Big Ideas

It's the only sure thing in life: that we will all die some day. But many of us are scared to think about death — our own, or our loved ones'. 

How can embracing death change the way we live our lives and remind us of what's important?

This conversation explores topics of grief, philosophies of life and death, and the practical consideration of planning for the inevitable.

This conversation was recorded at the Clunes Booktown Festival on 22 March 2026.

Speakers

Hannah GouldSenior lecturer and fellow with the Death Tech Research Team at the University of MelbourneAuthor of How to Die in the 21st Century: A whole new way to talk about death and more

Antonia PontYogiAssociate Professor Writing, Literature & Culture, Deakin UniversityAuthor, Plain Life: on thinking feeling and deciding and more

Marieke Hardy (host)Co-founder of the spoken-word art salon, Better Off Said: Eulogies for the Living and Dead, Host of the podcast Marieke Hardy Is Going To DieScreenwriter and playwright, forthcoming Melbourne Theatre Company play, Losing Face (June 2026)

Three savvy political minds get up close and (very) personal with power to consider where it succeeds and struggles. They've got gripping stories to tell — about Australia's prime ministers past and present — and their mothers! What traits do you look for in an effective political leader? Are leaders made rather than born?  When Canada's Prime Minister took to the World Economic Forum stage in Davos this year, staking a claim for middle powers and standing up against the bullies across his border, the world took notice. Is that what good political leadership looks like, or not? How does Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stack up? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests with a lively audience at the 2026 Sorrento Writers Festival.

Speakers

Jennifer HewettBusiness journalist and a national affairs columnist, Australian Financial Review.

Troy BramstonSenior journalist, The AustralianAuthor and political biographerAuthor, Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New (Harper Collins Australia, 2025)

Paul StrangioHistorian and Emeritus Professor of politics, Monash UniversityAuthor, The Alchemy of Leadership: Seven Australian Prime Ministers in a Turbulent 21st Century (Melbourne University Publishing, 2026)

Thanks to Festival director Corrie Perkin and team.

From rags, to riches, to a prison cell. He could have stayed wealthy and silent, but chose not to. Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai launched newspapers that dared to challenge Beijing, advocate for democracy, and report the truth when the truth was dangerous. Now Jimmy Lai faces a life sentence under China's crackdown on press freedom. But his story sends a warning to us all, everywhere.What happens when power decides that a free press is a threat? 

This event, The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, and China's Most Feared Critic was presented by the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center

Speakers

Mark CliffordPresident of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong FoundationAuthor of The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, and China's Most Feared Critic

Evan Osnos (host)Staff writer at The New Yorker

These days, more Australians get their news from their social media feed than traditional media outlets. Meanwhile artificial intelligence is supercharging the war on information, and distorting the news media's business model, while politicians flood the zone with sh*t as a deliberate media strategy. So what do AI and the algorithms mean for the news and for journalism, and how can we regain control of our information ecosystem?

The conversation Truth, Lies and the Algorithm was recorded at the Brimbank Writers and Readers Festival on 15 March 2026.

Speakers

Ian DuntUK political columnist, The I PaperAuthor, How Westminster Works and Why it Doesn't, Conspiracy Theory: The Story of an Idea (with Dorian Lynskey), and more

Dr Mathew MarquesSenior Lecturer in Psychology, La Trobe University

Rita ArrigoAI consultant

Luke Siddham Dundon (host)Radio journalist and news presenter, ABC Radio National Breakfast and the Breakfast Wrap

He's got a rags to riches origin story, a hit Youtube channel and a bestselling memoir. Now Gary Stevenson is using his platform to fight the growing divide between rich and poor across the western world — including in Australia.

This conversation was recorded at the Melbourne Town Hall on 28 February 2026 with thanks to Thinkable events.

Speakers

Gary Stevenson Author, The Trading Game: A Confession host, Gary Economics Youtube Channel, former Citibank financial trader

Alison Pennington (host) Chief Economist, McKell Institute, author, Gen F'd? How Young Australians Can Reclaim Their Uncertain Futures

A year on from its landslide victory, has Labor used its historic win to deliver big on BIG ideas to set Australia up for the future? Or is Prime Minister Albanese and his cabinet erring on the side of caution in this second term?  What allowed notable reformer prime ministers in the past to prosecute ambitious agendas? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the Sorrento Writers Festival with three seasoned and savvy politics watchers, journalists and authors Paul Kelly, Niki Savva, and Amy Remeikis. A lively conversation not to miss as we head towards the May Federal budget.

