Sydney Writers' Festival

MARILYN LAKE (INTERSTATE)
Marilyn Lake is an historian who has published widely in Australia and overseas. Her most recent book is Drawing the Global Colour Line, with Henry Reynolds.

Marilyn Lake's participation in Sydney Writers’ Festival is supported by Melbourne University Publishing.

appearing at...
252: The Assimilation Agenda
313: White Men’s Countries

VINCENT LAM (INTERNATIONAL)
Vincent Lam was born in London, Ontario. His family is from the expatriate Chinese community of Vietnam. He studied medicine in Toronto, where he is now an emergency physician.

His debut, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, was awarded the Giller Prize, Canada’s most prestigious literary award for fiction. A collection of mature and intricate stories, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures holds in delicate and skillful tension black humour, investigations of both common and extraordinary moral dilemmas, and a sometimes shockingly realistic and matter-of-fact portrait of today's medical profession.

Vincent Lam’s participation in Sydney Writers’ Festival is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

www.vincentlam.ca

appearing at...
156: When Words and Science Meet
193: The Big Reading
204: Vincent Lam in Conversation

MARGRETE LAMOND (LOCAL)
Margrete Lamond is Publisher of Little Hare Books, heading a list of quality concept, picture, board and puzzle books and a growing list of early chapter books and junior fiction. She has also published six books of her own, and was a recipient of an Australia Council grant in 2001.

appearing at...
342: Publishing Fiction for Children and Young Adults

MARTIN LANGFORD (LOCAL)
Martin Langford is the author of five poetry books, the most recent being Sensual Horizon. In 2004, he edited Ngara with John Muk Muk Burke, a companion volume to the Australian Poetry Festival. His most recent publication is Microtexts, a book of aphorism and observation about poetics. His latest poetry collection Shadow of the Ape, will be published this year.

appearing at...
137: The Sydney Readings: Urban Stories II
172: So What is Happening in Contemporary Verse?
232: The Sydney Readings: City Without End
298: The Sydney Readings: The Countries of Sydney

RUBY LANGFORD GINIBI (LOCAL)
Ruby Langford Gibini was born in 1934 in northern New South Wales. She has lived a remarkable and inspiring life and is a proud elder of the Bundjalung people.

Ruby’s first book of memoir, Don’t Take Your Love to Town, was originally published in 1988, and republished in 2007. It won the Australian Human Rights Award for Literature and the Pandora Books Women Writers’ Award in 1989. She has also published Real Deadly, My Bundjalung People and Haunted by the Past. Her fifth book, All My Mob, was published in 2007.

appearing at...
241: Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature

MARCIA LANGTON (INTERSTATE)
Marcia Langton was appointed Foundation Professor of Australian Indigenous Studies at University of Melbourne in 2000. She has many years experience working as an anthropologist in indigenous affairs with land councils, the Queensland government, commissions and universities. She is one of Australia’s leading thinkers on contemporary social issues such as child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities and judicial leniency when sentencing Aboriginal murders and rapists.

appearing at...
252: The Assimilation Agenda
267: Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for Australia

OLGA LAVECCHIA (LOCAL)
Olga Lavecchia has won many Australian Publishing Association Book Design Awards, including Designer of the Best Cover of the Year 2007; Best Designed Tertiary and Further Education Book 2007 and short-listed designer in the 2008 awards.

appearing at...
127: Design Outlook: Australian Book Designers and their Visions

CARMEN LAWRENCE (INTERSTATE)
Carmen Lawrence is a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia.

appearing at...
216: Foreign Correspondents
317: Margaret Reynolds in Conversation with Carmen Lawrence

DAI LE (LOCAL)
Dai Le has worked as a producer for ABC Radio National’s social history and features unit since 1997.

A trained journalist, she began working for ABC Radio and TV in 1994. Dai worked on three different one-hour documentaries for SBS Television before Operation Babylift. She directed Taking Charge of Cabramatta, wrote and co-produced Starting from Zero and both wrote and directed In Limbo. Dai’s radio documentary about Operation Babylift was a finalist in the UN Media Peace Awards.

appearing at...
294: Food as Communication: Secrets of the Red Lantern

SUZANNE LEAL (LOCAL)
Suzanne Leal has worked as a criminal lawyer and is now a member of several review tribunals. Her first novel Border Street was commended for the Asher Literary Awards.

appearing at...
139: Family Matters
223: Luke Davies in Conversation
328: Remembering Parents

HERMIONE LEE (INTERNATIONAL)
Hermione Lee is the Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature and Fellow of New College, Oxford. She is one of Britain's leading biographers and is well known as a critic, broadcaster and reviewer.

Her latest biography of Edith Wharton was published to critical acclaim in 2007. Her previous books include her celebrated biography of Virginia Woolf, a collection of essays on life-writing, Body Parts, and studies of Elizabeth Bowen, Willa Cather and Philip Roth. In 2006 she was Chair of the judges for the Man-Booker Prize.

