Melbourne Writers Festival

The Dark Lady by author and hip-hop artist Akala tells the magic-laced adventure of teen orphan and thief, Henry, who makes his way through Shakespearean London’s toughest slum. Taking you to a time when boys like Henry relied on their wits and secret powers to survive, Akala tackles themes of identity and inequality familiar to readers of his bestselling book Natives. Join journalist and ABC RN’s Stop Everything! co-host Beverley Wang as she speaks with an author described by The Guardian as ‘the kind of disruptive, aggressive intellect that a new generation is closely watching’. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Committed is Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s keenly awaited follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Sympathizer. A journey through the underworld of 1980s Paris, it shares the same narrator, a Vietnamese-French communist spy, as its predecessor and has drawn praise as ‘a treatise of global futurity in the aftermath of colonial conquest’ (Ocean Vuong) and ‘a deep, compelling and humorous portrait of how we are shaped by fictions others have for us’ (Laila Lalami). He speaks with Leah Jing McIntosh about a literary thriller spiked with absurdist humour that shines a forensic light on empire and capitalism. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the breakout literary stars of 2020 for his Booker Prize–shortlisted novel Real Life, American writer Brandon Taylor talks to Adolfo Aranjuez about his captivating new short story collection, Filthy Animals. Hailed as ‘a writer who wields his craft in absolutely unforgettable ways’ (Roxane Gay), he has produced a high-wire act of interlinked stories about young creatives navigating the blurry territories of fear, longing, violence and desire. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In characteristically genre-defying style, Sigrid Nunez‘s What Are You Going Through melds fiction and criticism to tell a powerful story of multiple endings: the end of a friendship, the end of a life, and the end of humanity itself. The follow-up to the American writer’s National Book Award–winning The Friend, it has been hailed a ‘gloriously meditative story’ that ‘[bursts] with wit, warmth, and human empathy’ (The Independent). She speaks with Astrid Edwards about the meaning of life, the nature of death, the power of art and the purpose of friendship. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pulitzer Prize–winning Jhumpa Lahiri’s new novel, Whereabouts, is a meditative portrait of a woman wavering between stasis and movement as she wanders the parks, piazzas and cafes of an unnamed European city she calls home. Originally composed in Italian and translated into English by Lahiri herself, it depicts a narrator whose outwardly tranquil life belies deeper unrest, estrangement and longing. Hear from Lahiri as she sheds light on an aching and hypnotic work of fiction in conversation with Emma Alberici. Supported by ARA Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the year’s most talked-about books, Rumaan Alam‘s Leave the World Behind is a tautly dystopic story of a family vacation interrupted by unexpected visitors and unseen disaster. Hailed a darkly witty page-turner set against the end of the world, its fans include Carmen Maria Machado, who wrote, ‘I have not been this profoundly unnerved since Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.’ Alam speaks with Osman Faruqi about a novel seemingly tailor-made for our times, exploring race, class and privilege in a world undone by catastrophe. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Natasha Brown’s Assembly has earned impressive praise as ‘the literary debut of the summer’ (Vogue) and a ‘book that doesn’t just mark the moment things change, but also makes that change possible’ (Ali Smith). She speaks in conversation with Areej Nur about her virtuosic novel, narrated by a Black British woman preparing to attend a lavish party at her boyfriend’s family estate, exploring issues of race, class and assimilation in the shadow of Britain’s colonial legacy. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Celebrated Irish-Nigerian author Emma Dabiri’s What White People Can Do Next cuts through the noise of online discourse to offer a robust and nuanced examination of race and class. Drawing from lived experience and academic study, Dabiri expertly outlines how the idea of race was constructed to bolster capitalism, while articulating a powerful vision of how to forge a future that works for us all. Listen to her in conversation with Santilla Chingaipe about a deeply practical treatise told with intellectual rigour and razor-sharp wit. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rachel Cusk’s breakaway Outline trilogy was heralded as nothing short of a reinvention of the novel, unfolding across a series of conversations with a withholding narrator. Her newest work, Second Place, extends the themes of female fate and male privilege to encompass the murky link between art and evil. Cusk speaks with interviewer Sophie Black about a dazzling and psychologically exacting fable of human destiny and decline, and her prolific career at large. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the nation’s most trusted voices during the pandemic, much–loved ABC broadcaster and physician Dr Norman Swan, discusses his first health book, So You Think You Know What’s Good for You? With his trademark clarity and wit, he cuts through medical myths and half-truths to set the record straight on the things we need to know to make better decisions about how to eat, live and preserve good health, in conversation with interviewer Raf Epstein. