Adelaide Writers' Week

With Carody Culver.There's no place like home, although home isn't always a place. It could be a feeling, an instinct, a language, a person, a memory; it could be somewhere we long to return to or can't wait to escape. Join Griffith Review 87 contributors Brooke Boland, Winnie Dunn and Lia Hills as they explore the myriad material consequences of home, from the picket fence to the political arena, in conversation with editor Carody Culver.Event details:Thu 06 Mar, 5:00pm | West Stage

With Carody Culver.Whether it's religious, political, societal, philosophical or spiritual in nature, the act of believing can be a lodestar, a comfort, a ritual, a guiding principle or a reason for living. Join Griffith Review 86 contributors Ceridwen Dovey and Zeynab Gamieldien as they explore what faith can tell us about our desires, our values and ourselves, in conversation with editor Carody Culver.Event details:Thu 06 Mar, 3:45pm | West Stage

With Jo Case.Sofi Oksanen, librettist for Innocence, acclaimed Finnish playwright and bestselling novelist blends family history and journalistic rigour in Same River, Twice to reveal Russia's history of weaponising sexual violence against women – and its links to genocide in Ukraine, misogyny within Russia itself and imperialism on the world stage. Under Putin, she tells Jo Case, women are under threat.Event details:Thu 06 Mar, 2:30pm | West Stage

With Lauren Oyler.Leo Robson is a well-known British essayist and critic who has just written his first novel, The Boys. He talks to Lauren Oyler about writing a comedy about confusion and loss – a generational saga that takes place over a fortnight.Event details:Thu 06 Mar, 1:15pm | West Stage

With Jonathan Green.According to Marcel Proust, “grief develops the power of the mind.” Jonathan Green tests the proposition with Nova Weetman, who has written a memoir, Love, Death and Other Scenes, about the death of her partner, the playwright Aiden Fennessy, during COVID.Event details:Thu 06 Mar, 12:00pm | West Stage

With Richard Buckham.Bestselling author André Aciman shares with Richard Buckham his abiding preoccupation with the themes of exile, longing and memory – themes that inhabit his new memoir about his teenage life, My Roman Year.Event details: Thu 06 Mar, 10:45am | West Stage

With Georgina Godwin.Booker Prize–winning author Howard Jacobson talks to Georgina Godwin about the questions at the heart of What Will Survive of Us? – whether love can survive marriage, betrayal and the passage of time.Event details:Thu 06 Mar, 9:30am | West Stage

With Helen Pitt.With One Hundred Years of Betty, Debra Oswald has written a ‘whole of life' novel, the story of the determinedly curious Betty from 1928 to 2028. In conversation with Helen Pitt, Oswald explores writing across an entire century.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 5:00pm | West Stage

Australian writer Frank Moorhouse was legendary in Australian literary and cultural life.But what if the facts contradict the legend?Join Clare Wright in conversation with Matthew Lamb for this year's Hazel Rowley Memorial Lecture about sorting the legend from the facts.Hear how Matthew grappled with this in his brilliant biography, Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths.The announcement of the 2025 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship winner will follow.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 3:45pm | West Stage

To Mark Dapin.Former publisher and literary agent extraordinaire Deborah Callaghan talks to Mark Dapin about The Little Clothes, her provocative new novel about the vicissitudes of middle age.Event details: Wed 05 Mar, 2:30pm | West Stage

With Bob Carr.Mike Carlton shares stories of the little-known Australian submariners of the 20th century with Bob Carr. His latest book, Dive!, is a chronicle of courage, espionage and political maneuvering.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 1:15pm | West Stage

Anna Broinowski chats to Jo Case to talk about her new memoir, Datsun Angel, the confronting story of a sex, drugs and violence-fuelled adventure through the savage Australian outback of the 1980s.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 12:00pm | West Stage

