We're in an era where many people feel an ownership over certain words, and how a community expresses itself. The term "appropriation" has come to create guardrails around what can be said and by whom. Award-winning Canadian writer Ian Williams considers the role of speech and silence in reallocating power, and what it means to truly listen.

The CBC Massey Lecture series What I mean to say — remaking conversation in our time was recorded live across Canada in November 2024. This fourth lecture Who can speak for whom to whom about what? was recorded in Victoria, British Columbia.

Speakers

Ian WilliamsPoet and author, Reproduction (Scotiabank Giller Award winner), Disorientation. Being Black in the World, Word problems (Raymond Souster Award 2021), and moreProfessor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto

Kathryn Marlow Local radio host, CBC Victoria

Nahlah Ayad CBC Ideas host

Further information:

Since 1961, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has produced the Massey Lectures featuring leading Canadian thinkers asking questions that make us better human beings. The lectures are a partnership between CBC, House of Anansi Press, and Massey College in the University of Toronto.

Bookstores are full of titles that are supposed to help us deal with difficult conversations — about emotions, misunderstandings and hurt feelings. The problem is that difficult conversations are almost always about something other than what they seem to be about. And what we're actually looking for in a conversation isn't always answers — it's communion.

The CBC Massey Lecture series What I mean to say — remaking conversation in our time was recorded live across Canada in November 2024. This third lecture was recorded in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Speakers

Ian WilliamsPoet and author, Reproduction (Scotiabank Giller Award winner), Disorientation. Being Black in the World, Word problems (Raymond Souster Award 2021), and moreProfessor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto

Leisha GrebinskiLocal radio host, CBC Saskatoon

Pratyush DayalJournalist, CBC News

Further information:

Since 1961, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has produced the Massey Lectures featuring leading Canadian thinkers asking questions that make us better human beings. The lectures are a partnership between CBC, House of Anansi Press, and Massey College in the University of Toronto.

Public space is important for democracy. This is where we articulate our values, and perhaps change our minds. So how do we open ourselves up to connection with strangers while safeguarding our personal sovereignty and resisting efforts to convert us? And what can we learn from our conversations with strangers and loved ones alike about how to navigate the murky waters of national conversations?

The CBC Massey Lecture series What I mean to say — remaking conversation in our time was recorded live across Canada in November 2024. This second lecture Public Conversations was recorded in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Speakers

Ian WilliamsPoet and author, Reproduction (Scotiabank Giller Award winner), Disorientation. Being Black in the World, Word problems (Raymond Souster Award 2021), and moreProfessor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto

Jamesie FournierWriter

Simeone Kisa-KnickelbeinActor

Further information:

Since 1961, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has produced the Massey Lectures featuring leading Canadian thinkers asking questions that make us better human beings. The lectures are a partnership between CBC, House of Anansi Press, and Massey College in the University of Toronto.

Ever felt that no one is really listening? At a time when we're more connected than ever, why does it seem like we can barely talk to each other? Civic and civil discourse have deteriorated, and the air is raw with anger and misunderstanding on all sides.

Award-winning Canadian author and poet Ian Williams is reviving the lost art of conversation in his CBC Massey Lecture series What I mean to say — remaking conversation in our time.

These lectures were recorded live across Canada in November 2024. The first lecture Why we need to have a conversation about conversations took place in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Speakers

Ian WilliamsPoet and author, Reproduction (Scotiabank Giller Award winner), Disorientation. Being Black in the World, Word problems (Raymond Souster Award 2021), and moreProfessor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto

Steve SutherlandCBC local radio host, Sydney, Nova Scotia

Wendy BergfeldtCBC local radio host, Sydney, Nova Scotia

Further information:

Since 1961, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has produced the Massey Lectures featuring leading Canadian thinkers asking questions that make us better human beings. The lectures are a partnership between CBC, House of Anansi Press, and Massey College in the University of Toronto.

In his influential 1964 book The Lucky Country, Donald Horne wrote that Australians played an aristocratic role in Asia: "rich, self-centred, frivolous, blind". A lot has changed in 60 years, but does Australia still think it's better than its neighbours?

