Produced in collaboration with Griffith Review, Sarah Sentilles talks with Ashley Hay about her latest works. They discuss her essay, ‘Creation Stories’, from Griffith Review 73: Hey, Utopia! as well as Sarah’s new memoir Stranger Care. 

In this insightful discussion, Ashley and Sarah discuss many topics, including the collision between bureaucracy and love, the nature of creativity and the ability of art to change the way we see the world.

About Stranger Care: 
The moving story of what one woman learned from fostering a newborn — about injustice, about making mistakes, about how to better love and protect people beyond our immediate kin.

About Creation Stories:
An essay about the world-making power of art. Published in Griffith Review 73: Hey Utopia!

Stranger Care: Sarah Sentilles in conversation with Ashley Hay

Tackling this challenging topic with respect, breadth and depth of experience David Leser, Yves Rees, Mariam Veiszadeh together with Jess Hill consider patriarchy and how it affects us all. Through the lens of history, non-binary perspectives and cultures around the world, we are presented with hope and practical tools to become aware of patriarchy - external and internal, and the idea of change and how to achieve it. Smash the patriarchy? Let it ‘die out’? Or are there other ways to reform the system?

An Equal World: Overcoming Patriarchy

A powerful conversation with Bundjalung poet Evelyn Araluen about her Stella-award winning collection Dropbear, and more broadly her creative and academic practice. Evelyn's poetry, together with her work as a literary editor and academic, interrogates the history of Australian literature; the tropes that curate our idea of Australianness and the influence of language - both English and Bundjalung - on our relationship to the land.

Earmarked with evocative readings and ceremoniously facilitated by Daniel Browning, this is a simply stunning session from the 2022 Byron Writers Festival.

Evelyn Araluen on Drop Bear

Iconic Australian actor Bryan Brown became an international success in the early 80’s with critical acclaim, appearing in more than 80 films. In this conversation Bryan Brown chats with Chris Hanley about his debut novel, Sweet Jimmy. Together they discuss the essence of a good story, the sense of adventure that was instilled in Bryan Brown growing up in Sydney’s western suburbs, and how that experience shaped his career in the arts. An enjoyable discussion with one of Australia’s best loved actors.

Bryan Brown on Sweet Jimmy

Growing into Autism: Sandra Thom-Jones in conversation with Mandy Nolan

Professor Sandra Thom-Jones thought she just had to try harder when daily life overwhelmed her, despite success in her career and home life. As she explains in her memoir, she grew to realise that she was autistic, her world very different to that experienced by neurotypical people.

Growing Into Autism

Older women know that our society, smitten with youthfulness, devalues them in ways that can diminish their self-worth. In this episode Susan Johnson, Jacinta Parsons and Tracey Spicer discuss ways to reclaim pride in one’s ageing self – including by living disgracefully.

Living Disgracefully

What does it mean to be free? Lea Ypi grew up in Stalinist Albania, one of the most isolated countries on earth and a place where Communist ideals had officially replaced religion.

Free

One of Australia’s best-loved broadcasters, Richard Fidler takes us into the world of medieval wanderers who wrote of their travels to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age.

In conversation with Kári Gíslason.

The Book Of Roads And Kingdoms

Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is a luminous, compelling and utterly surprising memoir by Heather Rose, the bestselling author of Stella Prize-winner The Museum of Modern Love and Bruny. Heartbreaking and beautiful, this is a love story brimming with courage and joy against all odds, one that will bring wonder, light and comfort to all who read it.

Heather Rose in conversation with Jill Eddington.

Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here

We are surrounded by death in news, true-crime podcasts and even nursery rhymes. Yet from an early age, we are told that death is to be feared. How can we know what we're so afraid of, if we don’t examine it?

Hayley Campbell in conversation with Kerry Sunderland.

All The Living And The Dead

Stories are passed down through the generations. Expectations are too. Three novelists whose writings reflect their diverse family backgrounds share how the stories they inherited inform their writing.

Shankari Chandran, Shirley Le, Peter Polites with Jemma Birrell.

The Family Spark

The science has long been there, but it will take imagination to win the world over to climate action. Two authors who have reimagined songs and witchy tales discuss how fiction can spark the energy we need.

