The Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has revealed its full program for 2025, with some of the most exciting voices in contemporary literature set to make their way to the nation’s literary heartland this May. Popping up in venues across the CBD from 8 – 11 May, the annual event sees a host of big name writers, bestselling authors and leading thinkers converge for four days of back-to-back bookish revelry.
Under the guiding theme of Magical Thinking, this year’s line-up brings together an almost cosmic combination of literary stars to explore the power of storytelling as a transformative force – a way to not only understand the world but to change it, one story at a time.
In her first program at the helm, MWF Festival Director Veronica Sullivan has curated a celebration of literature for all tastes and persuasion, from works in translation and non-fiction gamechangers to commercial blockbusters and genre sensations. 2025 First Nations Curators Nardi Simpson and Daniel Browning also bring their insight and curiosity to a number of thoughtfully curated, self-determined events.
“I’m thrilled to share our 2025 program. Across four packed days this May, some of Australia and the world’s most brilliant and incisive writers and thinkers will gather in our City of Literature to celebrate the alchemy of storytelling, and the power of imagination to open doors we never thought possible,” said MWF’s Festival Director, Veronica Sullivan.
“At this year’s Festival, audiences will encounter Booker Prize winners, inspiring memoirists, genre-defying storytellers, acute political analysts, vibrant podcasters, transcendent musicians, shimmering poets, and emerging voices whose work will shape Australian literature in years to come.”
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS
Closer to home, a number of Australia’s most beloved local authors will arrive at MWF with their latest releases hot off the press, meaning lucky Melbourne audiences are amongst some of the first in the country to hear these writers speak about their much-anticipated new works.
Author of the multi-award winning Burial Rites, Hannah Kent chats with ABC Radio National’s Richard Fidler about her debut work of non-fiction, Always Home, Always Homesick. A tender, diaristic love letter to her muse, Iceland, the book is both a memoir of Kent’s experiences of living abroad, and a wider consideration of how literature forms the heart of the nation’s culture and identity.
Writers, friends and co-authors Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland sit down for an honest, raw and deeply personal conversation about brain health – the physical and the mental – and their intertwined experiences of living with and supporting one another’s ‘broken brains’.
These two powerful and insightful women come together with host Clare Bowditch for a Melbourne-exclusive event to reflect on resilience, recovery and the immense power of friendship in navigating the hardest moments.
Award-winning authorKate Grenville shares Unsettled, a deeply personal memoir of family legacies, truth-telling and reckoning with what it means to be on land that was taken from other people. She’ll speak about historical facts and historical fictions, writing challenging histories and confronting the ghosts of the past with Daniel James.
Later, Grenville appears alongside fellow acclaimed fiction and non-fiction author Anita Heiss for a personal, political and cultural look at writing frontier stories and troubling colonial narratives with host Kate Evans. Heiss will also meet Shelley Ware for a one-on-one interview about her craft, her ongoing activism and advocacy work, and writing novels grounded in heart, humour and resilience.
Josephine Rowe returns with her first novel in almost a decade, Little World, the story of a child saint stranded in the Australian desert. She’ll be joined at the festival by Emily Maguire, whose most recent work, Rapture, was inspired by the legend of Pope Joan. Together, they discuss the mundane, the miraculous and writing the ineffable.
Following the success of her debut novel, Song of the Crocodile, Nardi Simpson returns with a lyrical, evocative story of a young Blak woman navigating life in contemporary Sydney in The Belburd. Having deftly tread the line between the everyday and the metaphysical on the page, Simpson will explore the mysteries of being with Daniel James on stage.
Internationally bestselling author Jessica Townsend will reveal the latest book in her phenomenally popular Nevermoor series, Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow. Townsend’s new book is an enchanting, page-turning adventure that delves deeper into the world of Nevermoor and the importance of identity and chosen families.
On Saturday morning, join some of the festival’s most esteemed guests as they discuss the greatest contemporary books of the 21st century so far, inspired by ABC Radio National’s forthcoming Top 100 Books Countdown. Overseas guests Kaliane Bradley and Colum McCann settle in with local luminary Kate Grenville to make a case for their favourite books – fiction, non-fiction, Australian and international.
Award-winning author and musician Jimmy Barnes will recount the twists and turns of his larger-than-life adventures live on stage. With his trademark candour, humour, and distinctive voice, Barnes shares anecdotes, lessons, and cracking good yarns: from unearthing shattering family secrets in Glasgow to encountering charismatic and not-so-endearing superstars, to confronting his own mortality.
