Sydney Writers' Festival

On November 21, 2011Sydney Writers' Festival, in association with Belvoir, was proud to present Liao Yiwu, the Chinese poet, writer and performer in this special out-of-season engagement.

Liao Yiwu performed his poetry and spoke with Sydney Writers' Festival artistic director Chip Rolley about his exile from the land and people he loves. He also discussed his great life's work - the interviews with China's outcasts, many of which are collected in The Corpse Walker.

Renowned for his powerful poetic and musical performances, Liao Yiwu is the author of the haunting tribute to the heroes of Tiananmen Square, "Massacre" (for which he served four years in prison), "Requiem 1989" (played in his absence at the Opening Address of the 2011 Sydney Writers' Festival) and many other poems.

We opened a Festival that placed the power of the writer centre stage, with an address by Fatima Bhutto on the crises faced by her native Pakistan. We knew the tenth anniversary of 9/11 would make this a topic of interest and we knew Bhutto would speak with her trademark rhetorical finesse. But how could we know that Osama Bin Laden would be killed in Pakistan just two weeks prior? Or that, later, the video of Bhutto's address would generate over 200,000 views (and climbing)?...

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Enjoy some of the highlights from the 2011 Sydney Writers' Festival.

This week's video features Izzeldin Abuelaish with his message for peace in his event I Shall Not Hate.

Audio

#206 The Good Book with AC Grayling

#31 Sonia Faleiro: Beautiful Thing

#124 The Alternate View with Daniel Altman and Michael Sexton

#41 Bits and Bytes with James Gleick and Robyn Williams

#51 The Tiger's Wife with Téa Obreht and Stephen Romei

#69 The Finkler Question with Howard Jacobson and Rick Gekoski

#70 Food Fighters with AA Gill, Anthony Bourdain and Tony Bilson

#91 I Shall Not Hate with Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish

#132 TGIF with Richard Glover: Sydney Writers' Festival special

#138 You've Been Warned with Naomi Oreskes, Curt Stager and Paul Gilding

#145 The Vagabonds with David Mitchell and Daniel Swift

#175 Porn Wars with Gail Dines, Kate Holden and Catharine Lumby

#206 The Good Book with AC Grayling

#243 David Hicks with Donna Mulhearn

Video

#25 AA Gill is here

#29 Climate Whiplash with Curt Stager

#41 Bits and Bytes with James Gleick and Robyn Williams

#51 The Tiger's Wife with Téa Obreht and Stephen Romei

#52 Reading is overrated with Rick Gekoski, Don Anderson and Shona Martyn

#53 Home and Away with Marcia Langton and Peter Robb

#70 Food Fighters with AA Gill, Anthony Bourdain and Tony Bilson

#91 I Shall Not Hate with Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish

#105 Do the Taliban deserve a second chance with James Fergusson, Ida Lichter, Mustafa Qadri and James Brown

#109 The Thousand Styles of David Mitchell

#122 Beautiful Thing with Sonia Faleiro

#146 Singapore Sling with Peter Lloyd, Shamini Flint and Sally Warhaft.

#164 Return of the Wry with Howard Jacobson, Frank Moorhouse and Fiona Giles

#175 Porn Wars with Gail Dines, Kate Holden and Catharine Lumby

#180 Medium Raw with Anthony Bourdain

#194 G'day China with Hugh White, AC Grayling, Linda Jaivin and Luigi Tomba

#248 Closing Address: Perish the Thought with James Gleick

Thanks to our media partners Slow TV,  ABC Big Ideas and ABC Radio National for their support.

We take you to this year's Sydney Writers' Festival Program Launch for a taster of things to come in May.

Produced by Hunting with Pixels | Hosted by Annette Shun Wah