Speakers

Amy RemeikisSenior political analyst, The Australia InstituteContributing editor, The New DailyCommentator as Pyjama PoliticsAuthor, Where it All Went Wrong: The Case Against John Howard (Simon and Schuster Australia, 2026)

Niki SavvaPolitical journalist and authorAuthor, Earthquake: the election that shook Australia (Scribe, 2025)Bulldozed: Scott Morrison’s Fall and ANthony Albanese’ Rise (Scribe, 2022)

Paul KellyEditor-at-Large, The AustralianAuthor of The Twilight of Exceptionalism: the Liberal and Conservative Era (Melbourne University Publishing,  forthcoming in July 2026)

Thank you to Sorrento Writers Festival founder and director Corrie Perkin, Isabel Pinkster, Mark Bollenberg, and the whole festival team.

Martin Luther King III knows what the long fight for equity looks like. His father was the late great Martin Luther King Jr who led the modern American civil rights movement. And he's got something important to say to corporate Australia. Why are you missing out on Indigenous talent? Ignore it at the peril of Australia's future economic growth, he argues. It's more than a social or equitable good. Join Martin Luther III with Australian cultural and corporate leaders at this Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) and CareerTrackers event.

Speakers

Martin Luther King IIICivil Rights Leader and Global Humanitarian

Linda BurneyFormer Minister for Indigenous Australians

Melinda CilentoChief Executive CEDA

Renee Wootton TomlinFounder and CEO New Era Energy

Ben WyattFormer WA Treasurer and Non Executive Director of serval companies

Adam Davids (host)CEO and Managing Director CareerTrackers

Are Royal Commissions just a lawyer's picnic? A political witch hunt? Or, a necessary reckoning? They're Australia's highest form of inquiry on matters of public importance. But they've also become the go-to solution when corruption, misconduct or systems failures are exposed. The lowdown with three people who have seen how they work up close.

The conversation How do Royal Commissions work? And How Do We Assess Their Impact? was recorded at the Sorrento Writers Festival on Friday 24 April 2026.

Speakers

Betty King QCFormer Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria (2005 - 2015), former County Court judge, former state prosecutor, former criminal barristerChairperson of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board

Jack Rush KC Barrister, counsel assisting the Victorian Royal Commission into the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires

Jon Faine (host)Journalist and former longtime presenter Mornings, ABC Radio MelbourneFormer lawyerVice Chancellor's Fellow, University of MelbourneAuthor, Apollo & Thelma: A True Tall Tale

Malcolm Fraser's legacy remains contested territory in Australian politics. Decades after he left office, we still can't quite figure him out. The Prime Minister who came to power in controversy, governed for seven years, then spent the rest of his life surprising everyone with his increasingly progressive views. Whether Fraser was cautious conservative, pragmatic reformer, or something more complex entirely, this discussion seeks to understand both the man and the government he led during a pivotal period in Australian history.

Presented at the Malcolm Fraser Symposium by the Trinity College, University of Melbourne.

Listen to Big Ideas - The Art of opposition

Speakers

Troy BramstonSenior writer and columnist with The AustralianAuthor of Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New (2025)

Dr Scott PrasserFormer Senior Adviser to three Federal Cabinet Ministers, Academic and independent researcher

Georgina Downer (host)Chief Executive Officer of the Robert Menzies Institute

October 7 has become synonymous with the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, in which more than 1200 Jewish people were murdered. What has followed — the hostage crisis, the war in Gaza, and the global response — has reverberated in communities far beyond the Middle East, including here in Australia. For Jewish Australians, it has turned their lives, their careers, their relationships and their identities upside-down. Four Jewish Australian women share their personal experiences of the profound rift they've felt in the wake of that day, and their hopes and attempts to mend it.

This conversation was recorded at Manly Writers' Festival on 22 March 2026.

Speakers

Joanne FedlerAuthor of The Whale's Last Song and more, writing teacher, former lawyer

Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert Research Fellow in Security Studies, Macquarie UniversityAuthor, The Uncaged SkyFormer political prisoner in Iran

Elana Benjamin Author of Indian-Jewish Food, Recipes and Stories from the Back Streets of Bondi, and more

Lee KofmanAuthor of The Writer Laid Bare: Mastering Emotional Honesty in a Writer's Art, Craft and Life and more, writing coach and co-editor, Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7

Suellen Dainty (host) Journalist and author, An Invisible Tattoo and more