In an Australian premiere, Stella Prize-winning author Carrie Tiffany unravels a suite of distinct yet interwoven pieces traversing fiction and memoir, each circling themes of nature and power in Bitten – A Snake Performance. Based on research into the snake showmen of La Perouse during the early 1900s, this unique literary performance combines percussion and oral storytelling paired with archival images and Tiffany’s own subversive collages.
Bringing the festival to the streets is activist, author and tour guide Sita Sargeant (She Shapes History) who’ll host Badass Women of Melbourne Walking Tours through the city’s laneways and hidden feminist past.
Rich with historical, cultural, and political insights, Sergeant will detail the lives and stories of iconic figures like Dame Nellie Melba, Madame Brussels and Chrissie Amphlett, as well as lesser known names like lesbian trailblazer Val Eastwood and musical legend Alma Quon.
Eighteen months after the Voice referendum, MWF First Nations Curator Daniel Browning brings together leading Indigenous thinkers to reflect on its impact and the path forward for reconciliation. Journalist Ben Abbatangelo, author and activist Thomas Mayo, and human rights lawyer Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts explore the lessons learned, the state of Australian democracy and the ongoing fight for justice.
Philosopher A. C. Grayling, journalist Osman Faruqi and cultural critic Tara Kenny debate one of the most divisive cultural issues of our time: is it ever possible to separate the art from the artist? Expect a lively debate at Cancelling Culture as these three sharp thinkers scrutinise legacy, celebrity, transgression and accountability, with host Beejay Silcox.
Five First Nations women showcase their artistic practices in writing, poetry, music, performance and art for Blak Magic Women. Anita Heiss, Amy McQuire and Alice Skye will each share their work, discussing their creative processes, inspirations, and challenges. The evening, curated and hosted by Nardi Simpson, will honour the creativity of Blak women through storytelling and community.
Co-editors Marcia Langton and Judith Ryan (65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art) and collaborators Brook Garru Andrew and Jessica Neath (marramarra: Indigenous artists making history visible) explore the history, impact and future of First Nations and Indigenous art. Curated and hosted by Daniel Browning.
In a thrilling literary joust, translators Lilit Žekulin Thwaites and Alice Whitmore demonstrate their craft in a live Translation Slam as they each translate into English the same previously unpublished excerpt by Argentine author Mariana Enríquez.
They’ll then compare, defend and explain their choices, highlighting how intricate, complicated, personal and sometimes subjective literary translation really is, while Enríquez will reflect on her experiences of being translated throughout her literary career.
Enríquez also joins partners in writing and life Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta to discuss queer horror, monstrous femmes and the themes that haunt their writing. Off the back of their bestselling debut, The View Was Exhausting, Clements’ and Datta’s latest, Feast While You Can, is a hybrid horror-romance about a young queer woman who finds herself violently possessed by an ancient, malevolent, memory-eating entity.
MWF brings two must-see live podcast recordings to the stage, both featuring sharp, insightful voices dissecting modern life. Jasmine Wallis and Maggie Zhou host a chatty episode of Culture Club with guest Chloe Elisabeth Wilson, exploring the cult-like allure of the beauty and wellness industries through Wilson’s debut novel, Rytual.
Meanwhile, Jemma Sbeg teams up with Lucinda Price aka Froomes for a live taping of Sbeg’s hugely popular podcast, The Psychology of Your 20s, to probe the perils of youth – from imposter syndrome to single stigma – as well as their recently released books, Person in Progress and All I Ever Wanted Was to be Hot.
Lobbyist, pollster and electoral strategist Kos Samaras will dissect the 2025 federal election for this year’s John Button Oration, offering a clear-eyed analysis of what our voting patterns tell us about Australian politics, public life and ourselves as a nation.
At the We Sharpen Our Axes Against the Hardest Stone panel, writers and thinkers Brook Garru Andrew, Nayuka Gorrie, Bebe Oliver and host and curator Daniel Browning come together to look at the intersections of art and adversity, and consider whether personal, political and social ruptures offer the necessary means to producing great works of art.
The Past is a Foreign Country sees three authors and historians shine a light on misunderstood, mythologised or lesser-known dimensions of Australia’s past. From the global slave trade and Gallipoli to the women who shaped our country but were omitted from the history books, Santilla Chingaipe (Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia), Sita Sargeant (She Shapes History) and Steve Vizard (Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary) address how the stories we choose to tell – and those that are left out – shape our national identity.
The extraordinary writers and editors behind Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Non-fiction by Autistic Writers connect for a panel discussion exploring identity, creativity and neurodiversity. Co-editors Jo Case and Clem Bastow, and contributors Jess Ho, Marlee Jane Ward and Caitlin McGregor will provide a wide-ranging forum on belonging, social interaction, meaning and joy.