Eliza Henry-Jones, Mark Smith with Nell Schofield.

Green Imaginings

Silent quitting, climate quitting, goblin mode, human sustainability, leaning out. What are all these terms and what age are we living in? How is language evolving to describe how we live now and what do all those catch-phrases mean? 

Ellen van Neerven, Alison Pennington, Kristine Ziwica and Paul Barclay.

Checking Out

#BWF2024Podcast
Media & Justice. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Wayne Bergmann, Amy McQuire, Rob Waters, chaired by Merinda Dutton.

The media’s treatment of Indigenous issues, including Black deaths in custody, legacies of the NT intervention, and treaty negotiations, shows we have a long way to go to accessing justice. Join talented writers and experts Wayne Bergmann (Some People Want to Shoot Me), Amy McQuire (Black Witness) and Rob Waters (2023 Australian Poetry Slam Champion) to explore how we can hold power to account and make the world a more equitable place.

Media & Justice

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Lola In The Mirror.  Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Trent Dalton in conversation with Julia Baird. 

Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton. Join this festival favourite in conversation with Julia Baird.

Lola In The Mirror

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It's Not Just Cricket.  Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Gideon Haigh in conversation with Chris Hanley.

Join journalist, author and polymath Gideon Haigh for an intimate discussion of his latest works, including the moving memoir My Brother Jaz, true crime investigation The Girl in Cabin 350, and biography The One Indiscretion of His Life. Widely known as Australia’s favourite cricket writer, Haigh is one of our most prolific and insightful writers today.

It's Not Just Cricket

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For The Earth.  Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Ali Cobby Eckerman, Richard Flanagan, Sue Higginson and David Lindenmayer, chaired by Bob Brown.

In this festival highlight, join award-winning poet Ali Cobby Eckermann (She is the Earth), Booker Prize-winning novelist Richard Flanagan (Question 7), ecologist David Lindenmayer (Forest Wars), and local Greens MLC Sue Higginson for a conversation about the environment and the urgent need to care for the natural world

For The Earth

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For Life.  Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Aisla Piper in conversation with Charlotte Wood. 
When her husband doesn’t answer his phone, Ailsa Piper knows something is wrong. For Life is an unforgettable and moving insight into loss, hope and starting again, aided by the incredible healing power of nature and a community of unexpected angels.

For Life

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Feminist Literatures.  Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Caoilinn Hughes, Melissa Lucasheko and Meena Kandasamy, chaired by Ashley Hay.

Join three superstars of the festival to discuss the influences on their work and the way gender, race and class struggles inform their literary practice. Through fiction and poetry Caoilinn Hughes, Meena Kandasamy and Melissa Lucashenko address some of the most pertinent social and political issues today.

Feminist Literatures

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Close To The Subject. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Daniel Browning in conversation with Rhianna Patrick.

Close to the Subject is the collected works of one of Australia’s most accomplished media personalities. Chronicling his career since 2007, join Daniel Browning to reflect on his stellar career as a journalist, radio broadcaster, critic and interviewer.

Close To The Subject

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Bob Brown In Conversation. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Bob Brown in conversation with Jan Fran.

Join Bob Brown, former senator and parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens, for an intimate evening of discussion. What prompted Bob to write a young adult ‘novelette’, and what can it teach us about engaging young people in the fight for Earth’s future?

Bob Brown In Conversation

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Always Will Be. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival and join Mykaela Saunders in conversation with Daniel Browning.

In her stunningly inventive and thought-provoking collection Always Will Be, Mykaela Saunders poses the question: what might country, community and culture look like in the Tweed if Gooris reasserted their sovereignty?

Always Will Be

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36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Nam Le in conversation with Caoilinn Hughes.

Fifteen years after his best-selling, award-winning collection of stories The Boat, Nam Le returns to his great themes of identity and representation in a virtuosic debut book of poetry. 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem is scathing, hilarious, and desperately moving.

36 Ways Of Writing A Vietnamese Poem

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My Story. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Nicky Winmar in conversation with Gideon Haigh.

