Streamed LIVE by Sydney Writers’ Festival and delivered locally to Canberra audiences by the National Library of Australia, Live & Local offers regional and national audiences access to new ideas from great minds. 

The National Library of Australia are delighted to partner with the Sydney Writers' Festival Live & Local program to offer Canberra audiences access to the largest Festival of books and ideas in the southern hemisphere. Audiences members at the National Library can actively engage with and contribute to the Festival by submitting questions to guest writers through Twitter and text message. 

Join us as we celebrate books, challenge ideas, and interrogate power.


Friday 4th May 2018

10.00am - 11.00am : Jane Harper: Force of Nature
Presenter - Jane Harper
Facilitator - Claire Nichols
Jane Harper’s Force of Nature is the follow-up thriller to the runaway success of her debut, The Dry, which was sold into more than 20 countries and optioned for a film adaption by Reese Witherspoon. It continues the story of Australian police officer Aaron Falk, this time as he traces the disappearance of a missing bush walker who was the crucial whistle-blower in his latest case.

11.30pm - 12.30pm : The Future of China
Presenters - Minglu Chen, Xue Yiwei, Robert E. Kelly
Facilitator - Linda Jaivin
Xi Jinping has become China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. But with his consolidation of power, the country has become more authoritarian, with increasing censorship and arrests of lawyers and activists. Three Festival authors uniquely placed to discuss China sit down with Linda Jaivin to talk about its political, economic and cultural future.

1.30pm - 2.30pm : Going Rogue: North Korea
Presenters - Michael Pembroke, Anna Broinowski, Min Jin Lee, Robert E. Kelly
Facilitator - Linda Javin
North Korea is unlike any other nation today. Its citizens are sealed off from the world and only allowed access to state-run propaganda, and its volatile leader Kim Jong-un is considered a threat to world peace. But can an international crisis be averted? Political science professor Robert E. Kelly, Korean-American author Min Jin Lee, Korea author Michael Pembroke and filmmaker and writer Anna Broinowski discuss the isolated nation with Linda Jaivin.

3.00pm - 4.00pm : Conflicting Narratives
Presenters - Ben Taub, Alexis Okeowo, Alec Luhn
Facilitator - Ben Doherty
Three reporters share their perspectives on the role of storytellers in a time of ongoing conflict, terrorism and refugee crises, in conversation with The Guardian journalist Ben Doherty. The New Yorker staff writer Alexis Okeowo’s A Moonless, Starless Sky chronicles the resistance against extremism in Africa. Moscow-based correspondent for The Telegraph Alec Luhn has covered protests in Russia and the war in eastern Ukraine. The New Yorker staff writer Ben Taub has written about jihadi recruitment in Europe and war crimes in Syria.

4.30pm - 5.30pm : Gareth Evans: Incorrigible Optimist
Presenter - Gareth Evans
Facilitator - Kerry O'Brien
While political memoirs are often dry, self-congratulating affairs, The Canberra Times has described Incorrigible Optimist as a memoir crackling with “wit, self-deprecating humour and illuminating insights”. Gareth covers the breadth of his colourful public life as a central figure in Australian politics and a significant voice in international policymaking for more than three decades.

Saturday 5th May 2018

10.00am - 11.00am : New Power
Presenters - Jeremy Heimans, Henry Timms
Facilitator - Susan Dodds
For millennia, power was something to be seized and jealously guarded. However, the rapid emergence of new technologies is changing the game. From Bernie Saunders to President Donald Trump, from taxis to B&Bs, new ideas, political movements and businesses now spread with astonishing speed. In conversation with Professor Susan Dodds, New Power authors Jeremy Heimans (co-founder of GetUp!) and Henry Timms draw on examples from politics, popular culture, business and social justice to explain the disruptive forces that are changing the course of our age.

11.30am - 12.30pm : Peter Greste: The First Casualty
Presenter - Peter Greste
Facilitator - Hugh Riminton
Foreign correspondent Peter Greste spent two decades reporting from the frontline in the world’s most dangerous countries before making headlines himself following his incarceration in an Egyptian prison. The First Casualty is his enlightening firsthand account of how the war on journalism spread from the battlefields of the Middle East to the governments of the West.

