Elise Hawthorne
In what would have been the 2020 Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) week, due to social distancing rules, the SWF team are delighted to unveil the first six recordings in their new podcast series. An incredible list of writers joins the Festival series line-up from afar to bring lovers of books the conversations and performances that were scheduled to take place on stage this week.
Listen to Rebecca Giggs – Fathoms: the world in the whale is her stunning meditation on the lives of these awe-inspiring creatures and her exploration of what they reveal about us. In conversation with Angus Dalton, Rebecca asks what it means to write about nature at a time of environmental crisis.
Tune in to Ann Patchett and Kevin Wilson: A Conversation with Friends.Two of the most acclaimed writers in fiction today, Ann Patchett (The Dutch House) and Kevin Wilson (Nothing to See Here) have been close friends for more than 20 years. In a rare and intimate glimpse into their literary and personal bond, the beloved Tennessean authors share stories of their friendship, their deep admiration of each other’s work and how they both explore the theme of family through their fiction.
Tune in to Ann Patchett and Kevin Wilson: A Conversation with Friends.Two of the most acclaimed writers in fiction today, Ann Patchett (The Dutch House) and Kevin Wilson (Nothing to See Here) have been close friends for more than 20 years. In a rare and intimate glimpse into their literary and personal bond, the beloved Tennessean authors share stories of their friendship, their deep admiration of each other’s work and how they both explore the theme of family through their fiction.
Drawn from years of investigative reporting on domestic abuse, Jess Hill’s 2020 Stella Prize-winning book See What You Made Me Do vividly conjures the scale of our national emergency, evoking a sense of urgency in the reader. Rather than asking questions like, “Why didn’t she leave?”, Jess puts perpetrators – and the criminal justice system enabling them – into the spotlight. Journalist Georgie Dent speaks with Jess about her searing exposé and manifesto for change.
Miranda Tapsell: Top End Girl – spans the world from Kakadu to Cannes. Top End Girl is the rollicking and thought-provoking memoir from actor, activist and writer Miranda Tapsell that holds up a mirror to Australian society and its prejudices. It captures her love of Darwin and the Tiwi Islands, and a childhood of rarely seeing herself represented on screen. ABC Radio National’s Daniel Browning joins Miranda to talk about how she built her stellar career, shooting to fame in The Sapphires and then, as an award-winning actor, decided to change what she saw on screen herself.
Sweatshop Woman: Western Sydney Literacy Movement presents the second issue of its critically acclaimed literary journal Sweatshop Women, Australia’s first anthology of short stories, essays and poems produced entirely by women of colour. Celebrate with readings from some of Australia’s most exciting Indigenous and culturally diverse writers. Introduced by anthology editor and Sweatshop general manager Winnie Dunn, listen to readings from Phoebe Grainer, Sara Saleh, Sydnye Allen, Janette Chen and Maryam Azam.
Sydney Writers’ Festival is built around sharing ideas and conversations which spark further discussion, and they are thrilled to still be able to share with their dedicated audiences some writers’ stories and perspectives. Whether you listen to these podcasts over the next week or have a literature-packed weekend, the company of these brilliant and inventive minds will inspire and embolden you.
Over the coming months the Sydney Writers’ Festival team will re-imagine more than 50 sessions from the 2020 program as free podcasts, in the hope that they lift spirits, provide comfort and offer a sense of community to as many people as possible in these isolated times. New podcasts will be released every week on all major podcast platforms.
Sydney Writers’
Festival thanks the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund
for their support of our podcast series.
For more information visit: www.swf.org.au
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