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel through time to hidden realms with fantasy writer Karen Ginnane (When Days Tilt), in conversation with Amie Kaufman. The teen hero of Ginnane’s debut novel swoops through Victorian-era London to a parallel city to solve her mother’s disappearance. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join acclaimed writers Kathryn Heyman and Clem Bastow as they reflect on their unsparing and hopeful memoirs in conversation with moderator Erina Reddan. Bastow’s wise and witty Late Bloomer examines being diagnosed with autism at age 36, the challenges she faced growing up, and broader cultural stigma around autism, especially for women and gender-diverse people. Heyman’s Fury has been described as a ‘searing, thrilling and redemptive’ (Anna Funder) account of her year-long stint on a fishing trawler in the Timor Sea at age 20 that raised her out of poverty and abuse to become her own hero. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prize–winning novelists Larissa Behrendt and Steven Carroll reflect on how literature from long ago can lead us to truths once left unsaid. Behrendt sets the Western literary canon beside First Nations storytelling in After Story, in which an Indigenous lawyer and her mother tour England’s most revered literary sites. Carroll’s O reimagines the infamous French novel Story of O, shining a light on the preoccupations and wartime past a country would rather forget. With moderator Clare Wright. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join two of the year’s most impressive debut novelists, Sophie Overett and Emily Spurr, as they talk about capturing the confusion, grief and resilience of characters grappling with the disappearance of loved ones. Overett won the Penguin Literary Prize for The Rabbits, a magic-realism-infused story of a family grieving the disappearance of a son, who they soon learn has turned invisible. Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award, Spurr’s A Million Things is the enthralling and wrenching tale of a brave, spiky young girl who must fend for herself in her mother’s absence. With Elizabeth Flux.Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nearly half of Australians live with a chronic illness, but many of these conditions are invisible and endured in secrecy. Triple J presenter and How to Endo author Bridget Hustwaite teams up with ABC Radio presenter and Unseen author Jacinta Parsons to speak with Jamila Rizvi about living with hidden illness. They reflect on the challenging path to diagnosis—Hustwaite with endometriosis, and Parsons with Crohn’s disease—how the medical system ignores women, and the complex dynamic between those living with illness, their bodies, and society at large.Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hear from acclaimed new talents Ella Baxter and Allee Richards as they speak to Elizabeth McCarthy about their debut novels, which each brings unique perspective to the story of a young woman navigating sudden loss and grief. Baxter’s New Animal is the ‘profound, profane and darkly hilarious’ (Bri Lee) story of a young cosmetician in a family mortuary who falls in with a Tasmanian BDSM community after experiencing tragedy. Exploring friendship, desire and grief, Richards’ Small Joys of Real Life follows a woman reeling from the death of a fleeting romantic encounter and has been described as Sally Rooney meets Helen Garner.Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Known to some 150,000 Instagram followers as Flex Mami, Lillian Ahenkan is a presenter, podcaster and influencer who uses her platform to explore everything from therapy to DIY decorating to racism. She chats with Matilda Boseley about her debut book The Success Experiment—detailing how she transformed herself from a two-time uni drop-out and a career that paid in burnout into a highly sought-after media personality—and the formula that will make you think differently about the way you live and work. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Acclaimed writers Paige Clark (She Is Haunted) and Chloe Wilson (Hold Your Fire) chat about their short story collections, both bound by fantastical and unsettling elements, inconversation with Veronica Sullivan. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian writers Steven Carroll and Rebecca Starford speak to Sarah L'Estrange about two of the most riveting historical novels of the year, each featuring characters with shifting identifies, set against the backdrop of WWII. A Miles Franklin–winning author, Carroll’s O travels to occupied France to reimagine the infamous Story of O and the life of its pseudonymous protagonist, offering insight into power, surrender and the expectations of women. Starford’s debut novel The Imitator is a page-turning thriller that draws from the true story of a woman who became an undercover agent for MI5, exploring courage, loyalty, and sacrifice. Recorded for MWF in 2021. Supported by the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The new novels of Miles Franklin–winning writer Sofie Laguna (Infinite Splendours) and Walkley–winning journalist Erina Reddan (The Serpent’s Skin) each depict childhood trauma and its reverberations into adulthood. In this podcast, they speak with Ellen Cregan about the corrosive power of toxic masculinity, the betrayal of a child by the adults in their life, the strength of sibling bonds, and the ways in which hope and redemption are salvaged later in life. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first Muslim woman to sit in an Australian parliament, Greens senator and life-long feminist and anti-racism activist Mehreen Faruqi tells her story in the no-holds-barred memoir Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud. Join her as she recounts arriving from Pakistan in 1992 with a young family and two suitcases, her career as a civil and environmental engineer, and her ascent as a political outsider in a white man’s world, striving to change it without being changed. Faruqi is joined by moderator Tasneem Chopra.