Please note all these events have been completed.
RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH (LOCAL)
RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH is the award-winning author of the young adult novels Does My Head Look Big in This? and Ten Things I Hate About Me. She is 28, and has her own identity hyphens to contend with (Australian-born-Muslim-Palestinian-Egyptian-choc-a-holic). Randa is active in the interfaith community and a member of the Coalition for Peace and Justice in Palestine. Randa also works as a lawyer and lives in Sydney with her husband and their two children. Her books have received acclaim around the world. Most recently, Randa was awarded the Kathleen Mitchell Award, a biennial literary award that acknowledges excellence in writers under 30. Randa's latest novel is Where the Streets Had a Name.
appearing at...
31: Secondary School Days - Sydney
53: Secondary School Days - Parramatta
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ROBERT ADAMSON (LOCAL)
ROBERT ADAMSON has published over 20 books of verse and prose, from early writing as a poet maudit to more recent work exploring the landscape of the Hawkesbury River.
 robertadamson.com
appearing at...
141: Late Nights at Number One
151: The Sydney Poetry Reading II
317: Poetry as Passion: A Tribute to Dorothy Porter
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DEBRA ADELAIDE (LOCAL)
Debra Adelaide is a writer and academic. Her books include The Hotel Albatross and Serpent Dust. Her latest novel is The Household Guide to Dying.
appearing at...
39: Sweet Sorrow: Writing and Mortality
72: Murder Your Darlings: Workshop with Debra Adelaide
144: Murder Your Darlings: Workshop with Debra Adelaide
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CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE (INTERNATIONAL)
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE grew up in Nigeria. She holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins and a Masters degree in African Studies from Yale. Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. It was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and longlisted for the Booker Prize. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, won the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Her work has been translated into 30 languages. She was a 2005-2006 Hodder Fellow at Princeton, where she taught introductory fiction. She divides her time between the United States and Nigeria. Her new collection is The Thing Around Your Neck.
Her participation is supported by HarperCollins Publishers.
halfofayellowsun.com
appearing at...
65: Opening Address presented by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
94: The Long and Short of It
142: First Tuesday Book Club
247: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Conversation with Ramona Koval
272: International Voices
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MICHAEL MOHAMMED AHMAD (LOCAL)
MICHAEL MOHAMMED AHMAD is the editor of the BYDS literary publication Westside, and was also a recipient of the FTO’s 2008 Young Filmmakers Fund for his script The Pizza. He has read and performed in the 2007 and 2008 Sydney Writers’ Festivals and has been published in the literary journal Heat. Mohammed wrote, directed and starred in his first solo performance The Veil in 2004 as part of UTP’s Short n’ Sharp 3. Since then he has performed with the company throughout the acclaimed tour of Fast Cars and Tractor Engines. In 2008 he starred in UTP’s production Stories of Love and Hate. He has also made a guest appearance on the hit TV series East West 101.
appearing at...
49: Alleyway Honour: A Night of Performing Writing
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ADAM AITKEN (LOCAL)
ADAM AITKEN spent his early childhood in London, Thailand and Malaysia before settling in Sydney. As well as numerous articles on poetry, a PhD thesis on Asian-Australian literature, academic articles and works of creative non-fiction, he is the author of four full-length collections of poetry. He recently spent a year in Cambodia working on his latest book of poems, Eighth Habitation. He has been an English teacher in Indonesia and lectures in Academic Language and Literacy at the University of Technology, Sydney.
appearing at...
234: Writing Asia
276: Late Nights at Number One
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MONICA ALI (INTERNATIONAL)
MONICA ALI was one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and won Newcomer of the Year at the 2004 British Book Awards. Her first novel, Brick Lane, was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize, the George Orwell Prize for political writing and the prestigious Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. She lives in London with her husband and two children. Her latest novel is In The Kitchen.
Her participation is supported by Transworld UK.
appearing at...
125: The Man Booker Prize
211: Monica Ali in Conversation with Claire Scobie
268: The Author?s Right to Speak
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FIONA ALLON (LOCAL)
FIONA ALLON is a writer and critic who specialises in the analysis of contemporary Australian culture and politics. She is a commentator on current affairs, social issues and popular culture, and researches and writes on a broad range of subjects. She is currently working on a Reserve Bank of Australia-funded project on mortgage distress. She lectures at the University of Sydney. She is the author of Renovation Nation: Australia’s Obsession with Home.
appearing at...
176: Mortgage Mania/Mortgage Meltdown
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MT ANDERSON (INTERNATIONAL)
MT ANDERSON writes picture books, junior fiction and young adult fiction. MT studied English literature at Harvard and Cambridge universities and received an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. Currently on the faculty of Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children Program, he lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He has won a number of awards including The Michael L. Printz Honor Book, The National Book Award for Young People and The Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party. His latest book is The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 2: The Kingdom on the Waves.
MT Anderson’s participation in SWF is supported by Walker Books.
appearing at...
297: Don’t Tell the Teenagers: Young Adult Fiction That’s "Too Hard" for Young Adults
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ROBYN ARCHER (INTERSTATE)
ROBYN ARCHER is a singer, writer, director, artistic director and public advocate of the arts in Australia and around the world. Robyn is known for her own writing, including political songs in shows like Pack of Women and Kold Komfort Kaffee. She is an exponent and a champion of music theatre and the classic European cabaret tradition, and is always writing in various forms from songs to shows to essays, articles, speeches and verse.
robynarcher.com.au
appearing at...
