Feminist powerhouse Gloria Steinem will grace Australian shores in May for the Sydney writers’ festival, where she will be joined by other literary bigwigs, including novelist Jonathan Franzen, 2015 Booker Prize winner Marlon James, author of A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara and beat poet Kate Tempest.
The theme of this year’s festival is bibliotherapy, which the festival describes as “an ancient practice that encourages reading for therapeutic effect. It acknowledges literature’s restorative effects in terms of mental health, improved relationships and the ability to empathise.”
The festival’s artistic director Jemma Birrell said bibliotherapy tapped into the idea that you can improve your life through reading. “A good literary festival, like a good book, should bring real life benefits: joy, solace and a new understanding of the world.”
Resident bibliotherapist, Susan Elderkin, co-author of The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies will be on hand to prescribe anecdote antidotes.
Other guests include 2011 Booker prize winner Julian Barnes, novelist William Boyd, historian Peter Frankopan, North Korean escapee Yeonmi Park, Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train), writer Jeanette Winterson and economist Yanis Varoufakis, alongside Australian writers Anna Funder, Rosie Waterland, Stan Grant, Charlotte Wood and Elizabeth Harrower.
The festival’s opening address on 17 May will be given by UK novelist and performer Tempest, reciting her award-winning poetry. Yanagihara gives the closing address The Conversations Between Words on 22 May, in which she’ll ask whether “a writer owes her reader anything more than a compelling story”.
Among other major events will be a celebration of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. Ferrante is a pseudonymous Italian novelist who has successfully kept her identity under wraps since the publication of her first novel in 1992. A 21 May panel discussion includes Ann Goldstein, who translated the novels into English, alongside writers Benjamin Law, Drusilla Modjeska and ABC journalist Emma Alberici with Susan Wyndham.
Why Women Should Rule the World will ask the question: how many female CEOs will it take to change the world? It will feature Steinem in discussion with Indian activist Ira Trivedi and journalist Laura Tingle talking candidly to journalist George Megalogenis about “women at the top”. After cancelling last year’s Australian tour, podcast fans can attend discussions with Starlee Kine, from This American Life and Gimlet Media’s Mystery Show, and PJ Vogt, the co-host of Gimlet’s web culture podcast Reply All.
Altogether more than 400 Australian and 60 international writers will discuss their work across 65 venues in the festival’s 19th year.
- For a full lineup head to the Sydney writers’ festival (16-22 May) website