There is plenty at this year’s Byron Writers Festival for book-lovers to lust over. Get your bedside book stack sorted with this day-by-day digest of literary delight.
Friday 2 August
2019 Stella Prize winner Vicki Laveau-Harvie (The Erratics), Rick Morton (100 Years of Dirt), Andrew Stafford (Something To Believe In), will share the highs and lows of writing true-life in Memoir: Running in the Family. Markus Zusak will talk with Angela Ledgwood about his 13-year hiatus between the career-rocketing The Book Thief to 2018’s Bridge of Clay.
Lovers of crime fiction will delight in darker tales with former anti-mafia prosecutor and one of Italy’s best-selling authors Gianrico Carofiglio (Cold Summer), Lambs of God author Marele Day, and Aussie crime heavyweight Michael Robotham (Good Girl Bad Girl).
Saturday 3 August
Saturday is no ordinary day for Leigh Sales fans, as she appears in conversation with Rosemarie Milsom and again on a panel to discuss Resilience and Strength During Adversity with Tim Costello (A Lot with a Little), Chloe Hooper (The Arsonist) and Paul Barclay.
Jennifer Byrne followers can catch her in one-on-ones with Di Morrissey (The Last Paradise) and David Leser (Women, Men and the Whole Damn Thing). Finally, Saturday will give audiences a heartwarming trip down memory lane, as we reminisce about childhood adventures with Alison Lester.
Sunday 4 August
Sunday kicks off with Behrouz Boochani (live streamed from Manus Island) for No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison. Joining the session in person will be Boochani’s translator and collaborator Omid Tofighian, graphic novelist Alex Mankiewicz, and chair Geordie Williamson.
Another big Sunday session Family Saga will bring together Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, Markus Zusak, PEN International president and Gun Love author Jennifer Clement and The Family Law creator Benjamin Law, who together discuss the Family as Saga.
Australian History buffs can get their kicks at Colonial Stories with Michael Veitch, Peter Watt, and Clare Wright. And for those who prefer their historical facts served with a side of fiction, then head to Imagining the Facts with Jock Serong (Preservation), Toni Jordan (The Fragments), and Markus Zusak.
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