Recorded at the Australian Academy of the Humanities annual symposium, The Ideas and Ideals of Australia — The Lucky Country turns 60, on 13 — 15 November 2024 at the Australian National University.

Speakers

Louise EdwardsEmeritus Scientia Professor of Chinese History, University of New South Wales

Nick HorneEditor, Donald Horne: Selected Writings (2017)

Australia's housing crisis hasn't always been with us. So what choices created it, and what choices are now needed to fix it?  Buying a house is now out of reach if you're on an average wage, and rental options are expensive and precarious. If we don't address the issues urgently, generations to come will face homelessness or profound poverty paying rents on a pension. There are solutions. Are politicians courageous enough to try them? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at Adelaide Writers Week.

Speakers

Maiy AzizeDeputy Director of Anglicare AustraliaNational spokesperson, Everybody's Home campaign

Alan KohlerFinance journalist and presenter with ABC NewsAuthor, Quarterly Essay: The Great Divide: Australia's Housing Mess and How to Fix it (2023)

Amy Remeikis aka @PyjamaPoliticsChief Political Analyst, The Australia Institute

Jordan van den Lamb aka @PurplePingersRental activist and advocate2025 Senate candidate, Victorian Socialists

Thank you to Adelaide Writers Week and to Anna Chang from the Australia Institute.

How many times have you checked your phone today? How many tabs are open in your web browser? Do you feel in control of your attention? 

In the digital age, attention is now a commodity. Can practices like meditation and mindfulness help us feel more free to focus on what really matters?

This event was hosted at the Brunswick Ballroom by the Sophia Club in partnership with the University of Melbourne's Contemplative Studies Centre.

Speakers

Jess HuonMeditation trainer, authorised Dharma teacher, writer (The Dark Wet)

Nicholas Van DamDirector of the Contemplative Studies Centre at the University of MelbourneAssociate professor, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne

Brigid Hains (host)Editorial director, Aeon Media

Matthias Schack-Arnott Musician

The structures of families have gotten complex, even messy. Patchwork families are increasingly common. You can a birth mother, a genetic mother and a social mother. People choose friends as kin. How have families and communities changed? Presented at the Byron Writers Festival, supported by the Byron Shire Council.

Speakers

Kon KarapanagiotidisCEO and Founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre; author of A Seat at My Table: Philoxenia

Marina KamenevFormer deputy arts editor of the Moscow Times, author of Kin

Molly SchmidtWriter and journalist, author of Salt River Road

Rosemarie MilsomFounding director of Newcastle Writers Festival, journalist and broadcaster 

Also listen to Future Tense: The greatest demographic shift in a century is being ignored: single living

The Murray Darling Basin is the most important river system in Australia, and the most contested. What does it mean to live by those rivers, through the droughts, the floods, and the water politics that shape these communities. A beautiful and evocative history of the Murray Darling Basin, as told by people who live there.

This speech was recorded at the History Council of Victoria's annual lecture at the State Library of Victoria on 14 November 2024.

Speakers

Katie HolmesProfessor in History and Director of the Study of the Inland at La Trobe UniversityAuthor, Mallee Country: land, people, history, Reading the Garden: the Settlement of Australia and more

How has the fossil fuel industry wielded influence over Australian governments and their policies? What does it take to make ambitious change in the public interest, without vested interests getting in way? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at Adelaide Writers Week.

Speakers

Dr Richard DennissEconomist and Executive Director of The Australia InstituteAuthor of BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Economy (2022)

Ross GarnautEconomistProfessor Emeritus in business and economics, University of MelbourneBoard director of renewable energy company ZEN ENERGYAuthor of Let's Tax Carbon: And other ideas for a better Australia (2024), Superpower: Australia's Low Carbon Opportunity (2019)

Sarah Hanson-YoungSenator for South AustraliaGreens spokesperson for arts and communications, and environment and water

Royce KurmelovsFreelance journalistAuthor of Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil (2024)