About the speakers

A.C. Grayling

A.C. Grayling is the author of more than 30 books of philosophy, biography, history of ideas, and essays. His latest book is For the Good of the World.

Mia Thom

Mia Thom is a Bundjalung climate activist, a co-organiser of the school strike for climate movement within the Byron Shire.

Damon Gameau

Damon Gameau is a filmmaker, author and environmental educator. His documentary 2040 explores solutions to improve our planet. His most recent project is Regenerating Australia.

Anne-Marie Te Whiu

Anne-Marie Te Whiu (Te Rarawa) is a poet, weaver, cultural producer and festival director, having edited Tony Birch’s Whisper Songs and co-edited Solid Air.

Luka Lesson

Luka Lesson is a rapper, poet and educator of Greek heritage from Australia born in Meanjin / Brisbane. Luka is a former Australian Poetry Slam Champion, has performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and toured with rapper Akala (UK) and philosopher Dr Cornel West (USA) among others.

About the authors

Bronwyn Adcock

Bronwyn Adcock has been a journalist for 25 years. Her book, Currowan, blends memoir, reportage and analysis as she tracks the path of a devastating bushfire.

Joëlle Gergis

Dr Joëlle Gergis is an award-winning climate scientist and author. Her latest book is Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope.

Gabrielle Chan

Gabrielle Chan is rural and regional editor of Guardian Australia. Her latest book is Why You Should Give a F**k About Farming.

The exchange of stories and ideas sustains us in challenging times. Now more than ever we are relying on your support to help us continue celebrating Australian stories and literature, enhancing the skills of local writers, and nurturing the next generation of readers and writers. As a not-for-profit organisation run with a small team of staff and volunteers, contributions of any size go a long way in enriching the creative culture of our community. Amounts over $2 are tax deductible. Thank you.

About the authors

Damon Gameau

Damon Gameau is a filmmaker, author and environmental educator. His documentary 2040 explores solutions to improve our planet. His most recent project is Regenerating Australia.

Saul Griffith

Saul Griffith is an inventor, engineer, Founder and Chief Scientist of Otherlab, and the author of The Big Switch – Australia’s Electric Future.

Tim Hollo

A highly regarded environmentalist, community builder and musician, Tim Hollo is Executive Director of the Green Institute. Living Democracy is his first book.

Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson is a best-selling author, podcaster, thought leader, philanthropist and climate adviser. Her most recent book is This One Wild & Precious Life.

The exchange of stories and ideas sustains us in challenging times. Now more than ever we are relying on your support to help us continue celebrating Australian stories and literature, enhancing the skills of local writers, and nurturing the next generation of readers and writers. As a not-for-profit organisation run with a small team of staff and volunteers, contributions of any size go a long way in enriching the creative culture of our community. Amounts over $2 are tax deductible. Thank you.

About the authors

Tim Baker

Tim Baker is the best-selling author of Occy, Bustin’ Down The Door, High Surf, Surfari, Century of Surf, and his latest book, Patting The Shark.

Chloe Hooper

Chloe Hooper is the award-winning author of two novels and three works of non-fiction, including The Tall Man and The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire. Bedtime Story is her most recent book.

Nikki Gemmell

Nikki Gemmell’s latest books are the memoir Dissolve, and the psychological thriller The Ripping Tree. She also pens a column for The Weekend Australian Magazine.

About the authors

Sarah Armstrong

Sarah Armstrong was a journalist and has written three novels, including Salt Rain which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin. Big Magic is her first children’s novel.

Bronwyn Bancroft

Dr Bronwyn Bancroft is a proud Bundjalung woman and artist. Bronwyn recently collaborated with her daughter Ella Bancroft, on the children’s book Sun and Moon.

Isobelle Carmody

Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed authors of fantasy. Her latest book is The Velvet City, the final instalment in the Kingdom of the Lost series.

Tristan Bancks

Tristan Bancks’s books for kids and teens include Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention and Ginger Meggs. His new nail-biter for age 10+ is Cop & Robber.

About the authors

Emily Brugman

Emily Brugman is the author of The Islands, a novel inspired by her Finnish family’s experiences of living and working on the Abrolhos Islands, WA, in the mid-20th century.

Ashley Hay

Ashley Hay is a novelist, essayist and editor at Griffith Review. A revised edition of her 2002 book, Gum: The Story of Eucalypts and Their Champions, was published in 2021.

Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas is the award-winning author of five novels, including Head On and The Slap. He is also a playwright, essayist and screen writer. 7 ½ is his latest book.

Jill Eddington

Jill Eddington has enjoyed a long career in the literary sector including in festivals, publishing and at the Australia Council for the Arts.

About the authors

Jessie Cole

Jessie Cole is the author of four books. Her latest memoir, Desire, was released in August, 2022.

Nikki Gemmell

Nikki Gemmell’s latest books are the non-fiction Dissolve, and the psychological thriller The Ripping Tree. She also pens a column for The Weekend Australian Magazine.

Zacharey Jane

Zacharey Jane is a writer, teacher and whale-lover. She is tour manager for Writers on the Road, and the author of two works of fiction and sundry short stories and articles.

About the authors

Matthew Evans

Matthew Evans, Tasmanian chef, farmer, food writer and broadcaster is the author of Soil, a hymn to the remarkable and underappreciated bit of Earth that gifts us life.

Costa Georgiadis

Costa Georgiadis is an Australian landscape architect and the beloved host of ABC TV’s Gardening Australia. His book, Costa’s World, was released in 2021

Indira Naidoo

Indira Naidoo is one of Australia’s most popular broadcasters and authors and the host of ABC Radio’s Weekend Nightlife. The Space Between Stars is her latest book.

