Sydney Writers Festival 2022: Top Picks For Your Reading List
It’s that long-awaited time in every literary-bods calendar: Sydney Writers Festival!
This year’s theme is ‘Change My Mind.’ As artistic director Michael Williams says: “Change My Mind is an invitation, a challenge and a promise of intent. Because uncertain times – a world divided and ruptured, at odds and in crisis – require a willingness to be open-minded, and a commitment to generosity and reciprocity.”
Whether you’re attending in person or clicking in via some digital events, it’s a great experience to be a part of. Ahead of the week kicking off next Monday, we thought it’d be a great idea to draw your attention to some of the authors and their works in attendance that you might have missed.
We hope some of these books help to change your mind!
Fiction Faves
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Described as a “whipsmart debut”, Detransition, Baby (2021) tells the story of three transgender and cisgender women whose lives collide following an unexpected pregnancy that forces them to confront deep desires about gender, motherhood and sex. “Provocative, emotional, messy”, I’ve yet to read this one myself but have only heard incredible things. A must-have book to get our hands on and a talk not to be missed!
Details of Peters in conversation here.
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
From the author behind the incredible, A Little Life (2015) comes To Paradise (2022), a work of “emotional genius” that spans three centuries, three different experiences of America, and the depths of loss, love and the elusive hope of utopia. Three different versions of reality and three distinctly different lives collide profoundly as Yanagihara deftly shows her understanding of everything it means to be human.
Details of Yanagihara in conversation here.
Non-Fiction Faves
Muddy People by Sara El Sayad
Hilarious and heartwarming in equal measure, El Sayad’s memoir is a courageous telling of what it takes to find yourself when it feels like the boundaries for who you should be are already written. Growing up in an Egyptian Muslim family in Queensland, her days filled with balancing the rules set by her parents and her own emerging needs, friendships, and crushes, Soos yearns for the freedom to develop her own values. An inspiring read that ultimately identifies though we can’t always choose our family, they are usually the people we can - and will - rely on the most.
Details of El Sayad’s panel talk here.
The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper
With her trademark journalistic prowess, Hooper narrates us through the events and aftermath of a day scorched into Australian memory - Black Saturday. In a book that reads like a fictional thriller but is all fact, we’re taken on the hunt for the man who started the fires and his motivations. More than this, The Arsonist (2018) is a compelling look at the history of fire in Australia, its importance and role, and how “understanding its abuse will define our future.”
Details of Hooper’s conversation here.
Anthology Spotlight
Blacklight, Anthology from Sweatshop
An exciting and crucial addition to our bookshelves, Blacklight: Ten Years of First Nations Storytelling (forthcoming April 2022) is an anthology of writing produced entirely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creatives from Western Sydney and beyond. The anthology showcases forty-eight pieces of work, from short stories to vignettes, essays, poems and artwork, compiled and developed as part of the renowned literary movement, Sweatshop. It includes an incredible list of names from emerging to well-known and loved creatives.
Details of the panel event here.
Growing Up in Country Australia, Anthology
The latest offering from the Growing Up collective comes Growing Up in Country Australia (2022 - exploring the uniqueness, nostalgia and often challenging experiences of growing up in rural Australian towns. Featuring forty stories of “joy, adventure, connection to nature, freedom, and grim tales” from emerging and established writers spread across Australia, this fresh collection is a modern look at rural life through the eyes of Australians, First Nations people and new migrants.
Details of the panel event here.
Poet Pleasures
Killernova by Omar Musa
A striking and unique collection of poetry and woodcut prints, Killernova (2021) sees Musa grappling with his Borneo heritage as he merges the native craft of wood carving with his fiery prose. “With equal parts swagger, humour and vulnerability”, Killernova explores several vital and modern themes, not least the colonial history of South-East Asia, environmental destruction, family, and lost love. “Visually captivating and deceptively intimate”, this is a collection that has to be seen to be fully experienced.
Details of Musa’s panel talk here.
Take Care by Eunice Andrada
Described as “salves, offerings, and warnings”, the poems in Andrada’s second collection of poetry explore what it takes to survive in systemic structures not designed for tenderness. Exploring the systems of colonialism that continue to violate human and non-human bodies, lands and waters, Andrada examines “the magnitude of rape culture in the every day”. A collection designed to simultaneously shake and hold you, Andrada’s prose is not to be missed.
Details of Andrada’s panel talk here.
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This is just a few sneak peeks at some of what’s caught our interest, but there’s so much more to explore, discover and enjoy in the coming week.
Check out the full program here, and let us know what you’ll be checking out!
Elaine Mead is a freelance writer and book reviewer, currently residing in nipaluna (Hobart), Tasmania. She is passionate about the ways we can use literature to learn from our experiences to become more authentic versions of ourselves and obsessed with showing you photos of her Dachshund puppy. You can find her online under www.wordswithelaine.com.
