DAY PROGRAM
Sunday 1 June, 2025
Swim through big ideas and deep-dive in to thoughts, conversations and memories with this Sunday 1 June Pass, entitling you to four (4) sessions across two venues, Ocean Beach SLSC and Umina Beach SLSC.
THE SUNDAY DAY PASS IS SOLD OUT
DAY PROGRAM
Swim through big ideas and deep-dive in to thoughts, conversations and memories with this Sunday 1 June Pass, entitling you to four (4) sessions across two venues, Ocean Beach SLSC and Umina Beach SLSC.
THE SUNDAY DAY PASS IS SOLD OUT
You can now select any session in each time slot, from either venue (4 sessions total per day). It’s a pleasant seven-minute stroll between venues, either along a quiet back lane or along the beach itself; so you’ll have plenty of time to move from one to the next. View more Venue information here.
Book signings will follow each talk.
These Sessions are accessible via the Sunday Day Pass or Weekend Pass only. For instructions on how to Redeem Sessions against your Day Pass or Weekend Pass, please head to the Ticketing FAQ page.
If you do not already have a Sunday Day Pass or Weekend Pass, it is not longer possible to purchase one as allocation has been exhausted. Apologies! Try the Saturday Day Pass or The Dip Festival Marquee sessions instead?
9:45 – 10am
Introductions
10 – 11am
UNSETTLED COUNTRY
Kate Grenville & David Marr. Moderator: John Maynard
‘What does it mean to be on land that was taken from other people? Now that we know how the taking was done, what do we do with that knowledge?’ In their deeply personal and unflinchingly political books, Kate Grenville and David Marr square up to their past. How implicated are they in a bloody history of colonial dispossession? Two of Australia’s leading intellectuals lead us through the reckoning.
Redeem Session
11.30am – 12.30pm
HUMAN/NATURE
James Bradley, Charlotte McConaghy & Nardi Simpson . Moderator: Georgie McLean
Nature – human and wild – is the beating heart of these three works. James Bradley and Charlotte McConaghy have penned compelling thrillers set in familiar locations transformed by rising sea levels in Landfall and Wild Dark Shore. Nardi Simpson brings us The Belburd, and a fierce young poet who buries her words around the city on the lands her ancestors roamed.
Redeem Session
9:45 – 10am
Introductions
10 – 11am
WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED
Peter Greste & Sean Turnell. Moderator: Steve Vizard
Foreign correspondent Peter Greste spent 400 days in an Egyptian jail on a trumped-up terrorism charge. Economist Sean Turnell spent 650 days in jail in Myanmar after the coup for ‘handling state secrets’. Both have managed to retain their humour and faith in humanity. Join us for this essential conversation about life beyond the bars.
Redeem Session
11.30am – 12.30pm
POWER & PRIVILEGE
Nikki Gemmell, Natasha Rai & Jessie Tu. Moderator: Amy Lovat
Wade into the sticky web of power and privilege with this trio of exciting novelists. In Wing, Nikki Gemmell unpacks class, gender, parenting, and the complexities of friendship. Culture, childhood bullying, and a fraught father-daughter dynamic take centre stage for Natasha Rai’s An Onslaught of Light. And in The Honeyeater, Jessie Tu offers a sharp critique of academia, illicit affairs and the intricacies of mother-daughter bonds.
Redeem Session
1:30 – 2:30pm
HISTORICAL AMNESIA
Debra Dank, Steve Vizard & Clare Wright. Moderator: Ginger Gorman
It is time to take an unflinching look at questions around identity and history that Australia has long grappled with. Debra Dank presents Terraglossia and examines the linguistic colonisation that European arrival brought with it. Steve Vizard delves into the creation of the myth of Gallipoli in Nation, Memory, Myth. And Clare Wright examines how the course of Australian democracy was changed in Naku Dharuk: The Bark Petitions.
Redeem Session
3 – 4pm
SPY TIME
Tim Ayliffe, Jack Beaumont & Sam Guthrie. Moderator: Michael Burge
Espionage. Intrigue. Political machinations. It’s all a regular day at the office for a spy. And by extension, for a spy crime writer. Masters of the genre Tim Ayliffe, Sam Guthrie and Jack Beaumont reveal the secrets of their tradecraft and have us biting our nails in suspense as we meet their daring heroes. The stakes are high in this fun session to wrap the festival weekend!
1:30 – 2:30pm
BLOOD LINES
Lech Blaine & Gideon Haigh. Moderator: Dominic Knight
We all know the saying: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. But what does that mean for these two brilliant writers? Gideon Haigh’s deeply moving memoir My Brother Jaz explores what it means to lose someone you love, while Lech Blaine’s iconic Australian Gospel untangles a web of adoption and fanaticism, obsession and fate.
Redeem Session
3 – 4pm
TRAILBLAZERS
Laura Elvery, Vicki Hastrich & Josie McSkimming. Moderator: Amy Lovat
Our esteemed panellists each investigate someone who has blazed their own path, leaving an indelible impression on the world. Florence Nightingale is woven into new fiction from Laura Elvery; Vicki Hastrich brings us the untold story of Hollywood legend, Zane Grey, and his adventures in Australia; and Josie McSkimming brings it closer to home with a behind-the-scenes look at her sister, Dorothy Porter.
Redeem Session
Looking for the Saturday program?
