True Story

What does it take to disrupt Australia’s history and stand by your views when they are attacked? The answer is: a lot. After the controversy surrounding his bestselling book Dark Emu, First Nations writer Bruce Pascoe was bruised but unbowed. Black Duck, a Year at Yumburra is his personal account of his healing on his farm (where he somehow also found time to write a novel, Imperial Harvest). I...

Local First Nations author Jodi Edwards has been teaching us the Dharawal language at the festival these past couple of years. But she is also continuing to pursue her own academic research into the relationship of coastal First Nations people to the whale population that migrates past our beaches. Jodi will come to True Story fresh from delivering the keynote speech at the international Societ...

Family violence prevention campaigner and 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty is so beloved and admired, she needs no introduction. But having won the sympathy and respect of a nation in the face of the most terrible violence, what next? How do you move forward and restore your faith in human nature? What does Hope (the title of her new book) even mean in the aftermath of tragedy? Rosie Bat...

With Mean Streak, his new investigation of how Robodebt was allowed to create a suicidal wave of despair, Rick Morton proves once again that he has an unflinching instinct for social analysis combining journalistic rigour with an outspoken sense of justice. In our specially commissioned opening address, Rick will reflect on the painful truths he has learned while investigating and exposing brut...

When Gina Chick won the first Australian season of Alone, she captured the hearts of millions with her survival skills and earth-mother personality. Now, in We Are the Stars, she has written an exuberant, roaring affirmation of life in the face of loss and triumph. Join Gina for a high-octane hit of inspiration exploring what it takes to thrive beyond the wilderness, with Caroline Baum. About ...

Memoirist Ailsa Piper (Sinning Across Spain, The Attachment) describes her latest offering, For Life, as a tale of living, dying and flying, but it is also about swimming, noticing, favourite words, friendship, and finding a home. Written in prose that is both luminous and illuminating, For Life shifts from dark to light as Ailsa reflects on her experiences of loss and recovery. In conversation...