Brisbane Writers Festival in Meanjin

Thursday, 9 October

Big Concepts for Little People (with Megan Daley and Jasmin McGaughey)

It’s not just kids’ stuff! These exceptional authors discuss the art of crafting narratives for children, exploring how literature for young ones can expose them to big ideas and create a blueprint for the kind of people they’ll grow up to be. 

Supported by the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.

2:30pm - 3:30pm

Pleasuredome, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Businesses Behaving Badly (with Ian Kemish)

Surveying everything from the predatory practices of Big Betting to the confused role of corporations in modern social justice movements, these authors turn a skeptical eye to the world of business. Where does the buck stop when the governing principle is profit? 

2:30pm - 3:30pm

Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Conspiracy Nation (with Ian Kemish)

If you’ve ever wondered why your uncle keeps banging on about fluoride at Sunday lunch, this compelling new book might explain it all. From Harold Holt to Min Min lights, Australia has no shortage of conspiracy theories. Journalists Wilson and Bogle dig deep into this paranoid worldview, examining our fascination with mysteries, how it can morph into something more sinister, and what it might say about our place in the world OR what it might say about us.

Supported by The University of Queensland

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Pleasuredome, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Pigs & Punks (with Andrew Stafford)

Glittering images and razor-sharp observations bring Brisbane’s rock history into the present in these two superb books. The Go-Betweens’ John Willsteed joins legendary Queensland music journalist Andrew Stafford for a literary headbanger, reflecting on the city’s illustrious live music scene and the potent subcultures that propelled it. 

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Homegrown Mysteries (with Jasmin McGaughey)

These suspenseful novels are imbued with everyday magic, combining real-world themes with fantastical intrigue. From the domed dystopia of a near-future Canberra to the glittering beaches of California and Cairns, these books issue a call to adventure you won’t be able to resist.

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

The Poetic Observer (with David Stavanger)

Join Theophilus Kwek, Jonathan Chan, David Stavanger and Nathan Sheperdson with chair Pascalle Burton.

This extraordinarily moving photo essay documents the final days of people preparing for voluntary assisted dying. Honouring the lives and dignity of his subjects, Julian Kingma appears alongside Andrew Denton to discuss this profound work and the real human stories that are often elided by political noise.

7:00pm - 8:00pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Jane Caro: Lyrebird

The inimitable Jane Caro is back with a brilliantly twisty crime thriller. This stunningly subversive novel questions the nature of evidence and makes readers both witness and jury in a case that reveals what society would rather keep hidden.

8:30pm - 9:30pm

Pleasuredome, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Friday, 9 October

So Funny It Hurts(with Siang Lu)

A bodice-busting romance homage, a wickedly funny modern rom-com, a riotous and big-hearted memoir, and a dazzling short-fiction collection about meandering millennials … these four brilliantly imaginative books lay bare the human condition with a wink, a nod and the occasional tear.

2:30pm - 3:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Mark Brandi: Eden (with Mirandi Riwoe)

Mark Brandi is equally deft at rural mysteries and urban noir – and in Eden, he transplants a small-town boy to the big smoke, his fresh start quickly taking a sour turn. Dark and deadly, this is another lyrical thriller from one of the stars of modern Australian crime.

4:00pm - 5:00pm

Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Poetry Salon (with Madeleine Dale, Cheryl Leavy, David Stavanger, and Jarad Bruinstroop)

This show-stopping literary salon features poetry readings and performances from an incredible line-up of dynamic local, national and international voices. Enjoy pure poetry in motion in the fine company of these award-winning wordsmiths.

4:00pm - 5:00pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Comedy Salon: So Bad It's Good (with Siang Lu)

Writing so bad it’s good? So over the top it’s funny? Harder than it may sound. These brave literary souls have accepted a peculiar mission: come up with an odd alter ego and then write a short story in the voice of that character. What could go wrong? You’ll need a ticket to find out.

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Pleasuredome, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here

Julian Kingma and Andrew Denton: The Power of Choice (with Andrew Stafford)

This extraordinarily moving photo essay documents the final days of people preparing for voluntary assisted dying. Honouring the lives and dignity of his subjects, Julian Kingma appears alongside Andrew Denton to discuss this profound work and the real human stories that are often elided by political noise.