She is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Literature, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was awarded a CBE in 2003 for services to literature.


www.hermionelee.com

appearing at...
13: Conflicting Desires: A New Reading of Edith Wharton
68: Hermione Lee on Edith Wharton
132: Hermione Lee in Conversation
238: The Lives of Others

TANYA LEVIN (LOCAL)
Tanya Levin is an Australian writer and social worker. She spent part of her childhood in the USA with her English father and South African Jewish mother. She grew up in the Assemblies of God, and the church that became Hillsong. Trained as a social worker, Tanya is no longer welcome in the church since relinquishing her membership of Hillsong's congregation.

In People in Glass Houses Tanya Levin exposes some unpalatable truths behind the polished smiles which front the increasingly wealthy and powerful Hillsong ‘family’. In doing so, she confronts demons of her own at the heart of her troubled and intensely personal relationship with the church.

appearing at...
83: Scar Tissue
309: Investigative Journalism

MEGAN LEWIS (INTERSTATE)
Megan Lewis, an award winning photographer, was born and raised in rural New Zealand.

At the age of 21, she moved to Sydney and was employed by Reuters. During that time Megan’s work regularly appeared in various international publications including the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune and a front cover of Time Magazine.

In early 1998, Megan was lured by The Australian to their Perth bureau, where she continued to cover national and international stories including the Tampa crisis, Queen Elizabeth’s tour of Australia, riots in Indonesia and the first tremors of Indonesia’s bid for independence.

In July 2002, on a gut feeling and with an invitation from the Martu people, Megan left The Australian to live full-time in the Great Sandy Desert. The result of this five year privilege is Conversations with the Mob, whose images won a 2005 Walkley Award.

Megan is now based in Perth, working as a freelance photographer. During her career Megan has worked in many challenging locations and situations. She has photographed all manner of people – from the most exalted to the most destitute. She remains an optimist.

Megan Lewis’ participation in Sydney Writers’ Festival is supported by UWA Press.

www.meganlewis.com.au

appearing at...
82: Re-imagining Australia
146: Women Going Bush
221: Conversations with the Mob

FAITH LIDDELL (INTERNATIONAL)
Faith Liddell is Director of Festivals Edinburgh, the organisation that leads on the joint strategic direction of Edinburgh’s 12 major festivals and is a former Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

appearing at...
101: Sarah Hall in Conversation
132: Hermione Lee in Conversation
213: Heather O’Neill in Conversation

KATE LILLEY (LOCAL)
Kate Lilley grew up in Perth and Sydney. Since 1990 she has taught feminist literary history and theory at the University of Sydney, and has published widely on early modern women’s writing and contemporary poetry. She is the editor of Margaret Cavendish: The Blazing World. Her poetry is collected in Versary.

appearing at...
64: The Sydney Readings: Urban Stories I

DEBBIE LIM (LOCAL)
Debbie Lim was born in Sydney where she works as a medical writer. Her poetry has been published in Blue Dog: Australian Poetry and some poems are forthcoming in Quadrant.

appearing at...
107: Launch: Poetry Without Borders (Picaro Press)

PATRICK LINDSAY (LOCAL)
Patrick Lindsay began working full time as an author in 2001 after a long career as a journalist and television presenter. Since then he has established himself as one of Australia’s leading non-fiction authors and public speakers.

In 2002 he published The Spirit of Kokoda. It stayed on the national bestseller list for nine weeks and continues to sell well. Patrick followed it with It’s Never Too Late, a best-selling motivational book which has now expanded into a series, Happiness and Balance. The Spirit of The Digger in 2003 ended the year as Australia’s top-selling history book. Back from the Dead, the story of the 2002 Bali bombings stayed on the best-seller list for eight weeks.

The Essence of Kokoda, a concise guide to the Kokoda story, was released in 2005 and followed by The Spirit of Gallipoli. Patrick then wrote biographies of former triathlon champion Greg Welch; Heart of a Champion and General Peter Cosgrove; Cosgrove, Portrait of a Leader which broke into the bestsellers’ Top 10 in late 2006.

His latest book, Fromelles, hit the shelves in November 2007 and is already into its second printing.

www.patricklindsay.com.au

appearing at...
73: Diggers of Fromelles
91: New Insights in Australian History
141: Behind the Scenes

ELAINE LINDSAY (LOCAL)
Elaine Lindsay is the Literature and History Program Manager at Arts NSW.

appearing at...
151: The Voyeurism of Biography

KATE LLEWELLYN (INTERSTATE)
Kate Llewellyn is the author of 19 books, including the bestselling Waterlily: A Blue Mountains Journal and Playing with Water: A Story of a Garden.

A distinguished poet, she has published six books of poetry and is the co-editor of The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets. Her travel books include Likes, Feathers & Frangipani on the Cook Islands and New Zealand, Angels and Dark Madonnas on India and Italy, and Gorillas, Tea & Coffee: An African Sketchbook.

