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Melbourne Writers Festival

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Butter, a cult Japanese bestseller by Asako Yuzuki inspired by the real-life case of a serial killer convicted of poisoning three of her male lovers, is being hailed overseas for its exploration of misogyny, fatphobia and sexism in modern Japan.

How a Japanese book about a woman who murders her lovers became a global phenomenon

Met with a muted reception in her native Japan, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter won fanfare around the world.

  • Thomas Mitchell

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Novelist Torrey Peters.

Torrey Peters went off-grid and came back speaking lumberjack

And she doesn’t just talk the talk. Peters can walk the walk, or in this case, fell the trees.

  • Melanie Kembrey
Shortlisted books for the 2025 The Age Book of the Year.

‘Audacious, enthralling’: The Age Book of the Year shortlists announced

From a suburban Melbourne home to the rocky surface of the moon, these are the books vying for The Age Book of the Year.

  • Kylie Northover
Melbourne Writers Festival director Veronica Sullivan.

Festivals have ‘privileged literary works’ over popular, commercial fiction: Veronica Sullivan

As the new director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, Veronica Sullivan has tried to create a program with broad appeal.

  • Kylie Northover
Author Hannah Kent.

‘I could feel the cold’: the dreams that told Hannah Kent what to write

Drawn to snowy Iceland as a teenager, the award-winning author found the country calling her again.

  • Suzie Keen

What did women ever do for Melbourne? Walk with me while I explain...

One of the highlights of this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival is a celebratory stroll with our unsung heroines.

  • Sita Sargeant
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Kaliane Bradley’s time-travel novel, The Ministry of Time, brings Graham Gore, who was on Sir John Franklin’s doomed Arctic expedition, back to life.

‘I went slightly nuts’: How a TV horror binge inspired this bestselling time-travel novel

A lockdown TV binge prompted author Kaliane Bradley to dig into polar exploration. Now the novel that came of it is being turned into its own series.

  • Jason Steger
Veronica Sullivan, new head of Melbourne Writers Festival.

Jimmy Barnes joins superstar authors for Melbourne Writers Festival

New festival director Veronica Sullivan is aiming to provide something for everyone this year: from bestselling Irish writers to a BookTok phenomenon and yes, a rock legend.

  • Kerrie O'Brien
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
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

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