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two authors confront the impossibility of untangling the enduring racism of Australia without seriously reckoning with the ongoing dispossession and genocide of First Nations people. Join Gunai/Kurnai writer Veronica Heritage-Gorrie (Black and Blue) and activist and thinker Randa Abdel-Fattah (Coming of Age in the War on Terror) as they examine how modern-day racism is bound to the violence and traumas of colonisation, and how we can forge a path forward. With moderator Roj Amedi. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an intimate conversation featuring two of literary Australia’s brightest young talents, Madeleine Ryan (A Room Called Earth) and Yves Rees (All About Yves) speak to Adolfo Aranjuez about laying bare the messiness of bodies, gender and identity, and navigating shifting selfhood. Rees discusses writing their account of coming to understand they were transgender at the age of 30, while Ryan shares her own experience of being diagnosed with autism while writing her novel, a first-person story following a neurodivergent young woman over the course of a night. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hear from two of the country’s most refreshingly distinct literary voices as they discuss their breakthrough novels which both conjure nuanced depictions of women’s interior lives. Meg Mason‘s Sorrow and Bliss is a bleakly funny coming-of-age confessional that has drawn comparisons to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and has been called ‘fresh and revelatory … sharp, racy and entertaining’ (The Saturday Paper). Claire Thomas‘ The Performance explores the fears and desires of three women attending a play in Melbourne as a bushfire encroaches, earning praise as ‘a project of living [that] is rendered with compassionate clarity’ (New York Times). With Abigail Ulman. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Critically acclaimed Australian authors Laura Elizabeth Woollett and Mark Brandi shed light on sensitively shaping crime novels that depict the relationship between a parent and child, in conversation with Elizabeth McCarthy. Woollett’s The Newcomer is a delicately wrought story of a young woman’s murder, a mother’s grief, and the cascading aftermath of violence against women. Brandi’s The Others is a foreboding psychological drama involving an 11-year-old boy living with his survivalist father on a secluded farm. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jacqueline Maley and Filip Vukašin share insight into their striking debut novels, each centred around a narrator whose life is upended by scandal, in conversation with Toni Jordan. A Walkley Award–winning journalist, Maley sheds light on The Truth About Her, the story of a single mother and reporter whose career unravels in the wake of her exposé of a fraudulent wellness guru that ends in tragedy and a workplace affair. A doctor by day, Vukašin talks about Modern Marriage, his portrayal of a cosmetic physician whose life is shattered when her husband is found dead, raising questions about prejudice, sexuality and the gap between perception and truth. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Acclaimed authors Briohny Doyle (Echolalia) and Delia Falconer (Signs and Wonders) have each penned singular books bound by an exploration of what it means to be a woman, mother, and artist in an era of ecological crisis. Hear them in conversation with Else Fitzgerald about their evocative works that cast light on tough moral questions, spanning family, climate change, and how the legacies of colonialism and patriarchy are passed down through the generations. Recorded for MWF in 2021. In partnership with 3RRR 102.7FMSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Debra Oswald (The Family Doctor) and JP Pomare (The Last Guests) share insight into writing psychological thrillers with pressing big-picture themes, with Angela Savage. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Safran launches his signature style of gonzo journalism on Big Tobacco for his impressively subtitled new book Puff Piece: How Philip Morris set vaping alight (and burned down the English language). In conversation with Mahmood Fazal, the inimitable writer and filmmaker relates his wild, hilarious and thoughtful investigation into the rise of vaping and why marketing spin and branding can literally be matters of life and death. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Questions Raised by Quolls author Harry Saddler and Loving Country co-author Vicky Shukuroglou talk about the need to preserve our natural wonders against multiple threats, in discussion with Fatima Measham. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Australia faces the spectre of climate change, how can our leaders and us as consumers usher in new ways to address issues of sustainability and misinformation? Award-winning journalists Gabrielle Chan (Why You Should Give a F*ck About Farming) and Marian Wilkinson (The Carbon Club) speak with Astrid Edwards about their works, which shine a light on issues of class, environmentalism and policymaking as they relate to the fossil fuel and produce industries. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An incredible line-up of First Nations poets perform works speaking to this year’s Festival theme Tell Me How It Ends, traversing the end of empire, celebrating Country and cultural resistance, and considering what comes next. Programmed and hosted by Jingili Mudburra writer and editor Bridget Caldwell-Bright, the episode showcases pieces by acclaimed Dropbear author Evelyn Araluen, who was born and raised on Dharug country, and is a descendant of the Bundjalung Nation; artist, poet and Lardil and Yangkaal woman Maya Hodge; and Wiradjuri poet and filmmaker Jazz Money. