Fortunately I am able to take some time off work so I can attend four full days of the festival and maximise my literary overload. I will be tweeting and blogging from the event, but thought I would give a quick preview of who I will be seeing at the festival.
- Emma Alberici, Australian journalist and Lateline host
- Julian Barnes, Booker prize winning author
- Rosie Batty, Australian of the Year 2015
- Tegan Bennett Daylight, Australian fiction writer
- Stephanie Bishop, Australian author
- Bob Brown, environmentalist and former Greens leader
- William Boyd, author and screenwriter
- Julian Burnside QC, barrister and human rights lawyer
- Annabel Crabb, Australian journalist
- Matthew Condon, author and journalist
- Marie Darrieussecq, French novelist and Charlie Hebdo writer
- Jonathan Franzen, bestselling American author
- Anna Funder, award winning Australian author
- Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil frontman, former MP
- Ann Goldstein, translator for Elena Ferrante
- Elizabeth Harrower, legendary Australian author
- Paula Hawkins, journalist and author
- Marlon James, Booker prize winning author
- Deepti Kapoor, Indian novelist
- Paul Kelly, editor at large The Australian
- Herman Koch, screenwriter and columnist
- Benjamin Law, screenwriter and journalist
- George Megalogenis, award winning Australian Journalist
- Drusilla Modjeska, Australian author
- Frank Moorhouse, Australian author and screenwriter
- Tara Moss, Canadian/Australian novelist
- Susie Orbach, Feminist icon and psychotherapist
- Yeonmi Park, human rights activist and North Korean defector
- John Purcell, Australian author
- Leigh Sales, Australian journalist
- Margot Saville, political commentator
- Niki Savva, Australian journalist
- Babette Smith, historian
- Tim Soutphommasane, Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner
- Gloria Steinem, Feminist icon
- Samanth Subramanian, Indian journalist
- Mark Tedeschi, barrister and true crime author
- Lucy Treloar, Australian author
- Peter van Onselen, Australian journalist
- Jeanette Winterson, award winning British author
- Fiona Wright, Australian poet
- Xu Zhiyuan, Chinese intellectual
So now I have six weeks left to finish reading the many books I bought at last year's festival to free me from any guilt about buying more. Who am I kidding? I never feel guilty about buying and reading books!
Also: my blog posts from the 2015 Sydney Writers' Festival are available.
Also: my blog posts from the 2015 Sydney Writers' Festival are available.