Melbourne Writers Festival

David Marr was shocked to discover that members of his family were officers in the Queensland Native Police, an armed force believed to have massacred some 40,000 First Nations people during the 19th century.   
 
Killing for Country is his relentless exposé of those forebears and the greed, hatred and violence they let loose. Bringing together his experience as a former lawyer, Marr reveals the brutal fight for possession of a country.   
 
Marr speaks with host Sally Warhaft about the ghosts of the unresolved frontier wars that haunt us today.  
 
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

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Resisting cynicism or despair, Festival Curator Mykaela Saunders celebrates the forward-thinking wisdom of ancestors in Always Will Be – a book that “writes Aboriginal people, dreams, radical hope and love into the future” (Natalie Harkin).  

Saunders speaks with Jeanine Leane about imagining a future of sovereignty and self-determination for Goori people in her brilliant collection of speculative fiction. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.   

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Irish novelist Paul Murray discusses the buzziest word-of-mouth hit of the past year, The Bee Sting. 
   
Murray's dazzling tragicomedy charts the undoing of a once-prosperous Irish family haunted by the ghosts of the past through the perspective of multiple characters and has been hailed as ‘a 650-page soap opera with a clockwork plot whose delicate mechanism you can’t hear tick’ (Guardian).  
 
In conversation with Michael Williams, Murray introduces his wise, witty and heart-punching saga to Australia.     
 
Supported by the Embassy of Ireland. 
 
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

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Content note: This episode contains discussion of suicide.  

After 235 years of colonisation, who truly gets to be human in so-called Australia?    

Join Wik and South Sea Islander rapper and 2024 Festival Curator Ziggy Ramo, Munanjahli and South Sea Islander author Chelsea Watego, and Egyptian-Australian writer Lamisse Hamouda, with host Osman Faruqi as they read original work, considering who gets to be human in today’s world and how we can confront the past to finally move forward.    

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.  

If you need assistance, you can learn more and seek advice via the following resources -  

Lifeline: 13 11 14  

Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800  

Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467  

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 46 36  

Headspace: 1800 650 890   

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Internationally bestselling author Ann Patchett (Tom Lake) speaks with Ailsa Piper to lift the veil on the unwritten novels of her past, the manuscripts discarded at the bottom of a drawer and the books read long ago that have stayed as spectres in her literary imagination ever since.

The United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.  

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/

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Three pairings of highly acclaimed Aboriginal and Palestinian poets read new works to each other in affirmation of commitment, care and solidarity. 

Featuring Tony Birch, Samah Sabawi, Jeanine Leane, Micaela Sahhar, Nayuka Gorrie and Sara Saleh, with host and Festival Curator Mykaela Saunders.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

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Two of the most perceptive storytellers of our time, Leslie Jamison (Splinters) and Nam Le (36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem) became close friends after meeting at the storied Iowa Writers’ Workshop many years ago. 

In a fascinating conversation about their crafts, they come together with Sophie Black to compare genre-switching bodies of work that range from poetry to memoir and fiction in their search for truths about family, society, memory and identity. 

The United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/

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With scorching wit and formal inventiveness, Viet Thanh Nguyen rewinds the story of his life in A Man of Two Faces, in conversation with André Dao. 

This triumphant and hugely entertaining memoir takes readers from his success as the author of novels including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sympathizer, to migrating to California as a young refugee from the Vietnam War. A Man of Two Faces reckons with the ghosts of imperialism, family, memory and identity.

United States Consulate Melbourne supported the appearances of US authors at MWF.

Supported by ARA.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/

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Why have public conversations become so fraught? We seem to have lost the art not just of civil discourse but of having any semblance of a robust and nuanced debate.

Over a career spanning nearly 40 years, journalist Laura Tingle has been in the unusual position of being both a reporter and a commentator. In the 2024 John Button Oration, she examines the quality of our national debate.

Supported by the Melbourne School of Government and the Faculty of Arts,  
University of Melbourne. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

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Award-winning storytellers Christos Tsiolkas (The In-Between) and Bryan Washington (Family Meal) have each penned acclaimed new novels that tenderly depict the triumphs and obstacles of love. They join Maeve Marsden for an insightful conversation about putting romance to the page and love’s power to change us (for better or worse).

Supported by the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/

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