About the authors

Trent Dalton

Trent Dalton is the bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe, All Our Shimmering Skies, and Love Stories.

Nigel Featherstone

Nigel Featherstone is the author of the novels My Heart is a Little Wild Thing and Bodies of Men.

Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent is the bestselling author of Burial Rites, The Good People, and Devotion. She lives and works on Peramangk and Kaurna Country.

Alex Adsett

Alex Adsett is a literary agent and publishing consultant. She represents some of Australia’s best authors, and offers strategic advice on publishing contracts and copyright.

About the authors

Paul Callaghan

Paul Callaghan is an Aboriginal man belonging to the land of the Worimi people and author of the recently released book, The Dreaming Path.

Christine Jackman

Christine Jackman is an award-winning journalist, author and communications consultant. Her latest book, Turning Down The Noise, is a quest for calm in the modern world.

Indira Naidoo

Indira Naidoo is one of Australia’s most popular broadcasters and authors and the host of ABC Radio’s Weekend Nightlife. The Space Between Stars is her latest book.

Anne Maria Nicholson

Anne Maria Nicholson is an author and former journalist for major media organisations, including the ABC. She has two novels published with a third in the pipeline.

About the authors

Kathryn Heyman

Sarah Armstrong

Sarah Armstrong was a journalist at the ABC. She has written three novels for adults and her first novel for readers aged 8 – 12 will be published next year.

About the authors

Sarah Sentilles

Sarah Sentilles is the author of five books, including Draw Your Weapons and Stranger Care. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Divinity School, she lives in Idaho’s Wood River Valley.

Ashley Hay

Ashley Hay is an award-winning novelist and essayist and the editor of Griffith Review.

About the authors

Kavita Bedford

Kavita Bedford is an Australian-Indian writer with a background in journalism, anthropology and literature. Friends & Dark Shapes is Kavita’s debut novel.

Nicole Abadee

Nicole Abadee writes about books for Good Weekend, has a literary podcast, Books, Books, Books, and appears regularly as a moderator at writers’ festivals.

About the authors

Pip Williams

Pip was born in London, grew up in Sydney and now calls the Adelaide Hills home. She is co-author of the book Time Bomb: Work Rest and Play in Australia Today (New South Press, 2012) and in 2017 she wrote One Italian Summer, a memoir of her family’s travels in search of the good life, which was published by Affirm Press to wide acclaim. Pip has also published travel articles, book reviews, flash fiction and poetry. In her debut novel The Dictionary of Lost Words she combines her talent for historical research with beautiful storytelling. Pip has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary and found a tale of missing words and the lives of women lived between the lines.

Nicole Abadee

Nicole Abadee writes about books for Good Weekend, has a literary podcast, Books, Books, Books, and appears regularly as a moderator at writers’ festivals.

About the authors

Chris Raja

Sunil Badami

About the authors

Fiona Murphy

Caroline Baum

Journalist Caroline Baum is the author of Only: A Singular Memoir, and presents Life Sentences, a podcast about contemporary biography. She is also ambassador for the Older Women’s Network (OWN) in NSW.

About the authors

Tristan Bancks

Tristan Bancks is a children’s and teens author. His books include Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention, Tom Weekly and Nit Boy. His latest book is Ginger Meggs.

Sisonke Msimang

Sisonke Msimang is a South African writer living in Perth. She is the author of a memoir, Always Another Country, and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela.

Jennie Orchard

Jennie Orchard has worked in publishing and the non-profit sector. Her latest book The Gifts of Reading celebrates the 20th anniversary of global literacy non-profit, Room to Read.

Alice Pung

About the authors

Sophie Hardcastle

Sophie Hardcastle is an author, artist, screenwriter and former Provost’s Scholar at the University of Oxford. Below Deck is their latest book.

Emily Brugman

Emily Brugman is a writer from the New South Wales south coast. She currently lives in Mullumbimby and works at Byron Writers Festival. Her novel, The Islands, was shortlisted for the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, and will be published by Allen & Unwin in 2022.

About the authors

Meg Mason

Meg Mason began her career at the Financial Times and The Times of London. Her work has since appeared in The Sunday Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sunday Telegraph. She has written humour for Sunday STYLE, The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts and a monthly column for GQ and been a regular contributor to Vogue, ELLE and marie claire.

Her first novel You Be Mother (HarperCollins) was published in 2017. Her second, Sorrow and Bliss (HarperCollins) was first published in Australia in 2020, and the US and UK in 2021. The actress Emilia Fox narrated the audiobook. Now a bestseller in Australia, it has now sold in more than 20 countries and will be published in 16 languages. It has been longlisted for the ABIA Literary Fiction book of the year, chosen as the GOOP book club read in March 2021, and been optioned for screen by the US studio, New Regency, producer of Oscar-winning films including Little Women, 12 Years a Slave and Birdman.

She lives in Sydney, with her husband and two daughters. sea.

Sarah Kanowski

About the authors

Jock Serong

Jock Serong was once a criminal lawyer. He’s since been the editor of Great Ocean Quarterly, and a regular writer in the surfing media and more generally in publications such as The Monthly, The Guardian, the SMH and the Australian Financial Review. His first novel, Quota, appeared in 2014, and since then his work has been awarded the Colin Roderick Prize, the Staunch Prize and an ACWA Ned Kelly. His current book, The Burning Island, is the second novel of a trilogy about the early history of Bass Strait’s Furneaux Islands. He’s in the late stages of a Creative Writing PhD based around his first historical novel, Preservation. More than anything, he likes to write about the sea.

Mirandi Riwoe