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hear from a panel of First Nations critics, reviewers and essayists as they discuss the importance of Blak critique and peer review in a predominantly white review culture that continues to sideline or superficially engage with Indigenous stories. The event’s programmer, Jingili Mudburra writer and editor Bridget Caldwell-Bright, chats with critic, essayist and descendant of the Yorta Yorta Declan Fry; critic, researcher and a descendant of Numbulwar Tristen Harwood; and Gomeroi poet and legal researcher Alison Whittaker. Recorded for MWF in 2021. Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural FundSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Curated by Torres Strait Islander writer and prominent Uluru Statement champion Thomas Mayor, Dear Son shares heartfelt letters written by First Nations men about life, masculinity, love, culture and racism. It features prose and poetry by Mayor alongside letters penned by 12 contributors to their sons, fathers and nephews. Shelley Ware speaks with Mayor about a poignant and beautifully illustrated celebration of First Nations manhood. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does the flexible form of poetry make it uniquely placed to vivify Indigenous storylines, languages and connections to Country while grappling with the ongoing legacy of Australia’s brutal colonisation? Prominent Aboriginal researcher and writer Professor Marcia Langton speaks with a panel of our most exciting poets about how their work and the medium at large bring fresh perspective to our past, present and future. Sharing their insights are proud Noongar author of Lies, Damned Lies Claire G Coleman; Windham-Campbell Prize–winning Yankunytjatjara poet Ali Cobby Eckermann; and award-winning Munanjali poet Samuel Wagan Watson. Recorded for MWF in 2021. Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural FundSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A vanguard of First Nations fiction writers is carrying forward the world’s oldest storytelling traditions while upending the settler narratives of our literary canon. Prominent Aboriginal researcher and writer Professor Marcia Langton chats with a panel of leading Indigenous novelists about the power of fiction to illuminate First Nations histories, cultures, and ways of thinking. Featuring Melissa Lucashenko, a Goorie author of Bundjalung heritage and 2019 Miles Franklin winner (Too Much Lip); Nardi Simpson, a Yuwaalaraay musician, educator and debut novelist (Song of the Crocodile); and Karen Wyld, an award-winning writer (Where the Fruit Falls) of Martu descent. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all have different expectations of utopian and dystopian stories, but how do they confound understanding when we live through them? ABC RN’s Paul Barclay speaks with a panel of contributors to the Griffith Review’s Hey, Utopia! about unexpected realities and revelations amid the largest narratives of our time, and how they shape our vision for other ways the world could be. Featuring writers Julian Meyrick, Kristen Rundle and David Threlfall. Recorded for MWF in 2021. In partnership with Griffith ReviewSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prominent Aboriginal researcher and writer Professor Marcia Langton speaks with some of the country’s most respected non-fiction writers to discuss how First Nations ideas, histories and politics inform their work. Hear from Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi journalist Stan Grant (With the Falling of the Dusk); Thomas Mayor, a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country, who is an Uluru Statement from the Heart signatory and author of Dear Son and Finding the Heart of the Nation; and prolific historian and author Henry Reynolds (Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement). Recorded for MWF in 2021. Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural FundSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Much-loved writers Emily Maguire (Love Objects) and Alice Pung (One Hundred Days) share insight into their new novels, which explore class, family and love, with Elizabeth McCarthy. Recorded for MWF in 2021. Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sam van Zweden (Eating with My Mouth Open) and Krissy Kneen (The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen) speak with ABC Radio National’s Sarah L’Estrange about their genre-bending works that excavate memory to pursue truths about family and identity. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Stella Prize–shortlisted author Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beach, she began to wonder how the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas—and of our humanity. Fathoms: The World in the Whale is a work of profound insight that blends history, philosophy, and ecological science to explore what these awe-inspiring creatures reveal about our collective futures. Giggs joins MWF Artistic Director Michaela McGuire to discuss what it means to write about nature in a time of technological change and ecological crisis. Fathoms is the first book for Melbourne Reads—an online book club for readers keen to share ideas about great new books and dig deeper into the literary, cultural, and historical contexts from which these books emerge. Recorded for MWF in 2021. In partnership with the Faculty of Arts, University of MelbourneSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As conversations around vulnerability, trauma and healing abound, many