The Wheeler Centre

‘Remember what Bertrand Russell said, most people would rather die than think, and most people do. And that's the world's tragedy. So to get people to think is the very, very first step in motivating the people of the planet to rise up and do something about the difficulties that we face, because there is no alternative.’ 

Is global agreement on global challenges possible? World-renowned philosopher A.C. Grayling believes an answer to this question is urgently needed.

In his latest book, For the Good of the World, Grayling proposes that the three biggest challenges facing the world today are climate change, the rapid development of high-impact technology and a global deficit in social and economic justice.

At this special keynote lecture, Technology, Climate, Justice and Rights: Can We Get the Whole World to Agree on Any of Them?, Grayling expands his thinking on these ideas, before answering burning questions from the audience. Can we agree on a set of values that will allow us to confront the threats facing our planet? Or will these issues progress at a rate that continues to outstrip our ability to deal with them?

Don't miss this thought-provoking address recorded on Thursday 15 September 2022 and hosted by Bhakthi Puvanenthiran. This conversation was presented with support from Dumbo Feather.

Featured music is Formations by Van Sandano.

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‘But, you know, the thing about putting together a diary is, that when you read through the old books, you can see these points where you're about to walk off a cliff. And you see yourself walk off a cliff like one hundred times and you think, wake up, but it's too late because you're already off the cliff.’ 

Helen Garner is one of Australia’s most respected writers. Her novels, short stories, essays, journalism, and more recently her diaries – including her latest instalment, How to End a Story: Diaries: 1995–1998 – have influenced generations of Australian writers and are a fixture of Melbourne’s collective consciousness. 

Over a long lunch at Montalto, she joined Sean O’Beirne, author of the recent monograph On Helen Garner, to discuss her immense contribution to Australian literature, and the unmistakable currents of candor and independence that have run through her writing life. 

This event was recorded on Friday 20 May 2022. 

Presented in partnership with Montalto 

Featured music is Traveling Again by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist. 

Support the Wheeler Centre: https://www.wheelercentre.com/support-us/donate

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‘7 ½ felt a little bit like being a young writer again. Physically I can't call myself that (laughs), but in writing 7 ½ I felt that. Like, let's just go by instinct, in a way... 

7 ½ was a way of me trying to think of what it was about being a writer that I enjoyed, what was it that I wanted to do.’ 

The acclaimed author of novels such as The Slap, Damascus and Barracuda, Christos Tsiolkas is known as one of Australia’s most beloved – and provocative – writers. In his latest novel, 7½, a novelist arrives in a secluded coastal town to escape the self-congratulatory moralism of the modern world and immerse himself in the beauty of nature. Here, he begins to write a book about an ageing ex-pornstar offered one last impossible-to-refuse job, and so begins a meditation on the choice between beauty and righteousness.   

In this event at Montalto, Tsiolkas joined Angela Savage for a conversation about the power and transformative mysteries of art, creativity and transgression, as well as the moral crises affecting contemporary fiction. Enjoy a delicious lunch and thought-provoking conversation with a writer whose warmth and insight flows through even his most challenging work.  

This event was recorded on 31 March 2022.

Presented in partnership with Montalto 

Featured music is ‘Greasy’ by Timothy Infinite

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‘Who are you feeding? Who is your audience? Is it the one percent of the one percent and that is what’s so beautiful and amazing and artistic or do you want to feed a community?’ 

Jess Ho is one of the most influential voices in Australia’s bar and restaurant scene, well known for their searingly honest opinions on the hospitality industry. 

Growing up confronting racism in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Ho’s family’s traditional Cantonese cooking was both a comfort and a source of shame. As the Australian restaurant scene boomed, they embarked on a career in food writing at a time when the once ‘embarrassing’ foods of immigrant childhoods were quickly becoming commodified trends. 

In their new memoir, Raised by Wolves, Ho weaves a coming-of-age story into an exploration of the industry they love, revealing the truths – both ugly and inspiring – behind Australia’s fine-dining obsession. 

For this episode, Jess Ho spoke with host Clem Bastow about the role of food in their upbringing and offer a peek behind the kitchen door with their fierce, funny and razor-sharp lens. 

This podcast was recorded on Thursday 28 July 2022 as part of Melbourne City Reads, a series generously supported by George and Rosa Morstyn.  

Featured music is ‘Believe Me When I Say It’ by Matt Large. 

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“You know, for me, I loved reading, but I didn’t exist on those pages and when a child of any age doesn’t exist in our mainstream, in our books, in our stories, they start believing they’re not important.” 

– Melina Marchetta 

Looking for Alibrandi broke new ground with its honest and empowered portrait of an Italian-Australian teen coming of age in 1990s inner Sydney, speaking authentically about systemic racism in Australia from a migrant perspective.  

For generations of teens, the beloved novel (and later cult movie) is a foundational story. Its exploration of family, womanhood, first love, identity and othering still resonates with readers today, 30 years after its release. 