In her candid memoir The Dressmaker’s Daughter, Llewellyn traces life from her earliest days through to her nursing training, her marriage, life in the 60s and 70s bohemian Adelaide and the beginning of her life as a writer.

appearing at...
281: Australian Lives
326: Kate Llewellyn in Conversation

JONATHAN LLEWELLYN (LOCAL)
Jonathan Llewellyn was born into theatre; he directs, produces, performs and creates all sorts of theatre. He is the Marketing Officer at Riverside Theatres.

appearing at...
8: Primary School Days – Parramatta
20: Secondary School Days – Parramatta

MARC LLEWELLYN (LOCAL)
Marc Llewellyn is a former Sydney Herald journalist and the current president of the ASTW. He is an active freelance writer contributing to many of Australia's most prestigious newspapers and travel magazines, as well as others overseas.

He has won the Kendell Airlines Australian Travel Writer of the Year award and the ASTW Travel Writer of the Year Award. He is the continuing author of the Frommers guides to Australia and Sydney.

His first travelogue entitled, Riders to the Midnight Sun was published in 2001, and his travelogue entitled Finding Nino, will be published in May 2008. Marc holds an Honours degree in communications and a Masters in journalism.

appearing at...
149: Chasing Bohemia and Finding Nino
176: Traveller’s Tales

VIRGINIA LLOYD (LOCAL)
Virginia Lloyd worked in the book publishing industry as an editor for many years, but left the industry to gain experience in corporate communications and marketing. She currently works as a consultant and teacher in the non-profit sector.

Her writing has appeared in publications from Griffith REVIEW and The Sydney Morning Herald to Vogue and Time Out New York. She spent 18 months in New York while writing The Young Widow’s Book of Home Improvement, her first book.

Virginia has a PhD from the University of Sydney and is a member of the management committee of Sydney PEN.

appearing at...
65: The Final Journey
152: Personal Journeys

ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN (LOCAL)
Antony Loewenstein is a Sydney-based freelance journalist, author and blogger. He has written for publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Nation, Crikey, New Matilda and The Washington Post.

Antony contributed a major chapter to 2004's best-seller, Not Happy, John! on the Hanan Ashrawi affair. His bestselling book on the Israel/Palestine conflict, My Israel Question, was shortlisted for the 2007 NSW Premier's Literary Award. His next book, on the internet in repressive regimes, will be released in September.

He is a board member of Macquarie University's Centre for Middle East and North African Studies and an Honorary Associate at Macquarie University's Department of Politics and International Relations. He is the co-founder of advocacy group Independent Australian Jewish Voices. Antony appears regularly on radio, TV, in public and at universities discussing current affairs and politics.

antonyloewenstein.com

appearing at...
301: Creative Dissent

PENNY LOMAX (LOCAL)
Penny Lomax is the producer of The Music Show on ABC Radio National.

appearing at...
145: Finding the Words to Speak (and Write) about Music

KATHRYN LOMER (LOCAL)
Kathryn Lomer lives in Hobart. Her first collection of poetry, Extraction of Arrows, won the Anne Elder Award. Her second collection, Two Kinds of Silence, has won the 2008 Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry. She is also the author of a novel for young adults, The Spare Room, and a collection of short stories, Camera Obscura.

appearing at...
45: Readings from the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards

JOAN LONDON (INTERSTATE)
Joan London is the author of two prize-winning collections of stories, Sister Ships, which won The Age Book of the Year in 1986, and Letter to Constantine, which won the Steele Rudd Award in 1994 and the Premier’s Award for Fiction. These collections were published in one volume as The New Dark Age.

In 2001 her first novel, Gilgamesh, was published, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, as well as a host of other awards, and chosen as The Age Book of the Year for Fiction in 2002. It was also longlisted for the Orange Prize and the Dublin Impac. Gilgamesh has been published in Europe, the UK and the US, where it was a New York Times Notable Book in 2003, and an Editor’s Choice Book.

Her latest novel is The Good Parents.

appearing at...
139: Family Matters
174: Joan London in Conversation with Drusilla Modjeska
312: Sunday Afternoon Tea and Readings

LENNY ANN LOW (LOCAL)
Lenny Ann Low is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald.

appearing at...
23: Primary School Days – Sydney
35: Secondary School Days – Sydney

JUDITH LUCY (INTERSTATE)
Judith Lucy is a local funny lady who has turned her hand to radio (Ladies Lounge, Foxy Ladies, The Friday Shout, The Arvo) until she was sacked; television (The Late Show, The Mick Molloy Show) until the last regular show she was on was axed; and movies (Crackerjack, Bad Eggs), although she has not been asked to appear in one of these for years.

Judith is probably best known as a stand-up comedian who has taken her eight one-woman shows around the country and overseas. Unfortunately, her last tour was dogged by feet trouble and vaginitis, so having run out of career options (seriously, she is just a heartbeat away from performing opposite someone in an animal costume in a shopping centre) she has written this book about her parents.

The Lucy Family Alphabet is funny and ruthlessly honest, but also a moving tribute to the lunatics who raised one of Australia’s best-known comedians.

appearing at...
59: Not Another Misery Memoir...
190: An Evening with Judith Lucy