With Jo Case.The critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Tiger's Wife and Inland, Téa Obreht, tells Jo Case about her latest novel, The Morningside, a haunting, dystopian story about war, climate refugees and magic.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 10:45am | West Stage

With Katrina Strickland.Marie Curie and Maria Callas were legends in both their professional and private lives. Bestselling writers Dava Sobel and Daisy Goodwin take us inside these remarkable women's worlds, in company with Katrina Strickland.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 9:30am | West Stage

With Annabelle Quince.The winner of the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Writing, Matthew Longo, talks to Annabelle Quince about The Picnic. An improbable historical event, this pan-European outing involved goulash, beer and 600 East Germans on the border between Hungary and Austria.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 2:30pm | West Stage

With Tory Shepherd.Award-winning journalist Rick Morton talks to Tory Shepherd about his book, Mean Streak, a compelling but horrifying account of the “venality, incompetence and cowardice” behind Australia's shameful Robodebt scandal.Event details:Mon 03 Mar, 5:00pm | West Stage

The MUD Literary Prize celebrates a debut novel of literary fiction. Past winners have included Trent Dalton and Pip Williams. Hear from the 2025 winner, Cameron Stewart, author of Why Do Horses Run? with chair David Sly. Special thanks to the MUD Literary Club for their support and contribution to Adelaide Writers' WeekEvent details:Mon 03 Mar, 3:45pm | West Stage

The Voice to Parliament referendum was an opportunity for meaningful Indigenous recognition. Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brien reflect on the defeat of this modest proposal. Are we mean-spirited? Are we naysayers who lack the empathy to redress profound wrongs? Did advocates fail to effectively prosecute their case? And what is the way forward?Event details:Mon 03 Mar, 2:30pm | West Stage

With Nicole Abadee.Critic and Novelist Lauren Oyler joins Nicole Abadee to explore the self-aggrandisement and selfexoneration inherent in public writing, as well as literary criticism and Oyler's latest essay collection, No Judgement.Event details:Mon 03 Mar, 1:15pm | West Stage

With Alexander Ward AM.Shaun Micallef talks to Alexander Ward AM about his new anthology, Slivers, Shards and Skerricks, a dizzying collection of prose, plays, philosophy, poetry and parody by one of Australia's “most intelligent and more handsome Renaissance men.”Event details: Mon 03 Mar, 12:00pm | West Stage

With Leo Robson.What does the rise and fall of autofiction suggest about contemporary subjectivity? Is ‘lived experience' the only form of truth available to the neoliberal author, be it the patient on the analyst's couch or the modern novelist? Can audiences no longer suspend disbelief? Psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster and literary critic Leo Robson discuss the problem.Event details:Mon 03 Mar, 10:45am | West Stage

With Debbie Whitmont.Columnist and journalist Peter Beinart says, “I still believe in the metaphor of Jews as a family. But it has been corrupted. Our leaders have turned our commitment to one another into a moral sedative.” He discusses these issues with Debbie Whitmont.Event details:Mon 03 Mar, 9:30am | West Stage

With Jonathan Green.Legendary former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Mark Scott, former managing director of the ABC and now Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, talk to Jonathan Green about the state of the modern media and why it is that journalists are routinely viewed as unethical and untrustworthy.Event details:Sun 02 Mar, 5:00pm | West Stage

In conversation with Natasha Stott Despoja, award-winning and bestselling author Nikki Gemmell discusses her latest determinedly feminist literary thriller, Wing. It's the story of four girls and their teacher who disappear for four days and refuse to explain what happened.Event details:Sun 02 Mar, 3:45pm | West Stage

With Kim Williams.Kim Williams chairs a discussion with Martin Baron, Eric Beecher and Alan Rusbridger on the blokes with ink in their veins and asks what happens when the ink runs out and the presses grind to a halt.Event details:Sun 02 Mar, 2:30pm | West Stage

