Hayley Campbell was a curious child who wanted to know what happens to us after we die. Not in the sense of an ‘afterlife’, but just the procedures and rituals and processes that a deceased person undergoes. Now an adult author, she gets up close and dirty with a whole range of issues surrounding death and dying.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
Gabriel Krauze was until very recently a high level member of a street gang in London. It was the only way of life available to him and many other young men, but he entered university and gained a degree in English Literature that encouraged him to write the book he had always inside him.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
Ben Hobson’s novels take us into a world of boys and men – and asks what it means to be a man in a variety of environments. This novel is set in the goldfields of Ballarat – a time that was essentially lawless , tough and dangerous.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
Anke Richter is a journalist who puts herself on the line in this book by joining a number of different cults and sects to try and understand from the inside what draws people into these organizations. Sometimes she finds things out about herself in the process.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
It’s becoming increasingly important to try and control the amount of pollution entering our rivers and oceans. But what is pollution exactly? How do we define, identify and fix this issue? Amanda Reichelt-Brushett is an expert in this field – and she painted the octopus on the cover!
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
Alison Pennington is an adjunct senior research Fellow in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at La Trobe University. She explores the very real possibility that the most educated generation in Australia’s history may also be one of its most economically disadvantaged. How did we get to this and can we reverse this slide?
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
Maggie MacKeller already had some experience of farm life before she followed love to the eastern seaboard of Lutruwita ( Tasmania). But the harsh drought conditions of one year really extended her endurance. But still she found things to sustain her.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
In her wonderful read from this book Ellen van Neerven lays out the stark divide between white and indigenous Australian culture in revisiting how Ash Barty was treated by the Sports Press for the simple act of including her niece in a press conference.. Fortunately she sees there is a change in the wind in women’s sport, and these days white and black sports people include their families more fully in their triumphs and losses.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
This is a window into Sydney’s early 20 century history – and what life was like for the those at the bottom of society, particularly it’s women. Iris is poor and victim of domestic violence who escapes the rural life she was brought up in to fend for herself on the streets of Sydney. The author constructed Iris’ story from police records and local documents, tracing her moves from prostituion to busker to a form of freedom.
Recorded at Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival 2023
With so many issues in the world today it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless – but Natalie Isaacs believes you can be a force for radical change but first you have to believe it is possible – in short, you have to have positive optimism!
Recorded at Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival 2023