‘Disagreement is not harm’: Sydney Writers’ Festival reveals program after sudden resignation

Weeks after the resignation of its chair, the Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) has officially launched its line-up featuring prominent writers from across the Israel-Gaza divide, saying it would not back away from “courageous storytelling”.

The central theme of the festival’s public program, opening on May 20 at Carriageworks, In this Together, was selected because it “resonates with personal joys and global sorrows”.

Disagreement is not harm, says SWF artistic director Ann Mossop. Credit: Edwina Pickles

“There is a real richness in the program, and people can curate the parts they want to see,” festival artistic director Ann Mossop said. “Disagreement and thought-provoking conversations are the lifeblood of festivals. Disagreement is not harm.

“The program has a real diversity of perspectives and viewpoints – it brings together writers that really engage our audiences and would see it as being at the cutting edge of some of the most important conversations we are having in the world today.”

Since the conflict in Gaza erupted in October 2023, literary festivals and arts organisations have been caught in the cross-hairs of rising antisemitism and counter claims of censorship of Palestinian voices.

Last month, this masthead revealed that the festival’s chair Kathy Shand had resigned after 12 years over her concerns the speaking program could damage the reputation of the festival in failing to present a range of opinions on issues such as the current conflict in the Middle East. Her name does not appear as a donor in the 2025 program.

Across five days, the festival will stage 220 events featuring more than 40 international guests and 100 Australian authors, with an expected attendance of more than 100,000 people. Of the writers featured, 34 will be releasing new books in 2025.

The Sydney Writers’ Festival at Carriageworks in 2024.Credit: Jacquie Manning

The program features prominent Jewish and Palestinian writers and thinkers, including critics of the Netanyahu government’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.

Among them are Peter Beinart, professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York, whose new book is Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza.

Also attending is Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and writer Raja Shehadeh (Forgotten, 2024). Shehadeh is a co-founder of Al-Haq, the Palestinian human rights organisation that has been pursuing a British arms ban to Israel.

Australian-Israeli writer Ittay Flescher, who lives in Jerusalem, will talk about his new book, The Holy and the Broken, which opens with the tragic events of October 7 and includes his personal reflections on pathways to peace.

For the first time, the Sydney Writers’ Festival will collaborate with Sydney’s Vivid winter lights festival, co-hosting three events including one with neuroscientist Professor Matthew Walker, who will discuss the science of sleep and how it can improve learning, mood, energy and longevity.

The first openly trans woman nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Torrey Peters, brings her latest novel, Stag Dance, to the festival and Vivid.

The festival’s international guest list also includes Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey, Irish novelist Colm Toibin, crime writer Ian Rankin, One Day author and screenwriter David Nicholls and Irish author Marian Keyes.

Jeanette Winterson will celebrate the 40th anniversary of her landmark novel, based on her childhood, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.

Also appearing will be local author favourites Annabel Crabb, Helen Garner, Stan Grant, David Marr, Julia Baird, Markus Zusak and Liane Moriarty.

Five of the 222 author and panellist sessions will be focused on the conflict in Gaza, Mossop said, and there are sessions on the personal experience of antisemitism led by former Age editor Michael Gawenda.

“Artistic freedom and independence are to be guarded and cherished,” Shand wrote in her resignation statement. “But freedom of expression cannot and should not be used as a justification to accept language and conversations that compromise the festival as a safe and inclusive space for all audiences.

“Every session that is planned needs to reflect the values of the festival and represent the highest standard of consideration and curation.”

Meanwhile, the festival’s veteran media manager, Benython Oldfield, has announced the end of his 11-year association with the festival to concentrate on his literary agency business.

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