Sydney Writers Festival - Live & Local 2026 Day 2
One of Australia’s most loved forums for literature, ideas and storytelling, Sydney Writers’ Festival will livestream its headline events from Sydney to Port Stephens Libraries on Thursday 21, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 May.
Day 2 Livestream events
 | Big Histories Time: 10 - 11am Location: Raymond Terrace Library | Tomaree Library & Community Centre What if we could change our future by rewriting our pasts? For author Amitav Ghosh and researcher Luke Kemp, navigating the present means understanding the past. In two books, The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis and Wild Fictions, Amitav considers human history through our relationship with the environment, while Luke retells the collapse of empires to find solutions for our current existential crises in Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse. Revisit the past to find solutions for the present with Amitav and Luke in conversation with host Clare Wright. |
| Susan Choi: Flashlight Louisa goes for a walk along the beach with her father, but only she returns. The new novel from Susan Choi, multi-award-winning writer including the National Book Award and a Lambda Literary Award, is a sweeping, international family drama that was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. Flashlight, described by The Guardian as a return to the great American novel of the 20th century, beguiled readers for its examination of absence and silence in a small family rocked by the assumed death of Louisa’s father. Join Susan as she discusses relationships and alienation in her new novel, in conversation with Beejay Silcox. |
| Trent Dalton: Gravity Let Me Go After being crowned the number one book of the 21st century by ABC Radio National, Australian literary sensation Trent Dalton’s newest book mixes gruesome true crime with a personal exploration of love and marriage. Noah Cork had the scoop of his journalistic career hand-delivered to his mailbox. But his decision to pursue the lead of a cold-blooded killer while the case is still under investigation invites more chaos and destruction into his life than he anticipated. In Gravity Let Me Go, Trent returns to age-old themes of love and family in this story of ambition, truth and deception. Join Trent for a discussion of his latest hit novel, in conversation with Cassie McCullagh. |
| Great Adaptations Screen adaptations breathe new life into books, expanding their audiences and reimagining their worlds. Crime writer Mick Herron’s Slough House thriller series was adapted into the award-winning Apple TV series Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman, and playwright Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie received international acclaim, including a Laurence Olivier Award, before it was adapted into both a novel and a film. Get behind-the-scenes insight into the adaptation process and how reimagining their stories has influenced their careers, with Mick and Suzie in conversation with host Benjamin Law. |
| Florence Knapp: The Names Instant bestseller and “best debut novel in years” (The Sunday Times) starts in a literal and metaphorical storm. While registering her son’s birth, Cora faces a decision that could change his life: what will she name him? Her options – Bear, Julian or Gordon – each come with their own legacies, expectations and risks. In The Names, novelist Florence Knapp tells a powerful story of darkness and hope through three vastly different versions of a boy’s life. Explore the profound force of family with Florence, in conversation with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols (The Book Show). |