The Closing Gala of the Bendigo Writers Festival was a celebration of Australia’s leading writers and thinkers. In this event you’ll hear from celebrated author Kate Grenvlle in conversation with me, Clare Wright, and 2024 Stella Prize Winner Alexis Wright in conversation with Yves Rees.

Recorded on 18th August, 2024.

What happens to our national story when three unconventional historians listen to people, country and the archives in new and challenging ways?

In this event three writers and historians Dr Mark Dapin, Professor Anna Clark and Dr Shannyn Palmer explore approaching Australian history with an impartial new light with host Professor Stuart Kells.

Recorded on 18th August, 2024.

Some of our most acclaimed novelists got their start writing for stage and screen, but each medium presents different thrills and challenges.

In this session Finegan Kruckemeyer, Jane Harrison and Jordan Prosser discuss what happens when acclaimed playwrights become novelists with host Carrie Tiffany.

Recorded on 18th August, 2024.

Can you understand the heart of a nation – and its narrative – through the public and personal relationships which have forged a path to both conflict and compassion?

Shannyn Palmer, Thomas Mayo and Tania Rossi Look at the relationships at the heart of the social, cultural and political communication that we need to generate change in Australia with host Clare Wright.

Recorded on 18th August, 2024.

How do three writers play at the heart strings of migration and belonging through the power of their words in novels, poetry and memoir?

In this session migrant authors Sara M. Saleh, Hana Assafiri, and Kgshak Akec speak of loss and life, of leaving and arriving, with host Christine Balint.

Recorded on 18th August, 2024.

Queer storytelling is experiencing a golden age, with some of Australia’s most talented young writers taking to fiction and non-fiction to document recent LGBTQIA+ history and its intersections with law and medicine.

In this event Sam Elkin, Dylin Hardcastle, and Dr Geraldine Fela discuss the importance of queer writing and why amplifying these voices matter more than ever, with host Dr Yves Rees.

Recorded on 17th August, 2024.

Writing is often portrayed as a lonely, isolated pursuit. But what happens when two people write together, collaborate together on storytelling or trying to save the world?

In this event we hear from three pairs of authors: Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, Bruce Pascoe & Lyn Harwood, and Dr Tarryn Phillips & Edward Narain, who discuss the benefits they found working together with Chair, Dr Kelly Gardiner.

Recorded on 17th August, 2024.

How can we navigate local and global journeys, across time, space and country, in an age of climate change and imminent environmental collapse? This panel brings into conversation decades of work in archives, in conversations, in imaginations and adventures on content that covers millennia and moves from intergalactic places to the deepest of oceans. Kate Mildenhall, James Bradley, and Lauren Fuge discuss the urgent task of narrating and navigating environmental crisis with Dr Lilian Pearce.

Recorded on 17th August, 2024.

When do neighbours become good friends - or enemies? In this event three security analysts, Professor Bec Strating, Allan Behm and Dr Kylie Moore-Gibert discuss the finer points and the security challenges facing Australia today, with host Dr Sally Warhaft.

Recorded on 17th August, 2024.

Animals can be companions and resources, cyphers and symbols. But who gets to speak for them, and how? In this event novelist James Bradley, farmer Maggie McKellar and ethicist Professor Peter Singer explore the four-legged world of creatures great and small with host Stephen Romei.

Recorded on 17th August, 2024.