Well, it’s almost that time of year again: the Sydney Writers’ Festival runs the week of May 14th – 20th, with the main programme extending through Thursday – Sunday.
As always, it’s a matter of so many authors and topics of interest, so little time! And it’s Murphy’s Law that there are always clashes. Sigh.
I’m attending several sessions, including:
17: ‘The Biggest Estate on Earth’: Bill Gammage tells Lyndall Ryan about the systematic way Aborigines managed the land.
23: ‘The Second Time’: Kirsten Tranter, Deborah Forster and Steven Amsterdam tell Angela Meyer about the second novel syndrome.
55: ‘Spirit of Progress’: Miles Franklin Award-winning writer Steven Carroll talks about his new novel, (just shortlisted for this year’s MF award).
90: “The Sweep of Narrative’: With his latest, Elliot Perlman has cemented his reputation as a master storyteller. He talks to Elizabeth Johnstone.
108: ‘Classic!’: Kate Grenville, Tom Keneally, Geordie Williamson and Michael Heyward discuss Australian classics. (Can’t wait!)
143: ‘Kate Grenville’: Kate Grenville talks to Ashley Hay about her bestselling trilogy of novels on colonialSydney. [Sold out]
151: ‘On Canaan’s Side’: Sebastian Barry talks to Suzanne Leal about his latest novel. (I enjoyed The Secret Scripture – see my review here), and Barry is a reportedly a real perfomer in his readings.
167: ‘Old Scrags and Other Sheilas’: P.A. O’Reilly and Kerry Greenwood talk to Kerryn Goldsworthy about how to create memorable Australian female characters.
182: ‘But is it a Good Read?’: Stella Rimington, Stephen Romei and Neil James tells us what makes a book a good read. (Given Rimington’s provocative statements as Chair of last year’s Booker Prize judges on her want for ‘readability’, this should be an interesting session!)
185: ‘Bring up the Bodies’: Hilary Mantel discusses her new book via video link with Michael Cathcart. (I’m reading Wolf Hall at the moment, review soon!)
218: ‘A Frenetic Career?’: Tom Keneally talks to Richard Glover about life that comes with such prolific output.
242: ‘He Never Asked for the Matches’: Barbara Mobbs and David Marr (biographer of Patrick White) on the ethics of posthumous publishing.
I’ll try and squeeze in a few others, but, I have to eat!
There’s others I’d love to get to but can’t because of clashes, such as: Rodney Hall, Jesmyn Ward (winner of 2011 (US) National Book Award), and Pulitzer-winning Jeffrey Eugenides.
See: www.swf.org.au for details.
See you there.
Are you going to #SWF2012? What are you looking forward to?
The D!
Musings of a Literary Dilettante's Blog 
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