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Benjamin Law is a journalist, columnist, TV screenwriter and author of The Family Law, Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East and Quarterly Essay 67: Moral Panic 101. The Family Law is an award-winning TV series for SBS that Benjamin created and co-wrote over three seasons. He is a weekly columnist for Good Weekend magazine.
In the lead-up to the festival, we spoke with Benjamin about the events he’s featuring in and those that he’s excited to see this year.
Benjamin Recommends:
SWF Great Debate
“I look forward to this every year. This time everyone's going to be debating about the thing that feels like a threat – or maybe an opportunity – when it comes to writing, and that’s AI. I'm looking forward to people tearing each other apart – metaphorically, I think – on the Sydney Town Hall stage.”
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Suzie Miller: Prima Facie and Stage to Page
“I'm looking forward to big zeitgeist writers like Suzie Miller, whose Prima Facie story is taking over the stage and the page.”
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Julia Baird: Bright Shining
“I think Julia Baird’s Bright Shining is so needed right now when there is so little grace and so little forgiveness in the public sphere.”
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Sweatshop Stories
“I’m keen to see these homegrown heroes do their thing and bring Western Sydney realness to the main stages at Carriageworks.”
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See Benjamin at the Festival:
The Good Weekend Quiz
“All that carnage that you share across the breakfast table on Saturday mornings, raking over the right answers – you can do that live here at the Sydney Writers’ Festival.”
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Dicey Topics
“I probe David Marr in an almost medical fashion, which I promise will be consensual and enthusiastic on his behalf.”
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Viet Thanh Nguyen: A Man of Two Faces
Listen to the celebrated author, hailed as “a conscience of American literature” (The New Yorker), in conversation with Benjamin.
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Dirty Laundry
While everyone has dirty laundry in their lives, not everyone will choose to air theirs publicly. Join Benjamin with Rhys Nicholson, Amy Thunig and host George Haddad as they unpack the fallout on the other side of publication.
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