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Melbourne Writers Festival

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Veronica Sullivan wants to broaden the ways we think about writing and storytelling.

After a troubled year, former volunteer takes reins of Melbourne Writers Festival

Veronica Sullivan, most recently head of programming at the Wheeler Centre, sees the recent wave of personnel change as an opportunity for a fresh start.

  • Jason Steger

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Kim Scott is a novelist who draws deeply on the oral histories of his Wirlomin Noongar people of the south-east coast of Western Australia to challenge the colonial archive.

‘Not well received’ at Harvard, these two writers maintain the rage

Writer Tony Birch reflects on how Miles Franklin Award-winner Kim Scott has intrigued and inspired him.

  • Jane Gleeson-White

Part mystery, part hostage thriller, this is our fiction pick of the week

Our reviewers assess recent fiction and non-fiction publications.

  • Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
The ABC’s Laura Tingle at Parliament House in Canberra.

Laura Tingle on John Howard and the corrosion of Australia’s national debate

The ABC journalist says we can’t blame Trump or social media for the quality – or lack of – in our national debate.

  • Kerrie O'Brien
Paul Murray, whose 2023 novel The Bee Sting has readers debating the shock ending.

Paul Murray (sort of) discusses his novel’s controversial ending

The Booker Prize-shortlisted author talks climate change, writing teenage characters and Judy Blume.

  • Kylie Northover
Christos Tsiolkas will be in conversation with Bryan Washington

The 13 must-see events at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival

With the Melbourne Writers Festival kicking off today, here are some of the events that should not be missed.

  • Jason Steger
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Corrie Perkin in Sorrento.

Upstart writers festival aiming to take Melbourne’s mantle

This week’s Melbourne Writers Festival will hope to capture the same success as the Sorrento Writers Festival held last month.

  • Stephen Brook
There are rules you’ll need to follow if you want to win over readers.

Our safe, white scene has rules if you want to be a ‘multicultural’ writer

Spare a thought for the authors who don’t look like their publishers in the middle-class literary world.

  • Amra Pajalic
Viet Thanh Nguyen insisted on a 90 per cent Vietnamese cast in the small-screen adaptation of his prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer.

His book was rejected 13 times, now it’s a hit TV show

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won him a Pulitzer Prize and employs cinematic tropes, but that doesn’t stop him being a fierce critic of the Hollywood machine.

  • Kurt Johnson
Andrew O’Hagan

A scathing portrait of London, a society steeped in corruption

Andrew O’Hagan’s latest novel is a sprawling bit of social realism that exposes the inner workings of a society.

  • James Ley

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/melbourne-writers-festival-5zn