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Tributes & Collections (with Amy McQuire and Jasmin McGaughey)

Explore the art of great editing with these fabulous anthologies, which bring together some of Australia’s finest writers. Whether it’s a rousing call for justice for First Nations people, or a giddy celebration of Kylie Minogue, these collections showcase the very best in contemporary Australian letters.

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Nailbiters (with Ian Kemish)

These surprising, twisty novels deliver hot takes on thrills and chills. From high octane action to the suspense and subterfuge of international espionage, these excellent page-turners deliver guts and grit.

7:00pm - 8:00pm

Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Blurred Lines: an Interplay of Identities (with Cheryl Leavy)

Who we are is the product of many interlocking factors. These brilliant books tug at the threads of place, language, culture and memory while showing how an unraveling might reveal who we truly are.

Supported by the University of Queensland.

7:00pm - 8:00pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Desire (with Steve MinOn)

You can’t get always get what you want – but you can sure give it a red-hot go. Join the authors of these page-turning novels as they navigate the in, outs, ups and downs of our desire for love, acceptance and belonging.

8:30pm - 9:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Saturday, 11 October

Indigenous Futurisms (with Mykaela Saunders)

Terra Nullius declared we have no past. The dying race trope pretended we have no future. Indigenous Futurisms calls time on both. These authors write us back into the past and the future, where we have always been and always will be.

11:30am - 12:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Family Secrets (with Kristina Olsson)

Tolstoy famously wrote that each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. In these exquisite novels, full of unforeseen reverberations and unexpected revelations, this maxim is proven true in the most surprising and thoroughly modern ways.

2:30pm - 3:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Charlotte Wood: The Natural Way of Things 10th Anniversary Conversation and Salon (with Kristina Olsson)

Join Charlotte Wood in conversation with Kristina Olsson; featuring salon readers Steph Tisdell, Laura McCluskey and Toby Schmitz

Marking the 10th anniversary of her astonishing and provocative Stella Prize winner The Natural Way of Things, Booker-shortlisted author Charlotte Wood revisits this landmark work of feminist literature.

The evening will commence with select readings from the work by celebrated actors and authors Steph Tisdell (The Skin I’m In), Laura McCluskey (The Wolf Tree) and Toby Schmitz (The Empress Murders), who are also all appearing at the festival with their own books.

8:30pm - 9:30pm

Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Messy Patches (with Mirandi Riwoe)

The pleasures and pains of modern life are rendered with wit and clarity in these page-turning novels. From the arbitrary injustice of cancellation to the challenges of maintaining a marriage, these books examine the eternal human truths underpinning our current moment.

8:30pm - 9:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Sunday, 12 October

Shoulder Check (with Cass Moriarty)

These very different books are united by an unconventional approach to storytelling, with unreliable narrators and stylistic misdirection subverting our expectations of what a mystery can be—leaving readers both thrilled and chilled.

2:30pm - 3:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Fact as Fiction (with Laura Elvery and Melanie Myers)

The stories of women defying the expectations of their times animate these wonderful historical novels, which venture from the verdant English countryside to the glittering waters of the Torres Strait by way of the elusive mystery of Australia’s disappearing Prime Minister. Rendering the remarkable inner lives of their central characters, these books exemplify the delicate art of breathing new life into history.

Supported by the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Suspense! (with Sally Piper)

We all love to curl up on the couch with a good book; these ones will have you on the edge of your seat. Whether it’s a police procedural, international politics, or a bird’s eye view of buried mysteries, these writers will keep you up to an ungodly hour, wondering who did it and why.

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Fairfax Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.

Queersland! Salon (with Steve MinOn)

Letme hear you say ‘Yas Queen(sland)’ for this fabulous salon, featuring our fiercest, finest authors reading their contributions to the Queersland anthology. But wait –there’s more! This session also includes two honorary Queerslanders (visiting from Singapore), nor and Stephanie Dogfoot.

7:00pm - 8:00pm

Pleasuredome, Brisbane Powerhouse, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD

Tickets available here.