to arms, Full Circle takes us deep into history with a poetic reimagining of the birth of the world. Spanning the contemporary globe, Scott connects with activists from fifteen nations, building solidarity and a shared understanding of how to confront the challenges that unite us.

Chaired by Karen Wyld

The road to spiritual redemption in the ashrams of India is much trod by Westerners. It rarely ends well. Miles Allinson’s much anticipated follow-up to his award-winning Fever of Animals, In Moonland, spans three generations as a son tries to uncover the truth behind his father’s apparent suicide. His investigations lead him to the ashram

Chaired by Paul Barclay

Join Big Ideas’ Paul Barclay for a fascinating conversation from two sides of the educational fence with the same sense of schooling: a system that resembles an over-decorated Christmas tree. Professor Pasi Sahlberg, a leading Finnish researcher based at UNSW’s Gonski Institute, meets Gabbie Stroud, prominent recovering teacher, to discuss the way back to success for Australia’s students, schools and teachers, and the complex mess that currently stands in the way.

Chaired by Smriti Daniel

Anuk Arudpragasam’s first book, The Story of a Marriage, earned him comparisons to W. G. Sebald and Primo Levi. His second, A Passage North, earned him a Booker short-listing. In it, Anuk explores the emotional scars from an individual’s lost love and a nation’s devastating civil war. Beginning with Krishan learning of the death of his ailing grandmother’s former caretaker, and ending, two days later, with him watching her body burn on her funeral pyre, his journey in between is a profound meditation on suffering and on the divided nation of Sri Lanka itself.

Chaired by Jo Dyer

CW: Discussion of child sexual abuse, rape, sexual assault. 2021 was a year of reckoning. When Grace Tame accepted the Australian of the Year Award in January 2021, she exhorted survivors of sexual violence, long silenced by shame and law, to use their voices and “make some noise”. They’ve been doing just that ever since. Grace and Jess Hill, author of Quarterly Essay 84: The Reckoning: How #MeToo is Changing Australia, discuss the dramatic events of the last fifteen months, their impact on contemporary politics, and how the fight for women’s justice has reshaped the nation.

Chaired by Nicole Abadee

The genesis of Trent Dalton’s Love Stories was a blue Olivetti typewriter and a street corner in the Brisbane CBD. After inheriting the typewriter from the mother of a friend, Trent took to the streets and solicited real stories from passers-by: “Sentimental writer collecting love stories. Do you have one to share?” The result is a warm, poignant, funny and deeply humane book that weaves the many stories that were shared about love in all its guises with generous memories of Trent’s own special moments.