Big Ideas

Populism is part of American political history. It has been and still is the dominant vocabulary of dissent. But the current resurrection of authoritarian politics in the US is different. While the two parties could absorb populist movements in the past, this time populism has absorbed the party.

Presented at the American Academy in Berlin

Speaker

Jefferson CowieJames G. Stahlman Professor in American History at Vanderbilt UniversityAmerican Academy in Berlin, Axel Springer Fellow — Class of Spring 2025

What makes a good conversation? And do good conversations have anything in common? Ian Williams studies his daily conversations and explores how our age has left many people in what he calls a "drought of loving voices." In searching for conversations that feel transcendent, not transactional, he argues that in great conversations, the content is less important than the interaction: the sincerity and openness of the engagement. Good conversation is an art, and you don't know how it will change you by the time it ends.

The CBC Massey Lecture series "What I mean to say — remaking conversation in our time" was recorded live across Canada in November 2024. The fifth lecture Good conversations took place in Toronto, Ontario.

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

Adrian Harewood Associate Professor of Journalism, Carelton UniversityFormer CBC radio host

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.

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 our families have become more bespoke, complex, sometimes messier. Some find comfort in a 'chosen family', choosing friends over blood-relatives as kin.  Patchwork families are increasingly common. You can a birth mother, a genetic mother and a social mother. How is the family changing and with what impacts? Meet three writers here to help you re-imagine the ties that bind. 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