Space, in all its awe-inspiring, mind-blowing expanse, is still the final frontier.

Its greatness and grandness force us to reflect on our humanity, our existence and our place within the universe.

In Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize–winning Orbital, six astronauts contemplate the Earth and its inhabitants from the International Space Station. Ceridwen Dovey’s newest short story collection, Only the Astronauts, imagines the perspectives of non-humans in space, from an abandoned mannequin orbiting the Sun to a team of ‘tamponauts’ journeying to Mars.

Consider the limits of humanity in the universe with Samantha and Ceridwen in conversation with host Ashley Hay.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

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Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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After a lifetime of bringing Shakespeare’s female characters to life on stage, multi-award-winning British actor Harriet Walter lends them her pen in She Speaks!. 

Shining a new light on classic stories, Harriet writes between the lines of some of Shakespeare’s most compelling characters – from servants to sovereigns. She imagines what Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Juliet’s nurse, Cleopatra and others could have said without the constraints of the Bard’s perspective and reveals what might be their true desires

Join Harriet in conversation with Ailsa Piper as they delve into the unexplored depths of the English literary canon. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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[Content warning: sexual assault]

Feminism has a checkered past, but what can we expect from feminist ideas these days? 

CEO of independent news commentary platform Cheek Media Co. Hannah Ferguson (Taboo: Conversations we never had about sex, body image, work and relationships), Stella Prize winner and investigative journalist Jess Hill (See What You Made Me Do, Quarterly Essay 97, Losing It) and human rights lawyer and Fulbright Scholar Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts (Long Yarn Short) discuss whether feminism can find solutions to some of our current crises.

Join them as they reckon with what feminism has to offer and predict future solutions to complex social problems in this panel discussion with host Sisonke Msimang. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement probes complex racial and social dynamics much like his New York Times bestselling Leave the World Behind, which was adapted into a Netflix film starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali.

In his new novel, Rumaan introduces themes of wealth and philanthropic aspirations when an ageing white billionaire hires an ambitious young African American woman to help him dispose of his money – through worthy causes, of course.

Join Rumaan in conversation with Sisonke Msimang as they examine the promise (or the lie) of the American Dream in the 21st century. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. 

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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International bestselling novelists Liane Moriarty and David Nicholls share the experience of seeing their powerful local stories turn into bingeable television series and films.

Liane’s Big Little Lies was the first book by an Australian to debut at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list and, since then, all 10 of her novels have been optioned for screen adaptation.

David executive produced the Netflix adaptation of his bestselling novel One Day and has written screen adaptations for Far from the Madding Crowd and Great Expectations.

Join Liane and David as they talk about their new books, Here One Moment and You Are Here, and being sensations across page and screen. With host Claire Nichols (ABC Radio National’sThe Book Show).

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. 

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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Wars, coups and economic and climate crises: each new headline can make it feel like the world is suddenly falling apart.

But behind many dramatic world events are long-term historical patterns and the rise (and sometimes the fall) of tyrannical and authoritarian rulers. From the Arab Spring to the fall of dictators like Syria’s Assad, find out more about telling these stories from the inside with award-winning foreign correspondent Peter Greste (The Correspondent) and political scientist and author Marcel Dirsus (How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive). In conversation with Avani Dias.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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After the success of her two best known works, The Secret River, adapted for stage and television, and Restless Dolly Maunder, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Festival favourite Kate Grenville is still grappling with what it means to be a descendant of colonisation in Australia.

Journey through time and place with Kate as she reframes her family’s history in Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place, placing First People in the same picture. With Kate Evans.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

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Stories about brotherhood are a mainstay of classical writing, from brothers Romulus and Remus to brothers-in-arms Achilles and Patroclus.

Ferdia Lennon's award-winning debut tells the story of two unemployed theatre-loving best friends in ancient Sicily who tempt Athenian prisoners of war with food and drink in exchange for recitations of their favourite Greek poetry. From there to a full production of a Greek tragedy is only a small step in this this exhilarating story of friendship, art and war that brings the ancient world vividly alive.

Find out more about the best and worst that humans are capable of with Ferdia Lennon, in conversation with Australian playwright Tom Wright.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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Colm Tóibín returns to the world of Brooklyn – adapted into a BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated film starring Saoirse Ronan – with the long-awaited sequel, Long Island.

Set 20 years after Rose Lacey’s death, Long Island follows Eilis Lacey after an unknown Irishman unexpectedly brings a baby into her family’s midst. Full of longing and regret, the book exhibits the hallmarks of a master storyteller’s restraint and Colm’s customary wit.

In conversation with Kate Evans (ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf), Colm discusses his latest portrait of the people of picturesque Enniscorthy, which is being heralded as his best work yet. 

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel.

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

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Home is a beginning, an origin, a safe harbour, a memory or a dream. Some homes we arrive at, some find us and some we make ourselves.    

International bestselling novelist Hannah Kent (Burial Rites and Always Home, Always Homesick), academic and writer Abbas El-Zein (Bullet, Paper, Rock: A memoir of words and wars) and George Orwell Prize winner Peter Godwin (Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars) have had markedly different experiences of home. Divided between countries, dismantled by conflict and erased through exile, home becomes a symbol of identity and a beacon of hope.

Hannah, Abbas and Peter tell host Sisonke Msimang what ‘home’ means to them.

This episode was recorded live in May at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and follow our channel. 

Sydney Writers’ Festival podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms. 

After more? Follow Sydney Writers’ Festival on social media:

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.