Now, Melina Marchetta’s novel has been adapted for the stage. In this special collaboration between the Wheeler Centre and Malthouse Theatre, Marchetta joined playwright Vidya Rajan, director Stephen Nicolazzo, and the film’s star Pia Miranda to discuss Looking for Alibrandi’s journey from page to screen to stage, the art of adaptation, and the enduring impact of this Australian classic.  

This conversation was hosted by Brodie Lancaster and recorded at the Malthouse Theatre on 18 July 2022. 

The bookseller was Hill of Content Bookshop. 

Music: Pastel Colours by Sarah, The Illstrumentalist 

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Adolescence is all about transformation, risk, passion – but what happens when young people are pushed to their limits? 

Author Holden Sheppard has been widely acclaimed for his YA novels, which explore these limits with nuance and compassion.  

In his new book, The Brink, a group of schoolies confront a life-changing tragedy on a trip they’ll never forget. In Sheppard’s award-winning debut novel (and its forthcoming television adaptation) Invisible Boys, three teenage boys come to terms with their homosexuality in a town where queerness is invisible. 

On this episode, hear Sheppard discuss the jagged edges of adolescence in conversation with C.S. Pacat. 

The bookseller for this event was Readings. 

This podcast was recorded on 4 August 2022 at the Wheeler Centre. 

The Wheeler Centre’s programming for young audiences is generously supported by The Hon. Justice Michelle Gordon AC and The Hon. Kenneth Hayne AC QC. 

Music: Pastel Colours by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist   

Support the Wheeler Centre: https://www.wheelercentre.com/support-us/donate

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'It’s ok to be uncomfortable, and it’s a sign of strength if you’re feeling really weird about it - cause that’s a normal, human, good thing.'

At this special salon event held in partnership with State Library Victoria, we took a leaf out of Otis Redding’s book and tried a little tenderness.

Sarah Krasnostein’s March Quarterly Essay, Not Waving, Drowning: Mental Illness and Vulnerability in Australia examines a society that often punishes vulnerability, but that does have the resources to mend this broken system. Rick Morton’s memoir My Year of Living Vulnerably charts his journey towards embracing the healing and transformative power of love.

Together, these remarkable writers discussed the push and pull that take place across the broad spectrum of social policy, care and human vulnerability, with host Mahmood Fazal.

This podcast was recorded at State Library Victoria on 27 May 2022.

The bookseller for this event was Readings.

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'Mob are doing the work... and theorising race on the run because of the urgency in this place when it comes to racial violence.'

All over Australia, First Nations people are advocating for change in their fields, whether that be journalism and media, culture and the arts, health and legal services, or family members working to end deaths in custody.

At this event recorded live on Wurundjeri Country at the Wheeler Centre for NAIDOC Week 2022, we heard about the power and impact of First Nations campaigning, advocacy and protest.

Host and Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service CEO Nerita Waight was joined by academic and author of Another Day in the Colony Chelsea Watego; hip hop musician and youth mentor Johnathan Binge aka Caution; and Apryl Day, daughter of Aunty Tanya Day and founder of the Dhadjowa Foundation, to share and discuss their experiences of creating change through advocacy and protest.

The bookseller for this event was Readings.

Presented in partnership with the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service.

Featured music is ‘Living In A Fantasy’ by Purple Rhombus

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“Hope is not a solution. Never confuse faith with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts. Failure isn’t fatal, failing to change is.”

Satyajit Das is a globally respected former banker and consultant with over forty years’ experience in financial markets and the international bestselling author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives, Extreme Money: The Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk, and A Banquet of Consequences.  

Join Das as he delivers the inaugural E. W. Cole Lecture at the Wheeler Centre, offering a memorable and surprisingly playful examination of the greatest crises facing our world today, as well as unconventional ideas for how we might go about solving them.

Following his 40-minute lecture, Das is joined by Sally Warhaft to further analyse and interrogate his ideas.

This podcast was recorded on Thursday 31 March 2022 and presented in partnership with the E.W. Cole Foundation.

Featured music is ‘Living In A Fantasy’ by Pulsed.

Support the Wheeler Centre: https://www.wheelercentre.com/support-us/donate

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"There are people that care about books, and if you’re someone who can write them, you’re doing your community a favour. It’s not service in the sense that I’m feeding the homeless or coming up with a solution to climate change, but it nonetheless feels purposeful."

The author of six acclaimed novels including The Corrections, Freedom and Purity, Jonathan Franzen’s latest release Crossroads proves him, once again, to be a master of the modern family saga.  

Selected as the Guardian UK Best Fiction Book of 2021 and an Independent Book of the Year, Crossroads navigates the political, intellectual, and social crosscurrents of the past 50 years through the lens of a dysfunctional American family. 

Franzen joined Astrid Edwards, host of The Garret: Writers on Writing podcast, for a conversation about Crossroads, his writing life and the state of the modern novel. 

The bookseller for this event was Hill of Content Bookshop. 

This podcast was recorded at The Capitol, Melbourne on 14 June 2022 and presented in partnership with RMIT Culture. 

Featured music is ‘Traveling Again' by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist

Support the Wheeler Centre: https://www.wheelercentre.com/support-us/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.