It’s that time of year again (yay!). The Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) is but a few weeks away and the programme has just been released.
There’s a great selection of local and international writers. A quick perusal has got me lining up the likes of:
- Our very own Kim Scott, talking about his recent, highly acclaimed novel, That Deadman Dance, up for Best Book Award in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
- Howard Jacobson, winner of the 2010 Booker Prize for The Finkler Question;
- The very imaginative David Mitchell, talking about his most recent novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, (see my review here);
- Tea Obreht, member of The New Yorker magazine’s “20 under 40”, talking about her acclaimed novel, The Tiger’s Wife;
- Michael Cunningham of Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hours fame;
- Markus Zusak of The Book Thief fame, (see my review here);
- Interesting indigenous sessions, covering culture, art, fiction, poetry;
- Poetry and Sydney-centric sessions, including the likes of Cate Kennedy and too many others to mention!;
The Festival also sees theawarding of several high-profile literary awards, including The Commonwealth Writers Prize (will Kim Scott win for That Deadman Dance?), the NSW Premier’s Awards, and the Sydney Morning Herald Young Writers’ Award. I plan on attending the awarding of the Commonwealth Prize as well as a session the next day in which the judges will talk about their deliberations (and arguments?!) and how they arrived at the winner.
There’s plenty of non-fiction-focusses things on too. Politics, culture, environment, food. Indeed, foodies should not be disappointed with Anthony Bourdain and critic AA Gill featuring. There’ll also be many sessions for children, and other interests far and wide.
Looks like a busy few days for me, although Sunday seems strangely clear. A little imbalance in the programme perhaps? Whatever the case, there’s plenty of interesting things to listen to and get involved in across the week and I can’t wait to blog about it.
Anyone esle going along? What are your festival highlights?
The D!
Musings of a Literary Dilettante's Blog 
I’m relying on you to tell us all about it!
Lisa:)
OMG – I want to go to everything. I am going to book all my tickets tomorrow I think. I want to go to the opening and the closing. I actually think that The Poetry of Liao Yiwu looks really interesting even though it is completely unfamiliar to me.
I am also really looking forward to The Big REading and the Commonwealth Writers Prize Presentation, as well at the SMH Young Writers event which I go to every year. I think I will to the Morning After: Judges of the COmmonwelath Writers PRize talk. I thought that My Own Book Review might be interesting – and I am definitely going to the Tribute to Ruth Park event.
So many more too – I am really excited!
Some great choices Becky. I’m going to the Big Reading too, very much looking forward to seeing Tea Obreht there – I’ve just ordered The Tiger’s Wife – it looks great.
And there is one particular slot where I could happily go to four or five. Decisions, decisions! 🙂
If you can’t make it to the Festival, ABC Radio National is broadcasting the highlights from 1pm to 7pm on Saturday and Sunday. You can hear David Mitchell, Howard Jacobsen, Tea Obreht, Sonia Faleiro, James Gleick, Fatima Bhutto to name just a few.
Thanks Amanda!