With Alice Grundy.When some of the institutions fundamental to democracy are struggling both here and overseas, when it feels like progress is slipping and hard-won rights are being wound back, how can the power of writing show us a way forward? Amy McQuire, Clare Wright and Anna Spargo-Ryan offer ideas for working our way out of some of the wicked problems of our time, in discussion with chair Alice Grundy.Event details:West Stage

With Natasha Mitchell.The international community is busy coming to terms with the re-election of President Trump, but he is a symptom of American malaise, not its cause. Americans are neither willing nor able to save themselves from themselves – in a fundamental sense, America is down and out. But it has enormous resilience, which it needs to empower, and it has close friends, like Australia, that can offer practical assistance in designing and implementing the political and social reforms that are necessary if America is to become truly great. Join Allan Behm, Emma Shortis, Dr Prudence Flowers and Nick Bryant in conversation with chair Natasha Mitchell.Event details:Sun 02 Mar, 12:00pm | West Stage

With Natasha Mitchell.The influence of the gas and coal industry on our politicians and policymakers is an open secret in Australia. What is less well understood is why this small industry, with little economic significance, wields such apparent power and how easy it would be to free our democracy from its grip. Richard Denniss, Royce Kurmelovs, Ross Garnaut and Sarah Hanson-Young talk through the issues with chair Natasha Mitchell.Event details:Sun 02 Mar, 10:45am | West Stage

With Natasha Mitchell.The Australian Dream used to be to own your own home, but young people are being increasingly locked out of home ownership. In fact, young people today are on track to be the first generation to be worse off than their parents. How did we as a nation get here and how do we fix it? Alan Kohler, Maiy Azize, Amy Remeikis and Jordan van den Lamb discuss the issues with chair Natasha Mitchell.Event details:Sun 02 Mar, 9:30am | West Stage

With Tory Shepherd.Bestselling author John Crace and his much-loved companion Herbert Hound offer a lacerating and hilarious account of post-Brexit Britain, from the fall of BoJo through the ensuing series of clusterf*cks, in Crace's latest book, Taking the Lead. Join him in conversation with Tory Shepherd.Sat 01 Mar, 5:00pm | West Stage

With Richard Denniss.Australia's favourite financial journalist, Alan Kohler, has much to say about the country's enduring housing crisis and the solutions we need. He shares the thinking in his book The Great Divide with Richard Denniss.Event details:Sat 01 Mar, 3:45pm | West Stage

With Steve Bracks.Journalist and former Labour Party senior policy adviser Tom Baldwin explains the complexities and contradictions of Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's most working-class leader in a generation to Steve Bracks.Sat 01 Mar, 2:30pm | West Stage

With Nicole Abadee.In Signs of Damage, bestselling and multi-award-winning novelist Diana Reid writes about memory, morality and the difference between understanding someone and explaining them. She talks to Nicole Abadee about her latest novel.Event details:Sat 01 Mar, 1:15pm | West Stage

With Sarah Martin.A call-out to anxious parents and grandparents to join Sarah Martin as she asks Dr Norman Swan what to do about sleep, diet, school refusal, social media, what genetics determine and what you can and can't change.Event details:Sat 01 Mar, 12:00pm | West Stage

With Annabel Crabb.Acclaimed chef Ben Shewry of Attica opens up to Annabel Crabb about his memoir Uses for Obsession, which details a toxic hospitality culture, an oppressive restaurant review system and the author's own unwavering pursuit of perfection.Event details:Sat 01 Mar, 10:45am | West Stage

With Michelle de Kretser.Pankaj Mishra sees the polarised response to Gaza as a clash between the West's view of the Holocaust as a unique moral reference point and the rest of the world's traumatic experience of colonialism. He explains his views to Michelle de Kretser.Event details:Sat 01 Mar, 9:30am | West Stage

With Farrin Foster.Lauren Fuge, a science writer and traveller, explores with Farrin Foster what it is that drives us to traverse seas and continents, from the fjords of the Pacific Northwest to the geology of outback Australia to the edges of the known universe.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 5:00pm | North Stage