88: For Whom the Arts Serve
123: Risky Business: Building Resilience into the Arts
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BETTINA ARNDT (LOCAL)
BETTINA ARNDT trained as a clinical psychologist before becoming a sex therapist and social commentator. As editor of the influential Forum magazine, she spent ten years talking about sex on television and radio. She then moved on to writing about broader social issues, working as a columnist and feature writer for leading newspapers and magazines. She is the bestselling author of Private Lives, All About Us and Taking Sides. Her new book, The Sex Diaries, uses research to show how couples negotiate their sex supply and deal with the tensions of mismatched desire.
appearing at...
111: The Female Libido
331: Men, Women and Sex
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JAMES ARVANITAKIS (LOCAL)
JAMES ARVANITAKIS is a lecturer in the Humanities at the University of Western Sydney and is a member of the University's Centre for Cultural Research. James has worked as a human rights activist throughout the Pacific, Indonesia and Europe. He is currently working with the Whitlam Institute looking at issues confronting Australia's democracy. A regular media commentator, James' latest book, Contemporary Society: A Sociological Analysis of Everyday Life, is an Australian sociology textbook and was recently launched with Oxford University Press. A research fellow at the Centre for Policy Development, James has worked extensively with a number of non-government organisations, including Oxfam Australia's International Youth Partnerships and Youth Engagement Program, Oxfam Hong Kong, as well as Aid/Watch.
appearing at...
104: Capturing Contemporary Australia
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KARLA ASPDEN (LOCAL)
KARLA ASPDEN is a teacher at Bondi Public School. She uses the Writers Talk resources to answer many questions about popular authors asked by the primary school students she teaches.
Karla will discuss how the Writers Talk resources bring popular authors to the classroom providing a diversity of rich, meaningful literary experiences. Using the resources as virtual excursions, Karla provides an authentic experience, introducing popular authors such as Deborah Abela, Ursula Dubosarsky, Andy Griffiths, Alison Lester and Emily Rodda. Students are able to experience the authors talking about aspects of the writing process such as characterisation and plot, and gain useful advice for their own writing. Karla and her students attend masterclasses given by selected authors, then adopt the processes and strategies learned in their classroom.
appearing at...
42: Writers Talk
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GEOFFREY ATHERDEN (LOCAL)
GEOFFREY ATHERDEN is the writer of Mother and Son, Grass Roots and BabaKiueria. He is currently president of the Australian Writers’ Foundation.
appearing at...
88: For Whom the Arts Serve
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ALAN ATTWOOD (INTERSTATE)
ALAN ATTWOOD has had a long and varied career in which he has tended to specialise in not specialising. For 30 years as a journalist he covered such diverse events as the first free elections in South Africa, soccer in Northern Greece, political intrigue in Morocco, four Olympic Games and all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. Between 1995 and 1998 he was the New York-based correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers. He won a Walkley Award for sports coverage in 1998. He is the author of two novels, one of which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. He is currently the editor of The Big Issue.
appearing at...
319: Creating a Participation Society
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AUBURN POETS AND WRITERS GROUP (LOCAL)
THE AUBURN POETS AND WRITERS GROUP was formed in 2005 as an initiative of the Auburn Community Development Network and Auburn Council. Originally conceived as a support group for sharing and developing writing, today the dynamic, multilingual group has over 30 members who write about connections between places, spaces and people. At the 2008 Sydney Writers’ Festival the group launched Auburn Letters, a publication of poetry by 28 of its members. It featured an eclectic mix of genres and textures, and gave testimony to the many voices within the group.
appearing at...
48: Auburn Rising: The Sky Belongs to Everyone I
212: Auburn Rising: The Sky Belongs to Everyone II
328: Auburn Rising: The Sky Belongs to Everyone III
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STEFAN AUST (INTERNATIONAL)
STEFAN AUST was the editor of Der Spiegel from 1994 to 2008. He worked with Ulrike Meinhof on the left-wing publication Konkret in the late Sixties. The film, The Baader Meinhof Complex, is based on his book. Released in the UK last November, the film is produced by Bernd Eichinger (Downfall) and stars cast members from the Academy Award-winning The Lives of Others.
Stefan Aust’s participation in SWF is supported by the Goethe-Institut Sydney.
appearing at...
128: The Baader Meinhof Complex: Screening and Q&A with Stefan Aust
147: The Future of Journalism
188: The Baader Meinhof Complex: Stefan Aust in Conversation
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TASH AW (INTERNATIONAL)
TASH AW is Malaysian by birth and now lives in London. His first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, won the Whitbread Best First Novel Award and the Commonwealth Best First Novel Award. His second novel, Map of the Invisible World, is set in post-Independence Malaysia and Indonesia. Tash is a frequent contributor to the BBC on South-East Asian literature, film and culture.
His participation is supported by HarperCollins Publishers.
tash-aw.com
appearing at...
158: Tash Aw in Conversation with Kevin Rabalais
242: Conflict and Childhood
272: International Voices
281: Changing Worlds
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