Saskia Tillers Talking under water: a professional requirement “I was interested in writing from as early as I can remember; lots of terrible adolescent poetry and early attempts at plays and musicals. Best left in the drawer, I think!” At 56, Richard Glover’s skin is smooth and free of wrinkles, save for the myriad fine … Continue reading
2015 Opening Address: Mohsin Hamid Jackie Keast The theme of the 2015 Sydney Writers’ Festival is a question with no easy answer: “How To Live?” It was a question Mohsin Hamid, acclaimed Pakistani author, ruminated on during his opening address to the Festival, Life In the Time of Permawar. Speaking to a sell-out crowd at … Continue reading
Jasmine Crittenden “Get there early – earlier than you think. Have a Bloody Mary immediately. Find out if extra services are available, like massages or haircuts. Potentially, you’re about to have a near death experience, so you should unburden yourself as much as you can,” Alan Cumming said, advising the audience on how to make … Continue reading
Constantine Stamocostas A crisp sunny autumn day welcomed Douglas Coupland apostles to the Rosyln Packer Theatre to hear ‘The Supreme Definer’, as described by Michael Williams, host of Blueprint for Living on ABC-Radio, talk about his books and to hear some new Couplandisms. The crowd were not to be disappointed. Before the most famous definer … Continue reading
Oyuntsetseg Olonbayer A green coffee cup, an old bottle of Pelikan Brilliant Green ink and a green lamp are on the coffee table in Debra Adelaide’s office. It is the green room. Tall and slim, her curly grey hair falls down around her green earrings and green necklace which match the colour of her cardigan … Continue reading
Tiana Vitlic Writer Melina Marchetta likes to draw on real life experiences in shaping her acclaimed young adult novels – personal experiences are “complications that work well in storytelling”, she says. Sharing her writing secrets with around 150 students at a Sydney Writers’ Festival event, ‘Secondary School Days’, in Sutherland on Thursday, Ms Marchetta reinforced … Continue reading
Blake Sharp-Wiggins A black pork pie hat appears to float over the top of a bookshelf. It hovers, stopping and starting up and down the isles of a cluttered bookstore as its owner scans dozens of crime fiction novels. Rough, shaggy grey hair escapes the hat. Some of it rests on the collar of a … Continue reading
Tania Kanaan Excitement was in the air at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, as fans lined up outside the Roslyn Packer Theatre, to hear Ben Okri speak about his latest novel, The Age of Magic. One of the foremost African authors and winner of the 1991 Prize Booker, the renowned author talks with interviewer … Continue reading
Amanda McLeod Shaun Micallef’s buttery voice immediately commands the attention of his sold-out crowd at Walsh Bay. He’s at the Sydney Writers’ Festival to tell a story—but it seems his audience isn’t really interested in the story. They’re here to hear him tell it. Zoe Norton Lodge, also a comedian, writer and performer, introduces the … Continue reading
Keith Davidson We have all visited our local GP for an ailment and expected to be given a quick and easy remedy. But Dr Karen Hitchcock, an acute and medical physician at The Alfred Hospital, and author of Quarterly Essay 57 Dear Life: On Caring for the Elderly, says we are overmedicating our population to … Continue reading
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