‘Lie to me’ is this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival theme, asking 45 international guests and 350 Australian authors to “examine the lies we tell ourselves, the lies we tell each other and the lies our parents told us,” says artistic director Michaela McGuire.
The 22nd Sydney Writers’ Festival runs from April 29 to May 5, at Carriageworks and other venues across Sydney, like Sydney Town Hall, the MCA, Riverside Theatres and Green Square Library.
“We’ll also be examining lies we tell ourselves as a country, particularly around colonisation and the foundation of our national identity,” says McGuire. “We’ll look at malicious lies as well as the deceptions that are necessary to survive and examine the ways that writing can be used to deceive others, as well as ourselves.”
Some of the exciting writers on the line-up include Kristen Roupenian (You Know You Want This: Cat Person and Other Stories), Simon Schama (Wordy), Meg Wolitzer (The Female Persuasion), George Saunders (Fox 8), Susan Orlean (The Library Book), Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Friday Black), Andrew Sean Greer (Less), Rebecca Makkai (The Great Believers), Rebecca Traister (Good and Mad) and Antony Beevor (Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944).
Local authors include Candice Fox (Gone By Midnight), Jane Harper (The Lost Man), Toni Jordan (The Fragments), Graeme Simsion (The Rosie Result), Markus Zusak (Bridge of Clay), Stan Grant (Australia Day), Chloe Hooper (The Arsonist) , Nam Le (The Boat), Leigh Sales (Any Ordinary Day), Clare Wright (You Daughters of Freedom) and Eddie Woo (Woo’s Wonderful World of Maths).
There’s also an evening of storytelling at Sydney Town Hall featuring Benjamin Law, playwright Patricia Cornelius, former politician Scott Ludlam, author Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister, the Serial Killer) and writer Nayuka Gorrie and musician Megan Washington.
Check out the full program at Sydney Writers’ Festival’s website. Tickets are on sale from Friday March 15, from 9am.
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