Sydney Writers' Festival

Fatima Bhutto is an Afghan-born Pakistani poet and writer. She studied at Columbia University and the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She is the granddaughter of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and niece of Benazir Bhutto. She is active in Pakistan's socio-political arena but has no desire to run for political office. She currently writes columns for ‘The Daily Beast’, ‘New Statesman’ and other publications.
 fatimabhutto.com.pk

• Opening Address: Nation on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
• Songs of Blood and Sword
• How 9/11 Changed the World
• The Dissident Café: Tweeting from Pakistan

Aminatta Forna is the author of ‘The Devil that Danced on the Water’ and the award-winning ‘Ancestor Stones’, selected by ‘The Washington Post’ as one of the most important books of 2006. Her third book, ‘The Memory of Love’, is the winner of the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (Africa). Aminatta writes for magazines, newspapers, radio and television, and has presented television documentaries on Africa’s history and art. Supported by the Commonwealth Foundation.
 aminattaforna.com

• Memory of Love: Aminatta Forna
• Aminatta Forna
• East of Africa, West of Sydney
• Eyes on the Prize
• Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Presentation

Ingrid Betancourt was born in Colombia and raised in France. In 1989 she returned to Colombia to pursue a career in politics. She was elected to the legislature on an anti-corruption platform and in 2002 launched Oxigeno Verde, the Green Oxygen Party. While campaigning for president, she was kidnapped by FARC rebels and held hostage for six years. She was rescued in 2008 by the Colombian military. She recently released ‘Even Silence Has an End’, a memoir of her experience.

• An Evening with Ingrid Betancourt
• The Language of Suffering

Maxine McKew spent 30 years as a broadcast and print journalist before making the switch to politics. She won Walkley and Logie awards, and the Magazine Publisher’s award for Columnist of the Year. In the 2007 federal election she wrote herself into Australian political history by defeating John Howard in the seat of Bennelong, a seat that had only ever been held by the Liberal Party. She served as parliamentary secretary for early childhood, and from 2009 until 2010 as the parliamentary secretary for local government and regional development.