Creator of award-winning documentary series You Can’t Ask That, Kirk Docker brings his unique interviewing style to StoryFest when he explores the importance of giving voice to stories that need to be told with Zaheda Ghani, author of the Richell Prize shortlisted novel Pomegranate & Fig, recipient of the Western Sydney Emerging Writers Fellowship and Ambassador for Australia for UNHCR; proud Gunai woman, award-winning author, multidisciplinary artist and consultant Kirli Saunders (Bindi, Kindred); and Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Other Half of You, The Lebs) award-winning author and founder of the Sweatshop Literacy Movement that empowers culturally and linguistically diverse communities through reading, writing and critical thinking.

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Almost 10 years ago, author and columnist Peter FitzSimons AM and broadcaster Richard Glover set a world record for the longest interview (24 hours). For StoryFest 2023, they reunite for a shorter, but no less wide-ranging discussion

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Wendy McCarthy and Clementine Ford come together in conversation to explore how ways of disrupting and breaking the system have changed - or if they have changed at all. What works, what doesn’t, and what’s required in future to address issues of inequality and injustice in Australian society? A must-attend session featuring two powerful but distinctly different voices from different generations.

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Katharine Pollock (Her Fidelity and @thatrecordstoregirl) interviews former punk rocker and award-winning crime author Dave Warner (After the Flood), alongside Frances Peters-Little (Jimmy Little: A Yorta Yorta Man), about song-led stories and the impact of songwriting and music on the Australian narrative. Full of song and fascinating chat about songwriting, influences and inspiration, this is a session to sing about!

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Nearly half of all Australians have read a crime, mystery or thriller novel in the past twelve months. Hear from some of the biggest names in Australian fictional crime writing when best-selling author Chris Hammer (Scrublands, The Tilt), Wollongong-based Hayley Scrivenor (Dirt Town), and former punk rocker turned crime writer Dave Warner (After the Flood) join journalist Philip Williams at StoryFest.

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Pip Williams’ novel The Dictionary of Lost Words was the highest selling novel in Australia in 2022 and her follow-up, The Bookbinder of Jericho, is touted for similar success. In conversation with Michelle Barraclough, Pip discusses the motivations behind the novel, the magic of words - both common and those excluded from our everyday vocabulary - and why every word is so important.

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Join Robbie Arnott (Limberlost, The Rain Heron) and Inga Simpson (Willowman, The Last Woman in the World) for this intimate conversation between two of Australia’s leading authors with a shared love of our coast, our characters and our continent, as they explore how the magical properties of the natural world shape and shift their approach to storytelling.

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In this fast-paced storytellers shootout, David Hunt

Featuring:

Patti Bartlett & Jenny Cleary - Five Villages

Helen Moody - Islands of the NSW South Coast

Marita Smith - Kindred Ties Trilogy

Julie Bozza - Writ in Blood

Robert Hollingworth - The Finding

Colin DeFries - Ulladulla Bush Poets

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Romance novels are sometimes dismissed as a lesser genre compared to

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The publication of the Dhurga Dictionary and Learner's Grammar in 2019 is the culmination of decades of work and a turning point in the revitalisation of one of the key indigenous languages on the NSW south coast. The journey began when Brinja-Yuin woman Kerry Boyenga, a teacher at Broulee Public School, approached the principal about teaching Dhurga as a language other than English. From these small beginnings, Kerry and her siblings, Waine Donovan and Patricia Ellis, developed the Dhurga language course as a Certificate 1 in Aboriginal Language/s, which they taught at TAFE campuses in Nowra, Narooma, Ulladulla, Jervis Bay and Moruya. Realising how hard it is to teach a language without a dictionary, Patricia Ellis spent more than ten years researching and compiling this valuable resource. Now, a new generation has the opportunity to learn their language and through that, reconnect with their culture, identity and country. Patricia Ellis joins Inga Simpson to talk about that journey and how a dictionary facilitates understanding of culture and connection.

Artist: Patricia Ellis

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