With Walter Marsh.A group of old friends, a grieving mother, a lying bride and a sweltering Australian beach. Rebecca Heath talks to Walter Marsh about her third psychological thriller, The Wedding Party.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 3:45pm | North Stage

With Farrin Foster.Finegan Kruckemeyer is an award-winning playwright, whose works have been performed on six continents and in eight languages. Farrin Foster talks to Finegan about his astonishing debut novel The End and Everything Before It.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 2:30pm | North Stage

With Walter Marsh.Stephen Orr discusses the complex interconnections of family and community, memory and place, commitment and contribution in Shining Like the Sun with Walter Marsh.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 1:15pm | North Stage

With Jane Howard.Lainie Anderson talks to Jane Howard about her immersive three-year investigation of the World War I–era story of South Australian detective duo Kate Cocks and Ethel Bromley, which resulted in her debut murder mystery, The Death of Dora Black.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 12:00pm | North Stage

Place is more than a setting. It is an evocation, a provocation and possibly a temptation. In both fiction and non-fiction, Jannali Jones, Jennifer Mills and Jessica White have all written about places, real, imagined and disputed. Join them for a conversation with chair Tamara Montina about placemaking with language.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 10:45am | North Stage

Can a literary journal help us understand or even change our reality? Editor of new Tarntanya-based journal Splinter, Farrin Foster, and issue one writers Hossein Asgari, Karen Wyld and Anthony Nocera, discuss the evolving purpose of literary journals and how it dovetails with their work in Splinter.Event details:Wed 05 Mar, 9:30am | North Stage

Be among the first to discover the 2025 Stella Prize longlist. Join the Judging Panel – Debra Dank, Astrid Edwards, Leah-Jing McIntosh and Rick Morton – for an illuminating discussion about the best literature produced in Australia.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 5:00pm | North Stage

With Dr, Rachel Spencer.Emeritus Professor Rick Sarre, in conversation with Dr. Rachel Spencer, discusses the problems with the current deterrence approach and why social justice needs to be at the heart of crime prevention – issues he details in his new book Preventing Crime.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 3:45pm | North Stage

With Beejay Silcox.What can a legendary woman from the medieval past teach us about our present? Emily Maguire, whose latest novel is Rapture, talks about ambition, power and cultural transgression – on and off the page – with critic Beejay Silcox.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 2:30pm | North Stage

With Molly Murn.The hero of Brian Castro's 10th novel is in his mid-70s, a migrant, thrice-divorced, a one-time postman and professor, now a writer living alone in the Adelaide Hills. His days are filled with reflections on his life and what he calls “the mannered and meditative inaction of age”. Castro discusses his new novel, Chinese Postman, with Molly Murn.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 1:15pm

With Sian Cain.It is 1997 and in a small Australian town in the back of beyond, a young funeral attendant is planning her suicide. Her plans are interrupted by the discovery of a comet, a cult and a flurry of conspiracy theories. The New Yorker hailed Bright Objects as one of the best books of 2024. Ruby Todd explains more to Sian Cain.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 12:00pm | North Stage

With Molly Murn.In Bullet, Paper, Rock, award-winning author Abbas El-Zein discusses the political, linguistic and psychological conflicts that have shaped his life. He is joined in conversation by Molly Murn.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 10:45am | North Stage

Join Clem Bastow and Jo Case as they talk about their co-edited anthology of autistic gender-diverse and women writers, Someone Like Me, an exploration of autistic people's experiences and hardships.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 9:30am | North Stage

With Georgina Godwin.Award-winning foreign correspondent and writer Peter Godwin and his sister Georgina Godwin discuss his memoir Exit Wounds, reflecting on their family's legacy of exile and loss and his changing relationships with the women who have shaped his life.Event details:Mon 03 Mar, 5:00pm | North Stage