Sydney Writers' Festival to be livestreamed in Merimbula on 1 May

27 April 2021

The two sessions of this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival will be livestreamed from the Regional Learning Centre in Merimbula on Saturday 1 May.

Bega Valley Shire Council’s Library Services Coordinator, Megan Jordan-Jones says it’s great to be able to provide Bega Valley residents the opportunity to experience such prominent and important authors and thinkers.

“We didn’t want anyone to miss out on the new ideas, stories and voices generated by this leading literary event,” Ms Jordan-Jones said.

“The first session, from 10am to 1pm, features celebrated journalist, Barrie Cassidy and a range of experts and colleagues with Opposition and Dissent and Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson with Caste - The lies that divide us.

“The second session features a conversation between two best-selling authors, Sarah Krasnostein and Helen Garner, followed by Australian literary legend Richard Flanagan and journalist and author Laura Tingle.

“We encourage avid booklovers and casual readers alike to attend the first session or second session, or both.

“Each session costs $15 and there will be free popcorn.”

The Sydney Writers’ Festival proper runs from 26 April to 2 May.

“To quote the festival’s artistic director, ‘Literature brings ideas and flights of fancy within reach of our everyday life. Brilliant minds bring solutions and possibilities within reach of being realised. A festival brings us within reach of one another again’,” Ms Jordan-Jones said.

Book first session – 10 to 1pm.

Book second session – 2pm-5pm.

Or call the Bega Valley Shire Library on (02) 6499 2127 to book.

First Livestream Session

Barrie Cassidy and Friends: Opposition and Dissent, 10am – 11am

What does it mean to live your politics? Is a life of protest and dissent good for the soul or is it soul destroying? Former deputy leader of the Australian Greens Scott Ludlam was a senator from 2008 to 2017. Scott speaks to Barrie Cassidy about his new book Full Circle, which explores a new approach to political and environmental change.

Isabel Wilkerson: Caste - The Lies That Divide Us, 12pm- 1pm

Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Lies that Divide Us fast became one of the world’s most talked about books this past year for its clear-eyed survey of the unspoken social hierarchy that pervades history and our lives today.

Second Livestream Session

Sarah Krasnostein and Helen Garner, 2pm- 3pm

Sarah will discuss her new book, The Believer: Encounters with Love, Death & Faith, a deeply humane and deftly drawn enquiry into the power of belief. Sarah is joined by fellow observer of human nature, Helen Garner, to explore what we believe in and why – from ghosts and UFOs to God and the devil, dying with autonomy and beyond.

Richard Flanagan and Laura Tingle, 4pm-5pm

Richard Flanagan is a legend of Australian letters. His much-lauded novels are published in 42 countries. He has won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North and the Commonwealth Prize for Gould’s Book of Fish. His latest book The Living Sea of Waking Dreams offers a tender, haunting portrait of a world disappearing around us. With ABC's Laura Tingle, he reflects on capturing in words the things we’re losing.