Sydney Writers' Festival

The 2010 Sydney Writers' Festival celebrates the year's literature and welcomes the writers, both local and international, who have produced it. We are proud this year to bring to you a galaxy of writers who will excite, inspire, inform and, perhaps, even enrage you. Many of these writers are well known names, others you will be meeting for the first time. All of them have important things to say.

The literary endeavour is at the heart our festival and this year we welcome Colm Tóibín, Peter Carey, Lionel Shriver, Yiyun Li, Les Murray, Alex Miller and a host of newer novelists, as well as the swag of poets who complete our literary roundup. We have always provided space for poets and international writers to read their work but this year there will also be a series of Reading Musters, giving you the chance to hear a great number of local fiction writers read.

We are gathering at a critical moment in history — with a world still reeling from the near collapse of the global financial system and threatened by the prospect of catastrophic climate change.

Assembling some of the finest minds in Australia and the world provides the opportunity to understand these crises and a range of other pressing issues. It's an opportunity to re-think the way we live.

We will look at change and renewal in a variety of ways, but especially through some of our keynote events:

• The hopes for political change in the astonishing reform movement in Iran (see Iran, A New Beginning and The Dissident Cafe: Tweeting from Tehran).


  
  
• Spiritual change and renewal in the ancient mystic traditions of India, presented in the Nine Lives show at the Sydney Opera House (including the opportunity to witness the spiritual incarnation of a practitioner of one of these traditions).
  
  
• The call for a more fundamental change in our approach to the globalised economy is gathered under a series of events that include John Ralston Saul, David Wessel and Raj Patel.
  
  
• The challenge of climate change is similarly gathered under a suite of events, including those with Bill McKibben, Ross Garnaut, Clive Hamilton, Tony Kevin, Anna Rose and others.

The program is exciting, and comprehensive. With over 300 events we realise that it is time to introduce some navigation aides. We have divided the program into five broad categories, based on Sydney’s icons, as a way to organise our key events. As usual, you can custom-design your own program online.

Taking the artistic reins of this Festival this past year has been an honour and a privilege, and would not have been possible without the support of a professional, dynamic and dedicated team led by Executive Director Ben Strout. I take this opportunity to thank them, as well as the board and the funders, sponsors and donors who make this all possible.

We hope you will find it stimulating and, above all, enjoyable. Welcome to the 2010 Sydney Writers' Festival.

Chip Rolley
Artistic Director