Big Ideas
Melbourne Writers Festival seeks to take the temperature of global affairs in the company of some brilliant minds. This year we welcome an impressive line-up to our Big Ideas program, including eminent US public intellectual, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and former US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk. In Obama’s Big Ideas, Indyk weighs up the past and future of President Obama's foreign policy. While Appiah’s Alan Missen Oration: Literature and Global Citizenship explores the importance of imaginative literature in energising the global human rights movement. Book your tickets now, as these Big Ideas are selling out fast!
Romance
We all need a little romance in our lives and this year, Melbourne Writers Festival is excited to welcome New York Times bestselling romance author and Regency queen, Stephanie Laurens. Captivating readers around the globe, 2012 sees the release of her 50th work, The Lady Risks All. Join Laurens over the opening festival weekend for a series of events that are bound to get your heart beating, including In Conversation: Stephanie Laurens, Workshop: The Essential Elements of Genre Fiction and A Fine Romance. Elsewhere in our romance program, former beauty director at Harper's BAZAAR, current dating columnist for Cosmopolitan magazine and novelist, Zoe Foster, joins us In Conversation to discuss her latest book The Younger Man and the art of modern romance.
Australian Classics
In the centenary of the birth of our only Nobel Laureate in Literature, an expert panel examines Patrick White's legacy in Remembering Patrick White. But what makes a book a classic? Michael Heyward's Text is now publishing a list of Australian classics. He is joined by Jane Gleeson-White (Australian Classics), Ramona Koval (Best Australian Essays 2011) and David McCooey (Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature) to discuss The Real Australian Classics. Join Patrick White’s biographer, David Marr, for the perfect combination of visual art and literature in The Man and His Face. In this event, Marr leads an illustrated lecture charting Patrick White's life in his face – from society child to angry prophet.
Grossi at Merchant
Melbourne Writers Festival brings you a celebration of family and food at Guy Grossi's Venetian osteria Merchant. With four courses and wine, you can hear the much-loved chef in conversation with his mother about the food they grew up with in Italy's northeast. Guy demonstrates the art of gnocchi, and of Italian hospitality. Hosted by Hilary McNevin. For more information and bookings, click here.
AUSLAN Events
Melbourne Writers Festival is dedicated to improving the festival experience for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Hearing loops are available in most of our venues and selected events will be AUSLAN interpreted, following a consultation with the deaf community. Some of our AUSLAN interpreted events include Simon Callow’s Opening Keynote Address, Friday Night Live, Through Deaf Eyes, and the ArtPlay event Meet the Grimstones. For up-to-date information on AUSLAN interpreted events, click here.
Radio Hour
Join the audience for a radio spectacular, recorded live for broadcast on ABC Radio National's 360Documentaries. Telling stories on the theme 'Do You Read Me?', Pico Iyer, Chloe Hooper, Jon Tjhia and Jessie Borrelle (from audio journal Paper Radio), Natalie Kestecher (ABC Radio National) and Rachel Maher will be accompanied by musicians James Cecil (Super Melody), Shane O'Mara and Dan Marsh. Hosted and produced by Jaye Kranz, this is documentary radio like you've never seen before.
Proudly supported by ABC Radio National. Tickets available at artscentremelbourne.com.au or 1300 182 183.
