Melbourne Writers Festival

In this illuminating discussion, key figures involved in the creation of the Victorian Treaty – including 2023-26 Co-Chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly Ngarra Murray, and CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, member of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria and Treaty Co-Convenor Nerita Waight – discuss this landmark event in our nation’s history.
 
A document, a framework, a promise: the Treaty is an opportunity to come to grips with the history we share – and together create a better and fairer shared future grounded in justice, understanding and unity.
 
Hosted and curated by Daniel James. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2026.

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One year on from the Federal Election, it's time to take stock. What’s the state of our national political climate and of the major and minor parties? What does the Albanese government stand for? How should we approach our relationship with the USA and other global superpowers? How can we address inequality in Australia?

Expect clear-eyed, frank and informed commentary from four of our most incisive political minds as Sean Kelly, Amy Remeikis, Don Watson and host Barrie Cassidy discuss how the political decisions of the past have led us to this current moment.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2026.

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Pioneering Noongar doctor and medical researcher Professor Sandra Eades (co-author of First Knowledges Health: Spirit, Country and Culture) and Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire (Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media) explore the enduring, transformative role of First Nations knowledge in the fields of healthcare and media.

With host Cheryl Leavy, they'll draw on their combined decades of practical experience and intellectual rigour to reflect on the importance of self-determined practices that uphold cultural integrity and prioritise Aboriginal leadership, and how non-First Nations practitioners can respect and learn from these approaches. Curated by Nardi Simpson. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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In this stunning conversation, celebrated authors Emily Maguire (Rapture) and Josephine Rowe (Little World) cover the mundane, the miraculous and writing the ineffable. 

Hear them discuss their latest works exploring faith, fate and the nature of belief, with Jaclyn Crupi. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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Santilla Chingaipe (Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia), Sita Sargeant (She Shapes History) and Steve Vizard (Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary) come together to bring to light misunderstood, mythologised or lesser-known dimensions of Australian history.

From the global slave trade and Gallipoli to the women who shaped our country but were omitted from the history books, this discussion addresses how the stories we choose to tell – and those that are left out – shape our national identity.

Hosted by ABC Radio National's Natasha Mitchell. 

Supported by ARA.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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Hannah Kent has won legions of fans with works like Burial Rights, The Good People and Devotion. Now, she presents her debut work of non-fiction – a tender, diaristic love letter to her muse, Iceland.

Always Home, Always Homesick is both a memoir of Kent’s experiences of living in Iceland, and a wider consideration of how literature forms the heart of the nation's culture and identity.

Speaking with ABC Radio National’s Richard Fidler, Kent explores distance and belonging, writing place and the self, and how Iceland has shaped the person she is today.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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When an artist does something that appals us – politically, legally or ethically – does that mean we should turn our backs on their art? Is it ever possible to separate the art from the artist? And more pressingly – is it right to?

Journalist Osman Faruqi, philosopher A. C. Grayling and cultural critic Tara Kenny debate one of the most divisive issues of our time: how we should respond to great artists who do bad things.

Listen to this lively debate with three sharp thinkers as they consider legacy, celebrity, transgression and accountability, with host Beejay Silcox.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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Award-winning author and musician Jimmy Barnes recounts the twists and turns of his larger-than-life adventures live on stage. With his trademark candour, humour, and distinctive voice, Barnes shares anecdotes, lessons, and cracking good yarns: from unearthing shattering family secrets in Glasgow to encountering charismatic and not-so-endearing superstars, to confronting his own mortality.

Featuring humorous tangents, wild characters, and the occasional tall tale, hear from the beloved star and maverick as he celebrates heritage, family, friends, music and the adventure of a grand life with host Brian Nankervis.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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The extraordinary writers and editors behind Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Non-fiction by Autistic Writers come together for this panel discussion exploring identity, creativity and culture.

This expansive anthology of creative non-fiction, memoir, graphic storytelling and more features a stellar line-up of Autistic gender-diverse and women writers, exploring topics such as sex, religion and the natural world.

Co-editors Jo Case and Clem Bastow, and contributors Jess Ho, Marlee Jane Ward and Caitlin McGregor appear in conversation. Enjoy their wide-ranging discussion on belonging, connection, social interaction, meaning and joy.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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Samantha Harvey discusses her 2024 Booker Prize-winning novel, Orbital – a profound meditation on deep space, our environment, the meaning of life and the nature of humanity itself.

Taking place over a single day – with sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets – Orbital tells the story of six astronauts as they observe the planet Earth from the vantage point of the International Space Station. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. They are there to do vital work, but slowly they begin to wonder: what is life without Earth? What is Earth without humanity?

Hosted by Kate Mildenhall.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

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