Adelaide Writers' Week

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, The Shadow King is a powerful, poetic book about women soldiers during the Italian Ethiopian war of 1935, the first main conflict of World War II. Drawing on the life of Maaza’s own grandmother, it tells the story of Hirut, whose daring plan saves morale when Emperor Selassie goes into exile, only to end up a prisoner of one of Italy’s most brutal officers. A captivating study of female power with an indelible, inspirational heroine at its heart.

Chaired by Linda Jaivin

Pip Williams’ wonderful novel The Dictionary of Lost Words documents the origin of the Oxford Dictionary through the tale of the fictional Esme Nicoll who observes how some words were valued more than others and seeks to rectify it. Sue Butler was Editor of the Macquarie Dictionary for decades, where she oversaw the inclusion of new words. Her new book is the highly entertaining Rebel Without a Clause. Losing the Linguistic plot... Pip and Sue discuss the attraction and fluidity of language, and how dictionaries shape and reflect their times.

Chaired by Victoria Purman

Insults flying via Twitter, lobsters dying on the tarmac in Shanghai, Ministers’ phone calls snubbed by their counterparts: how has our relationship with China come to this? Former Australian Ambassador to China Geoff Raby explores China’s newly assertive place in the world and the implications for Australia in his new book, China’s Grand Strategy and Australia’s Future in the New Global Order. He is joined by Chongyi Feng to discuss what – if anything – can be done to repair this critical geopolitical and economic relationship.

Chaired by Richard McGregor

In his harrowing memoir, Fourteen: My Year of Darkness, and the light that followed, Shannon Molloy details the violence and fear he perpetually suffered growing up as an effeminate boy deep in regional Queensland. Ronnie Scott’s debut novel, The Adversary, is a sly, dry account of the inner-city world of endless student summers, cheap wine and Grindr; the like of which a young Shannon could only dream. How individuals cope and grow, and how this is reflected in worlds changing around them, is explored in these very different but equally engaging accounts of gay life in Australia.

Chaired by Rick Morton

The devastating effect of mental health afflictions and their impact on both the individual and their nearest and dearest is sensitively and sometimes hilariously explored by Meg Mason and Luke Horton in their respective novels, Sorrow and Bliss and The Fogging. Full of spiky wit and vivid observation, Sorrow and Bliss looks back on a wrecked marriage. The Fogging documents a relationship breakdown with pathos, documenting with prickly precision the anxiety that plagues our protagonist.

Chaired by Jo Case

Robert Dessaix’s new book is an essential companion for those pondering how to age well, and cogitating on what life is all about anyway. The Time of Our Lives: Growing Older Well posits that a rich inner life is key to both and enables readers to share in Robert’s sharp, expansive, witty exploration of his own inner world. Reflecting on time, religion, painting, dancing, family and more, this is a wise and timely exploration of the challenges and possibilities of ageing.

Chaired by Chris Flynn

Join broadcaster, author, comedian and host of 2021’s all-Australian Authorial Voice Sami Shah as he talks to a panel who are comfortable Leaving It All on the Page. Rick Morton (My Year of Living Vulnerably, One Hundred Years of Dirt), Yves Rees (winner of the 2020 Calibre Essay Prize) and Jessie Tu (A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing) sit down with Sami to debate the challenges, liberation and excruciating vulnerability of mining your own life and self for your writing.

Liberated from the tropes of tragedy that have dominated previous accounts, Cassandra Pybus’ biography of Nuenonne woman Truganini finally does justice to this remarkable woman. Posthumously and falsely named “the Last Tasmanian Aboriginal”, Truganini is revealed to be a woman of great strength, resilience and agency, a renowned swimmer, nimble negotiator, lover of nature and children, and master of adaptation. Inspired by her own family’s connection to Nuenonne country, Cassandra is joined by Ian Anderson to discuss Truganini’s life and legacy.

Chaired by Natasha Cica

As the sun sets, the heat recedes and work is done for the day, the bar is open and the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden is the place to be as some of Writers’ Week favourite guests, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Robbie Arnott, Durkhanai Ayubi, Geoff Goodfellow, Andrew Kwong, Mirandi Riwoe and Nardi Simpson, embrace the informality of our Twilight Talks and reveal their unfiltered selves. An all-Australian, all-star line-up have ten minutes to contemplate their lives, passions, preoccupations and the hell of a year we’ve all just endured as they reflect on the challenge of trying to stay balanced while standing on Unstable Ground.

Hosted by Jo Dyer, this event is a wonderful way to experience an overview of who and what Writers’ Week has to offer if you can't join us during the day.

With wit, wisdom and endless curiosity, Don Watson has spent a lifetime writing on subjects as diverse as they are entertaining. This definitive anthology reveals the remarkable depth of his interests and erudition, with articles, essays and insights on subjects ranging from Australian humour, American politics, Don Bradman and Oscar Wilde. Speechwriter, humorist, biographer, lecturer, critic and provocateur, self-described accidental writer Don has traversed almost as many genres of writing as he has subjects: Watsonia: A Writing Life is a collection of his wide-ranging best.

Chaired by Tom Wright