Thirty years after creating one of the most memorable moments in sporting history, Indigenous AFL legend Nicky Winmar tells his story in a moving and compelling memoir, giving rare insight into his life

My Story

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Our ABC? Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Kim Williams in conversation with Kerry O’Brien.

In January 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced media executive Kim Williams as the next chair of the ABC. Join Kim in conversation with Kerry O’Brien to reflect on his new role at the beloved national broadcaster and to share his vision for its future, as well as his thoughts on the current state of Australian media and the arts.

Our ABC

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Prima Facie. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Suzie Miller in conversation with Steph Harmon. 

Drawn from the internationally acclaimed play, Prima Facie is a propulsive, raw look at the price victims pay for speaking out and the system that sets them up to fail. Join author and playwright Suzie Miller in conversation with Guardian culture editor Steph Harmon.

Prima Facie

Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with William McInnes in conversation with Mareike Hardy. Have you ever behaved like a drongo? Added mayo to a story? Lost your Reg Grundies? Join bestselling author and acclaimed actor William McInnes to discuss Yeah, Nah! – a collection of hilarious memories and moments inspired by Australia’s way with words.

Yeah Nah

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Question 7. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Richard Flanagan in conversation with Jill Eddington.

Beginning at a love hotel by Japan’s Inland Sea and ending by a river in Tasmania, Question 7 is about the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows. Join Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan to discuss this love song to his island home and to his parents, in a melding of dream, history, place and memory.

Question 7

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Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Royce Kurmelovs in conversation with Isabelle Reinecke.

Investigative journalist Royce Kurmelovs’ Slick is a riveting expose of the global oil industry’s multi-decade conspiracy to undermine efforts to address environmental devastation. It tells the stories of fire and flood survivors, and the activists engaged in a fight for the future of Australia.


Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil

Stone Yard Devotional. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Charlotte Wood in conversation with Jill Eddington.

Join Charlotte Wood to discuss her latest novel Stone Yard Devotional – longlisted for the 2024 Miles Franklin Award – a deeply moving novel about forgiveness, grief, and what it means to be ‘good’, from the award-winning author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.

Stone Yard Devotional

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Unique. Head back to the 2024 Byron Writers Festival with Jodi Rodgers in conversation with Mandy Nolan. 
In Unique, beloved star of ABC TV’s award-winning Love on the Spectrum and disability rights advocate Jodi Rodgers shares stories from her three-decade career working with the autistic community and calls for a more inclusive and accepting society.


Unique

In this poignant session, recorded live at the 2018 Byron Writers Festival, Jessie Cole, Walter Mikac and Hannah Richell talk to Jesse Blackadder about their experiences of writing through grief. They have each lived through devastating experiences, and here, they bravely share their stories.

First Open A Vein: Writing Through Personal Pain

The Thea Astley Address, named in honour of one of Australia’s most influential and distinctive novelists, has been presented annually at the Byron Writers Festival since 2005 - by some of Australia’s best writers and most interesting minds. This year, we add to the prestigious list Professor Marcia Langton, one of our country's most important voices for Indigenous Australia. The 2020 Thea Astley Address, entitled Black Lives Matter, is supported by The Conversation and the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.

In this powerful address, Marcia Langton explores how Black Lives Matter in Australia, through history, in the present and for our future. She takes us back to the death of Mulrunji, or Cameron Doomadgee, in custody on Palm Island in 2004, and the subsequent failure of the police and the criminal justice system to deliver justice for the deceased and his family. Langton tracks many similar cases, shining a light on the crisis in which we find ourselves as a nation, and demands the implementation of long-overdue recommendations from the 1987 - 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Black Lives Matter: The 2020 Thea Astley Address delivered by Professor Marcia Langton

Byron Writers Festival is Australia's favourite regional meeting place of storytelling and ideas. We present world-class gatherings that enrich and transform the lives of our audiences and community. Our annual festival takes place in August on Bundjalung Country.

We showcase writers from around the world, representing all aspects of contemporary literature, especially First Nations writing and ways of knowing, environment, politics, philosophy, art, history and society.

Established in 1995, the festival and our year-round programs attract tens of thousands of audiences annually to develop and promote literature from and in the region.

Byron Writers Festival

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