men are learning that long-held notions of masculinity and ‘manning up’ are not only limiting, they are causing real harm. Hear from memoirists Lech Blaine and Rick Morton and essayist Matthew Sini, in a discussion about men’s complicated relationship with stoicism, love, and empathy, and its role in grief, trauma and redemption. Blaine’s Car Crash examines Australia’s larrikin brand of toxic masculinity and how to recover from catastrophe when you’ve been taught to stare down heartbreak. Morton’s My Year of Living Vulnerably charts his hard-won healing from childhood neglect and complex PTSD. They speak with moderator Ronnie Scott. Recorded for MWF in 2021. Supported by Maurice BlackburnSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hear authors Gabriel Bergmoser and Sophie Gonzales share stories of teenagers whose secret identities come completely unstuck, with moderator Will Kostakis. Bergmoser’s novel The True Colour of a Little White Lie centres on a geeky teen who reinvents himself on a family ski trip, with chaotic consequences. Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper is about a queer high schooler who gives anonymous love advice for a fee, but is blackmailed in exchange for keeping her identity a secret. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can we claim to be a truly free and fair democracy with a government that raids the homes of reporters, aggressively pursues whistleblowers and remains tight-lipped on the fate of Julian Assange? One of the country’s most respected journalists Kerry O’Brien leads a timely panel discussion about state secrets, press freedom and open justice with Andrew Fowler, an award–winning reporter and author of the acclaimed Assange biography The Most Dangerous Man in the World, and lawyer Bernard Collaery, author of Oil Under Troubled Water, who faces trial for advising Witness K in relation to Australia’s spy operation against our ally East Timor during oil and gas negotiations. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Morrison government’s doubling of fees for humanities degrees is the latest manoeuvre in a long-waged culture war. But what do we stand to lose as arts, history and culture departments shrink, future students are saddled with huge loans or deterred from studying, and academia is forced to defend itself on increasingly neoliberal terms? Featuring Who Gets to Be Smart author Bri Lee, former ABC managing director and Sydney University vice-chancellor Mark Scott, and La Trobe emeritus professor of politics Judith Brett, in discussion with ABC RN’s Big Ideas host Paul Barclay. Recorded for MWF in 2021. Supported by the Australia InstituteSupport MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Activist, academic and author Randa Abdel-Fattah (Coming of Age in the War on Terror) and Miles Franklin–shortlisted novelist Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Other Half of You) come together for a powerful dialogue on identity, xenophobia and the lives of young Australian Muslims. Drawing insight from their latest books, the duo speak with Tasneem Chopra about the crossroads of family, faith and tradition, and the experiences of a generation socialised in a climate of Islamophobia and rising polarisation. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Award-winning Wiradjuri writer Anita Heiss talks about Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams), her epic new historical novel centred on a young Aboriginal couple’s search for home, in conversation with Paul Barclay. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia, the geographically lucky country that shut up shop and crushed COVID. But has the politically popular hard-line response merely camouflaged a bungled vaccine rollout, resulted in a dereliction of duty to stranded citizens, and stoked xenophobic anxieties for political gain? Norman Swan, Osman Faruqi and Jamila Rizvi debate public safety and politics with ABC Radio Melbourne’s Raf Epstein. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two of Australia’s most exciting debut authors, Melissa Manning and Adam Thompson, discuss their captivating short story collections set against the Tasmanian landscape, with Veronica Sullivan. Traversing a rugged coastline, Manning’s Smokehouse features a series of interlinked stories that bring into focus how the people we meet and places we live shape who we become. Thompson’s Born Into This showcases stories with Tasmanian Aboriginal characters at their heart, blending pathos and humour while touching on identity, racism and heritage. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Biden’s recent calls to have Julian Assange stand trial in the US have renewed debate at home about free speech, whistle-blower protection and Australia’s loyalty to American interests. Hear from three champions for truth—human rights lawyer Julian Burnside, activist and former Greens senator Scott Ludlam, and Assange’s own lawyer Jen Robinson—about the long shadow of WikiLeaks, the lingering fate of Assange and the consequences of covert power. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Bob Hawke to ocker billionaires, the figure of the larrikin looms large in Aussie culture. But is it strictly the domain of top (white) blokes, how does it play out in our politics, and will Scott Morrison’s laidback daggy-dad persona succeed or sour with voters before next year’s election as we reel from bushfires, floods and the pandemic? Lech Blaine (The Larrikin Myth, Class and Power) joins The Age state political editor and author of The Accidental Prime Minister Annika Smethurst and presenter Jan Fran to get to the heart of our national character. Recorded for MWF in 2021.Support MWF: https://mwf.com.au/donate/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.