What will a Voice to Parliament actually mean? Indigenous leader Thomas Mayo and legendary journalist Kerry O'Brien have worked together to write an accessible and engaging guide to this important question. Whether you want to understand more about the Voice in the lead-up to the referendum, or would like some clear answers to share in conversation with loved ones, their discussion with host Jennifer Robinson is an inspiring sneak peek into what our shared future can be.

This episode was recorded live at the 2023 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:
Instagram: @sydwritersfest
Facebook: @SydWritersFest
Twitter: @SydWritersFest
TikTok: @sydwritersfest

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"…it’s also a question of thinking about what lies ahead and what is the history behind it." Ann Mossop, Artistic Director of Sydney Writers' Festival

Join Annabel Crabb and Artistic Director Ann Mossop as they discuss the 2023 Sydney Writers’ Festival program.

The pair talk about the 2023 Festival theme, Stories For The Future, and its underlying call to action to think about how we understand the past, how we live in the present and how our words, our imaginations and our actions shape the future.

Thank you to 2SER for facilitating the recording of this podcast.

The 2023 Sydney Writers' Festival is now on sale. Head to our website to explore the program and book your tickets: https://www.swf.org.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join acclaimed Australian authors Jennifer Down and Hannah Kent as they discuss their immersive and lyrical novels that find beauty and hope amid tragedy. Praised as “mesmerising, brutal and unforgettable” (Sydney Morning Herald), Jennifer’s Bodies of Light traces a woman’s quest to forge a meaningful life after overcoming cycles of abuse and trauma. Hannah’s Devotion is a historical queer love story that journeys from Prussia to the South Australian frontier, exploring love, longing and the pain that arises from division. They appear with Susan Wyndham.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If creativity and building a cultural and intellectual contribution are difficult undertakings, does doing it in collaboration with another person make it easier or harder? Whether making a podcast, writing a book or building a following are two heads better than one? With their acclaimed podcast, Ladies, We Need to Talk Yumi Stynes and Claudine Ryan tackle taboos and topics that women want to explore but are too afraid to share. Taking their partnership to the next level, the two released a book that dove deeper into the forbidden conversations of bodies, health, sex and relationships. Join Yumi and Claudine as they compare notes on the highs and lows, the advantages and disadvantages of working with one another. This panel will be moderated by interviewer and curator, Michaela Kalowski.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Of the (many) exhausting things about social media, one of the most tedious is the self-appointed authorities spouting armchair commentary on any and every subject, all while experts are increasingly degraded or ignored in our politics and media. From climate science to historical knowledge, if expert findings don’t suit a certain political narrative, they’re ultimately dismissed. Communications expert Ed Coper (Facts and Other Lies), economist Richard Denniss (Big: The Role of the State in the Modern Economy) and marine ecologist Adriana Vergés sit down with Sophie Black to consider how we make sense of the world and who we should be listening to when everyone’s an ‘expert’.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Generations of inertia on the climate crisis, entrenched political partisanship and a public sphere defined by the volume of opinions rather than the willingness to listen means changing minds is a big ask. But from teachers to activists, artists and corporations, a huge effort has gone into trying to effect real change. What tools of persuasion, what methods of advocacy, what direct action is fair game when it comes to trying to get one’s cause across? What does the collision between the individual and big institutions look like? And does ideology have any chance against the forces of capital? Host Matt Beard and panellists Thomas Mayor, Sara M. Saleh and Carl Rhodes (Woke Capitalism) discuss the challenges and ethical dilemmas of trying to make a difference.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In these uncertain times we live in, how exactly are we meant to make up our minds? New York Times Australian Bureau Chief and author of Into the Rip, Damien Cave; philosopher, science writer and author of How We Became Human, Tim Dean; and cognitive neuropsychologist Muireann Irish discuss what drives us to action. How do we weigh up pros, cons and risk factors, and how do stress and fear bear on our capacity for critical thinking? With ABC Radio National’s All in the Mind host Sana Qadar.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In award-winning writer Fiona Murphy’s (The Shape of Sound) first year of work as a physiotherapist, a patient asked her: “How does it feel to be nothing more than a glorified walking stick?” In some ways the work of a physiotherapist appears passive – congenial, even, involving gentle walks and small talk. But they are primed to catch any signs of distress or fatigue and predict the likelihood of a fall before it happens. In this insightful lecture, Fiona examines bodies, aging, fear and falling.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

William Shakespeare has long been regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language, but have we heard enough from The Bard? Is it time we prioritised other writers? Wirlomin Noongar writer and poet Claire G. Coleman (Lies, Damned Lies: A personal exploration of the impact of colonisation) contends that Shakespeare’s work lacks relevance for Australian readers and urges that it is vital we work more concertedly to decolonise the literary canon.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The authors of two of 2022's most atmospheric historical fiction novels come together to discuss their books which trace compelling family dramas in richly-drawn settings from Western Australia to Iceland. Emily Brugman’s The Islands follows the sweeping story of the Saari family, a small group of Finnish migrants who come to find a new home on a tiny island in an archipelago off the coast of Western Australia in the mid-1950s. Kári Gíslason’s The Sorrow Stone takes a sidelined figure from the Viking tales and places her at the centre of an epic story of betrayal and revenge, set against the dramatic backdrop of the Icelandic countryside. Emily and Kári discuss their enthralling novels with Susan Wyndham.

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.