Adelaide Writers' Week

Chaired by Tali Lavi.

Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch is one of the wildest debuts of the year, a feral, often hilarious take on the impact of new motherhood, as a resentful, flailing woman finds herself transforming into a dog. The monstrousness of mothers takes a more sombre form in Briohny Doyle’s Echolalia, in which a young mother’s alienation from her family and the shrinking world she inhabits lead to a psychological disintegration that matches that of the scorching world outside.

Chaired by Tom Wright.

John Bell and Jonathan Biggins have spent their lives on the stage. John is our foremost interpreter of Shakespeare. He documents lessons from Shakespeare’s plays in Some Achieve Greatness: Lessons on Leadership and Character from Shakespeare and One of His Greatest Admirers. Jonathan is best known as a leading political satirist and was recently acclaimed for his embodiment of our 24th Prime Minister in his one man show, The Gospel According to Paul, recently adapted into a book. They discuss their lives in the theatre, the essence of leadership and the power of imagination.

Chaired by Jennifer Mills.

In this remarkable memoir, historian and author Yves Rees invites readers into their experience of coming out as trans. At once generous and challenging, All About Yves is a fascinating journey through the author’s experience of ‘re-becoming’: “What happens when, aged 30, you understand you’re transgender?” they ask. Situating their personal story within the broader historical and cultural context of transgender people in Australia and around the world, Yves provides a warm and illuminating perspective on complex issues of identity, sexuality and the human experience.

Chaired by Natasha Mitchell

As we stand at a crossroads crowded with interconnected issues for our planet’s future – climate change, energy, soil, water, natural disasters – farming sits at the heart of them all. In Why You Should Give a F*ck About Farming, Gabrielle Chan lays out how our nation, its leaders and eaters must find new ways to work and live on our precious land. Anika Molesworth’s Our Sunburnt Country charts a way forward for practical and sustainable farming – if only we find the courage to take it.

Performed by Peter Carroll / Introduced by Peter Goldsworthy

The late Les Murray was our unofficial poet laureate – irascible, generous, thoughtful, refractory. His poetry was so influential it rewrote our vernacular. He moves us as he is effortlessly profound. In this special event, veteran of the Australian stage Peter Carroll performs a broad survey of Les’s verse, from his early work in the Sydney years to selections from the newly released posthumous Continuous Creation. Joseph Brodsky described Les as “quite simply, the one by whom the language lives.” In this presentation by another of our national treasures, the language lives on.

Chaired by Andrew Fowler

Australia's recent treatment of high-profile whistleblowers has been shockingly punitive. Three lawyers speak from intimate experience. Bernard Collaery has faced an ongoing four-year ordeal for representing Witness K, a former ASIS officer who alleged the Commonwealth illegally spied on impoverished neighbour Timor Leste for private commercial gain. David McBride faces life in prison after the Government elected to pursue charges against him for revealing the allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan that led to the Brereton Report. Jennifer Robinson represents Wikileaks founder and abandoned Australian citizen Julian Assange.

Chaired by Kerryn Goldsworthy

In her latest book, The Luminous Solution: Creativity, Resilience and the Inner Life, Charlotte Wood shares the insights into creativity she has gained over her long career in literature, paying close attention to her own mind, to the world around her and to the way she and others work. Her message is powerful: “A rich inner life is not just the preserve of the arts. The joys, fears and profound self-discoveries of creativity … I believe to be the birthright of every person on this earth.”

Chaired by Louise Milligan

Events of the last year have brought a renewed and urgent focus on the experiences of women seeking redress after experiencing harassment or assault. With exhausting regularity, the perpetrator is protected at the expense of the victim, with the justice system and corporate culture accused of exacerbating trauma. In their books System Failure and Power and Consent, Michael Bradley and Rachel Doyle draw on their legal experience to highlight the flaws in our current laws. Advocate and survivor Saxon Mullins was instrumental in changing the definition of consent in NSW.

Chaired by Anton Enus

In 2008, Black Inc published Growing Up Asian in Australia, a collection of stories from Asian Australians about what it was like to grow up as an outsider in your own country. The Growing Up series has been entertaining, informing and inspiring readers across the country ever since. To celebrate the release of a compilation anthology, the editors of the Queer and Aboriginal editions, and a contributor to the Disabled edition, come together to celebrate the diversity of our nation, captured so movingly and delightfully in this important series.

Chaired by Linda Jaivin

“What is so good about Dickens’ novels?” asks John Mullan – and then proceeds to answer in thirteen essays of exquisite prose. From Dickens’ evocation of the senses, particularly taste and smell, to his inventiveness with names; from the melodrama of Little Dorrit to the high-mindedness of Hard Times, Mullan’s Dickens emerges as a shapeshifter and conjuror extraordinaire. Whether you know your Twist from your Copperfield, or you’re a complete Dickens newbie, The Artful Dickens is a riveting read and brings a welcome focus to one of the English language’s greatest minds.