This year’s program features talks, debates and panel discussions from academics and researchers, including a free on-campus event.
With a massive program featuring 263 Australian speakers and 35 international speakers, this year’s festival runs from 20–26 May 2024. It offers a week of literary culture showcasing the best of public discourse. Readers, writers and thinkers will converge to share ideas, tell stories and celebrate books.
UNSW Sydney is the exclusive university sponsor and proud Premier Partner of the Festival. Featuring UNSW academics and researchers on Sydney Writers’ Festival stages and events at the UNSW Kensington campus, the partnership brings together a shared vision of creativity, curiosity and thought leadership.
UNSW's Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement, Professor Verity Firth AM shared her excitement around the partnership.
"The Sydney Writers’ Festival is a wonderful opportunity to access the insight of the world's foremost authors, journalists and thought leaders. With this partnership, our academics and students will collaborate with some of the world’s best authors to fuel debate, champion diverse voices and spark innovation. Together we will embrace being part of an extensive, curious and creative community primed to change the world."
Discover events at the UNSW x Sydney Writers’ Festival 2024
Explore the festival events featuring UNSW academics and researchers and book your tickets now.
On-campus event – Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran
Thursday 23 May, 6.30pm–7.30pm
Leighton Hall, UNSW Kensington
The life stories of refugees have all the narrative tropes of myth, replete with world-shattering conflicts, perilous voyages and courageous heroes who sometimes get to live happily ever after.
Hosted by refugee law expert and advocate Dr Daniel Ghezelbash, this free on-campus event brings together Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner Viet Thanh Nguyen (A Man with Two Faces) and Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran (Safe Haven), whose latest books draw on first-person accounts of seeking asylum and illuminate the realities of this all-too-common experience.
Tickets: Free
Book tickets
Literary Legends: Unearthing the lives and letters of Clift, Hazzard and Harrower
Wednesday 22 May, 2pm–3pm
Gallery Room, State Library of New South Wales
Explore the literary histories of Charmian Clift, Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower with the writers who are salvaging their stories from the archives. Featuring UNSW’s Professor Brigitta Olubas, Nadia Wheatley and Susan Wyndham, with Caroline Baum.
Tickets*: $20
Book tickets
SWF Great Debate: Artificial Intelligence is Better Than the Real Thing
Thursday 23 May, 8pm–9.15pm
Centennial Hall, Sydney Town Hall
Decide humankind’s fate with team captains Annabel Crabb and David Marr, who will duke it out alongside teammates Matilda Boseley, Rhys Nicholson, Tracey Spicer and UNSW’s Professor Toby Walsh. Adjudicated by Yumi Stynes.
Tickets*: From $25 (restricted view) to $50 (Premium)
Book tickets
History of Sex: Leading sexperts look back at hot and heavy history
Friday 24 May, 6pm–7pm
Carriageworks Track 8
Bone up on carnal knowledge across the centuries with sex historian and TikTok sensation Esmé Louise James (Kinky History) and science writer David Baker (Sex). With UNSW evolutionary biologist Professor Rob Brooks.
Tickets*: Adult $25, Concession $15, Wheelchair User $15
Book tickets
Fragile Democracy: Life, liberty and the pursuit of bilateral diplomacy
Sunday 26 May, 12.30pm–1.30pm
Carriageworks Bay 20, The ARA Stage
Unpack the longstanding alliance between Australia and the United States with an expert panel featuring festival favourite Barrie Cassidy, foreign correspondent Nick Bryant, UNSW academic Professor Rosalind Dixon and author of Trump's Australia Bruce Wolpe.
Tickets*: Adult $40, Concession $35, Wheelchair User $35
Book tickets
The Housing Crisis with Alan Kohler: How did property come to determine the Lucky Country’s wealth?
Saturday 25 May, 5pm–6pm
Carriageworks Bay 19
Unpack Australia’s housing crisis with veteran finance journalist Alan Kohler, whose Quarterly Essay, The Great Divide, investigates how we got into this mess and how to fix it. With Professor Richard Holden.
Tickets*: Adult $25, Concession $15, Wheelchair User $15
Book tickets
Dark Technologies: Exposing the technology of modern warfare
Sunday 26 May, 3.30pm–4.30pm
Carriageworks Track 8
Hear about the role of emerging technologies in military conflict with Walkley Award-winning journalist Antony Loewenstein (The Palestine Laboratory), UNSW artificial intelligence expert Prof. Toby Walsh (Faking It) and host Associate Professor Michael Richardson.
Tickets*: Adult $25, Concession $15, Wheelchair User $15
Book tickets
Australia’s Place in the World: Reimagining Australia’s international identity
Thursday 23 May, 11am–12pm
Carriageworks Bay 19
Learn from international political analysts Clinton Fernandes and Sam Roggeveen whose work asks where Australia fits in the international arena. In conversation with UNSW’s Prof. Verity Firth.
Tickets*: Adult $25; Concession $15; Wheelchair User $15
Book tickets
Abraham Verghese: The Covenant of Water
Thursday 23 May, 5pm–6pm
Carriageworks Bay 20, The ARA Stage
Examine the marriage of medicine and literature as physician, professor and bestselling novelist of Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese discusses his sweeping new saga, The Covenant of Water. With host Roanna Gonsalves (UNSW).
Tickets*: Adult: $45, Concession: $35, Wheelchair User: $35
Book tickets
Curiosity Lectures
The Curiosity Lecture Series returns to the Sydney Writers’ Festival with a line-up of our most thought-provoking speakers delivering one-time talks on topics of intrigue, interest and importance.
Brigitta Olubas and Susan Wyndham on Writing Letters
Thursday 23 May, 10am–10.30am
Carriageworks Bay 24
From their research in editing a collection of letters between Hazzard and Harrower, biographer Prof. Brigitta Olubas and journalist Susan Wyndham share insights into the art of writing letters and the relationships they sustain, or destroy.
Tickets: Free
Book tickets
Richard Holden on Money in the 21st Century
Friday 24 May, 11am–11.30am
Carriageworks Bay 24
In a world where money is increasingly cheap, digital and mobile, economist Prof. Richard Holden looks at the impact of these forces on our wallets, on the block chain and on major economies.
Tickets: Free
Book tickets
Joel Pearson on Intuition
Saturday 25 May, 3.30pm–4pm
Carriageworks Bay 24
Harness your intuition with neuroscientist and psychologist Professor Joel Pearson, whose book The Intuition Toolkit teaches you when it’s safe to rely on your instincts in decision-making and when it’s not.
Tickets: Free
Book tickets
Explore the full Sydney Writers’ Festival program and book tickets.
*plus booking fees
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