Your Essential Guide To The Sydney Writers’ Festival

Photo: Sydney Writer's Festival

Thinking about heading to this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival? You’re not alone. But before you make tracks for Sydney’s Walsh Bay – where most of the festivals’ events are held – check out our must-read guide to the best of the festival.

Fantastic feminists
Women authors, thinkers and critics are front and centre at this year’s festival. From Kate Grenville in conversation about memoir and her mother to Helen Garner speaking on true crime, asking ‘How can we write about darkness?’ there’s a rich and vibrant range of women’s stories to be told, discussed and dissected this year.

Kate Grenville: One Life. Thursday May 21. Tickets available here.

Helen Garner: How Can We Write About Darkness? Thursday May 21. Tickets available here.

Mistakes We’ve Made And Other Lessons In Feminism (Panel with Tracey Spicer, Annabel Crabb and Anna Bligh). Saturday May 23. Tickets available here.

Actors turned Authors
Alan Cumming is a beloved character actor: his Eli Gold on The Good Wife is a television cult favourite. He’s also a bestselling author, in town to speak about his memoir Not My Father’s Son. David Walliams – British comedian and one half of the Little Britain duo – is also visiting the festival to speak about his range of children’s books. Both funny men are not to be missed.

Growing Up And Other Disasters: Cumming and Barr. Friday May 22. Tickets available here.

The Whopping World Of Walliams. Friday May 22. Tickets available here.

International bestsellers
A slew of high profile international authors are descending upon Sydney for the festival this year. There’s Anthony Horowitz, who has made the transition from King of the Young Adult genre into crime fiction with his Sherlock Holmes tale Moriarty. James Patterson – the world’s number one bestselling author since 2001 – speaks to Ray Martin about how he thinks the world of literature is changing. Booker nominees (and winners) including David Mitchell and Richard Flanagan will speak about their literary canon, while bestselling biographer Claire Tomalin (who penned The Invisible Woman, a Charles Dickens story that went on to become an Oscar-nominated film starring Ralph Fiennes and Felicity Jones) will speak about her enduring love of biography.

James Patterson: The Rise and Rise of the World’s Biggest Author. Friday May 8. Tickets available here.

Richard Flanagan: In Conversation. Thursday May 21. Tickets available here.

Claire Tomalin: On Charles Dickens The Inimitable. Thursday May 21. Tickets available here.

David Mitchell: Bending Time. Friday May 22. Tickets available here.

Anthony Horowitz: Moriarty. Sunday May 24. Tickets available here.