1.30pm - 2.30pm : Resisting Unjust Authority
Presenters - Masha Gessen, Alexis Okeowo, Mohammed Al Samawi
Facilitator - Sarah Krasnostein
Three of the Festival’s brightest minds come together to examine our evolving relationship with power. The Future is History author Masha Gessen, The Fox Hunt author Mohammed Al Samawi and A Moonless, Starless Sky author Alexis Okeowo consider how unjust authority is wielded and resisted in the modern world, how we can free ourselves from its messages and impact, and how these strategies are changing over time.

3.00pm - 4.00pm : Women in Tech: Okay Ladies, Now Let's Get Information
Presenters - Angela Saini, Aminatou Sow, Elanor Huntington
Facilitator - Deb Verhoeven
Why do the tech and science industries remain a boys’ club after so many years? How are inroads finally being made? And who are the success stories bucking the trend? Join three inspiring speakers in conversation with Deb Verhoeven as they celebrate the incredible women of tech and science.

4.30pm - 5.30pm : Annabel Crabb's BooKwiz
Presenters - Leigh Sales, Richard Fidler, Julia Zemiro
Facilitator - Annabel Crabb
Which book are you ashamed of loving? Which do you reread when you’re in a reading slump? What have you always meant to read but now suspect you never will? Beloved journalist and presenter Annabel Crabb returns to the Festival for BooKwiz, a thorough interrogation of some well-known readers, including ABC 7.30 anchor Leigh Sales, Conversations presenter Richard Fidler and – lending cult appeal – the RocKwiz host herself, Julia Zemiro.

Sunday 6th May 2018

10.00am - 11.00am : Economic Inequality: From Wisconsin to Whyalla
Presenters - Don Watson, Richard Holden, Amy Goldstein
Facilitator - Emma Alberici
Economic inequality is on the rise, including in Trump’s America and in Australia. Middle-class jobs are disappearing, especially in towns that relied on manufacturing. Where does this leave people in affected industries and areas, and the generation to follow? And what are the political implications for democracies? Join award–winning author Don Watson, Pulitzer Prize–winning staff writer for The Washington Post Amy Goldstein and economics professor Richard Holden in a wide-ranging conversation with ABC’s Chief Economics Correspondent Emma Alberici about the challenges posed by inequality today.

11.30am - 12.30pm : Session TBC

1.30pm - 2.30pm : Tayari Jones: An American Marriage 
Presenters - Tayari Jones
Facilitator - Glory Edim
The bestselling An American Marriage by Tayari Jones traces the lives of Roy, a black man wrongly convicted of rape, and his wife, Celestial. Widely lauded since its release, it became an official Book Club selection of Oprah Winfrey, who enthused: “It’s among Tayari's many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words – and that those words are so glorious.” Glory Edim speaks to Tayari about her stunning novel of love, racial injustice and a marriage interrupted.

3.00pm - 4.00pm : Sarah Ferguson: On Mother 
Presenters - Sarah Ferguson
Facilitator - Louise Adler
Following the sudden death of her mother, renowned ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson penned On Mother , a poignant and moving reflection on their relationship over decades and across continents. After a career spent investigating some of Australia’s most high-profile news stories, she turned the focus onto her own family to examine the individual that existed beyond motherhood. In conversation with Louise Adler, the four-time Walkley Award–winning reporter reflects on the complex bonds shared between mothers and daughters.

4.30pm - 5.30pm : Emily Wilson: Translating the Odyssey 
Presenters - Emily Wilson
Facilitator - Jennifer Byrne
In 2017, Emily Wilson became the first woman to translate The Odyssey into English. Her translation of the 12,110-line epic poem offered a fresh perspective on the rousing tale of shipwrecks, monsters and magic. Her text has been praised for its accuracy and an accessibility that brings the ancient work into the 21st century – perhaps raising the eyebrows of some Homer purists along the way. Speaking to Jennifer Byrne, Emily elaborates on her approach to translating the second-oldest text in Western literature and why it remains so vital today.