For the second instalment of our Dead Calm series, Hilary Harper hosts an honest conversation about death and bereavement. Grief counsellor and author Eliza Henry-Jones, community health worker and ‘death talker’ Molly Carlile and medical anthropologist Gregory Phillips enquire after more supportive and compassionate ways for people, communities, workplaces and governments to deal with lives ending.

At the Wheeler Centre, US-based writer, researcher and educator – and the author of New York Times-bestseller 'White Fragility' – Robin DiAngelo explores why white people often become defensive or hostile during discussions of racism, and examines how this phenomenon derails progress in dealing with structural discrimination. She is then joined by a panel, including Jack Latimore, Odette Kelada and Tim Lo Surdo – for a discussion and Q&A.

For this jumbo instalment of our Next Big Thing series, hosted by Louise Swinn – and part of this year’s Small Press Network Conference – we point you to books that deserve another look … announce the winner of the 2018 Most Underrated Book Award.

June Thomas, senior managing producer of Slate podcasts, joins Sophie Black to discuss the value of niche culture, the maturation of podcasting, and what makes a conversation worth eavesdropping on. Through her two decades on staff, Thomas has featured in the outlet’s popular ‘Gabfests’ (Culture, Political) The Waves (née Double X Gabfest), and helmed projects like The Americans(analysing the TV series of the same name) and Afterword (a 30-episode exploration of the art of non-fiction writing). The pioneering New York-based digital magazine joined the podcast game early, and with vigour; today, it continues to produce hugely popular talk-based shows. Thomas has been there to observe it all.

For the tenth anniversary of Melbourne's designation as a UNESCO City of Literature, we held a gala night of readings and storytelling at Deakin Edge featuring ten brilliant writers – both established and emerging – who have made Melbourne home for either a short time or a lifetime. Where, for them, does Melbourne come alive on the page? Which classic stories and scenes of Melbourne are part of our literary DNA, and how are a new generation of writers remaking the city with words? In order of appearance – hear from Alice Pung, Tony Birch, Jane Rawson, Eloise Grills, Moreno Giovannoni, Jennifer Down, Alexis Wright, Patricia Cornelius, Andy Griffiths and Sumudu Samarawickrama.

What happens to our bodies when we die? Do our bodies define who and what we are – or are they a vessel for something more? Dominique Martin, Rohit D'Costa and Pia Interlandi talk organ donation, artistic intervention, bioethics and more, hosted by Hilary Harper.

In Australia to receive the 2018 Sydney Peace Prize, Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz appears here in conversation with Mary Kostakidis at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne to discuss global inequality – and what we can do about it. Is profound economic overhaul possible in advanced democracies? Which old ideas about wealth distribution are discredited, and which deserve to be revived? And how does the recent global wave of populist political movements play into, and against, the economic status quo?

This time, our live romantic advice series focusses on queer romantic conundrums. Hear outpourings, lustful brags, head scratchers and everything in between, with guest advisors Amy Middleton, Gregory Phillips and Dion Kagan, and host Jess McGuire.

Ahead of Melbourne Festival's production of Layla and Majnun, we hear from musicologist Aida Huseynova, an expert in the music and culture of Azerbaijan, who consulted on the Layla and Majnun production; and from Shokoofeh Azar, acclaimed author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, who drew on Persian legends when writing her Stella Prize-shortlisted novel. With host Serpil Senelmis, the pair discuss deep, burning love in Persian storytelling, the traditions of mugham music, and the role of adaptation and interpretation in keeping traditional stories alive.

What does it mean, and what does it cost, to make a complaint? This question is at the heart of Sara Ahmed’s research into institutional power, and it forms the basis of this energetic, wide-ranging lecture.