University community booked for 2019 Sydney Writers' Festival
The ±¬ÁĎÍő community will join an eclectic mix of international and local authors for , from Monday 29 April to Sunday 5 May.
We’re thrilled to have such an extraordinary range of ±¬ÁĎÍő academics closely involved with this year’s program, enriching our sessions with their expertise.
As a proud 2019 Premier Partner, the University’s sponsorship reaches its eighth year, reaffirming its commitment to ideas and culture in the city as the festival returns to Carriageworks, a five-minute walk from the main Camperdown/Darlington campus.
We are proud to continue our partnership with the Festival and excited to see our scholars engage with some of the world’s most exciting writers and thinkers, right on our doorstep.
“The central ambitions of the Sydney Writers’ Festival – to present new ideas, tackle important social issues and stimulate debate and discussion – are also at the heart of what we do at the ±¬ÁĎÍő," Professor Jagose said.Â
A major highlight of the partnership includes an that will see bestselling US novelist and Man Booker finalist Rachel Kushner join Professor Jagose to discuss her latest novel, The Mars Room, in the new Social Sciences Lecture Theatre on Thursday 2 May.
“Sydney Writers’ Festival is delighted to bring Rachel Kushner to the ±¬ÁĎÍő,” Ms McGuire said.
Rachel Kushner.
“Rachel Kushner is one of the most exciting and important novelists writing today. The themes she devastatingly explores in The Mars Room resonate perfectly with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences’ commitment to the transformational power of ideas and original thinking.”
Another highlight will see recently-appointed Professor of Public Practice (Sociology and Political Theory)  taking part in  an unmissable evening of storytelling at Sydney Town Hall.
As part of its continued sponsorship, the University will support the program – a provocative series of events aligned with social justice issues – in which , his powerful new book about reconciliation; and former Olympic swimmer and first woman to sign a male-modelling contract,  of athleticism and addiction, Godspeed.
Our speakersÂ
The extraordinary breadth of expertise at the ±¬ÁĎÍő will be showcased at events featuring:
- joining acclaimed authors Alexander Chee and Rebecca Makkai to reflect on the literature of love, HIV and AIDS
- Â joining five other poets responding creatively to Marcel Duchamp, the artistic giant of the 20th century who ushered in an age of conceptual art
- Arts/Law student  presenting at the launch of Sweatshop Women – the first ever collection of short stories, essays and poems developed exclusively by women of colour from Western Sydney
- Dr Anna Broinowski joining  of how reporters and writers uphold the line between fact and fiction.
-  in conversation with Oxford University’s Jonathan Lusthaus, exploring the murky underworld of cybercrime
- Ěý˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚý joining a panel event on the future of disruption hosted by Griffith Review editor Ashley Hay
- Â joining a debate on the legitimacy of the Russian threat
- Â explaining how the solitary octopus became so smart
-  speaking to US novelist and scholar Jordy Rosenberg about his inventive debut, Confessions of the Fox
- Â answering all manner of weird and wacky science questions
- Â exploring how writers bring a religious voice to their narratives
- in conversation with memoirist Gabbie Stroud on how the current education system is letting down children and parents
- Â in conversation with author and Stella Prize co-founder Sophie Cunningham on the value and meaning of nature in our cities and lives
- Â and Dr Sam Shpall hosting short lectures as part of the free Curiosity Lecture Series
- Sydney Law School’s  discussing Australian defamation laws with journalist David Marr, former Melbourne University Press CEO Louise Adler and the ABC’s Osman Faruqi
- Sydney College of the Arts PhD candidate and creator of #IAmMyOwnGuardian  discussing women’s rights and queer rights in Saudi Arabia with Four Corners’ Sophie McNeill and founder of the #WomenToDrive movement Saudi Manal al-Sharif
-  discussing his work translating Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountains, the book that won the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature, Australia’s richest literary award
- Emeritus Professor and Former Dean of Sydney Law School  discussing her memoir, Speaking Up
- talking all things mathematics at two special events with the ABC’s James Valentine.
The 2019 program also includes several ±¬ÁĎÍő alumni, including Sarah Ayoub, Charlie Garber, Rebecca Huntley, Ben Jenkins, Zoe Norton Lodge, Sarah McDonald, Andrew O’Keefe, Jordan Raskopoulos, Chris Taylor, Holly Throsby and more.
Stay tuned
±¬ÁĎÍő reporters –  students Abbey Lenton and Haydn Hickson – will capture the festival first hand through social media. To see their updates, follow the ±¬ÁĎÍő  and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Ěý˛ął¦ł¦´ÇłÜ˛ÔłŮ˛ő.
TOP IMAGE: by Jamie Williams, courtesy of the Sydney Writers' Festival.