The festival also presents a duo of powerful live storytelling events. Queerstories, curated by Maeve Marsden, transplants the beloved LGBTQIA+ storytelling project to MWF for a special one-night event. Writers Rumaan Alam, Clem Bastow, Bebe Oliver, Norman Erikson Pasaribu and Ernest Price will share deeply personal tales exploring themes of identity, strength, desire, and belonging in queer lives and stories.
Come Sunday, Better Off Said: Eulogies for the Living and Dead, hosted by Emilie Zoey Baker and produced by Marieke Hardy, invites a stellar line-up of speakers to share reflections on ‘The Words I Wish I’d Said’, culminating in a poignant ‘Living Eulogy’ delivered by A. C. Grayling.
INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Beloved Irish writer Marian Keyes (Ireland) looks back on a remarkable and decades-spanning career spent warming the hearts of readers across the globe and across generations. Now, having sold more than 30 million books worldwide and with Netflix signed on to adapt her much-loved novel Grown Ups, Keyes will share the lessons she’s learned over the course of her writing life at a special Mother’s Day event, in conversation with bestselling author Jane Harper.
Another icon of Irish literature, Colm Tóibín (Ireland), will also make his way to Melbourne for a special out-of-season event presented in partnership with The Wheeler Centre. A three-time Booker Prize finalist, Tóibín will discuss his latest release, Long Island, a work that sees him return to the heroine of his previous bestseller, Brooklyn. In conversation with Jason Steger, he’ll reflect on his distinguished career and the themes of exile, belonging, desire and regret that have come to define his celebrated body of writing.
2024 Booker Prize-winner, Samantha Harvey (UK), will help open the festival when she joins a bevy of brilliant panelists for an enchanting evening of literary magic at the official Opening Night event on Thursday 8 May at The Athenaeum. Over the weekend, Harvey will explore Orbital, the profoundly meditative novel that won her one of the world’s most highly regarded literary awards and widespread acclaim last year.
Also joining MWF’s international guestlist for 2025 is American writer Rumaan Alam (USA), the acclaimed novelist behind the New York Times-bestselling Leave the World Behind. After appearing at the Opening Night event on Thursday evening, Alam will sit down with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols to unpack his biting new tale, Entitlement, and the simmering exploration of race, morality and wealth contained within.
Esteemed philosopher A. C. Grayling (UK) returns to Melbourne to tackle the topic on everybody’s lips: the culture wars. Reflecting on the history of cancellation, from Ancient Greek ‘ostracism’ to the witch trials, Grayling will deliver a timely lecture on the divisive state of public culture before offering his compelling vision for how we might move forward.
Following the runaway success of her breakthrough Detransition, Baby, author Torrey Peters (USA) travels to MWF to discuss her sophomore book, Stag Dance – an unruly quartet of tales exploring trans life past, present and future.
Now based in France, local writer, activist and podcaster Sarah Wilson (Australia) returns home to grapple with a seemingly impossible question: How do we live meaningfully in an era of unprecedented social, political and environmental collapse?
Having spent the past four years interviewing leading global thinkers on crisis and transformation, Wilson will share her takeaways across two events, beginning with an intimate afternoon tea event at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins before a major event at The Athenaeum.
Argentine novelist and short story writer Mariana Enríquez (Argentina) will make a number of appearances at the festival. Speaking solo with Beejay Silcox, the pair will dive into Enríquez’s delicious, diabolical new collection of short stories, A Sunny Place for Shady People, her first collection since the International Booker Prize-shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed.
This year, poet Pádraig Ó Tuama (Ireland) reflects on the state of poetry for the annual Peter Steele Poetry Conversation. The event will include a live taste of Ó Tuama’s Poetry Unbound podcast, as he offers an immersive exploration of a single poem by an Australian poet, unlocking its meaning and formal power, and demonstrating how poetry can be a form of agnostic prayer.
In a triple-dose of fantasy, American author Meagan Spooner (USA) is accompanied by her local co-writer Amie Kaufman for a lively chat about their YA medieval romp, Lady’s Knight; New York Times-bestselling author Lev Grossman (USA) presents his long-awaited epic fantasy novel The Bright Sword, a transformative reimagining of the King Arthur legend; and Neal Shusterman (USA) explores how speculative visions of utopias and dystopias help us make sense of the present and imagine what’s to come in a panel entitled Future Tense.
The festival’s expansive international guestlist also includes fiction writer and translator Bora Chung (Korea); poet and International Booker Prize-longlisted author Norman Erikson Pasaribu (Indonesia); and Emirati scholar, teaching artist and poet, Dr Afra Atiq (United Arab Emirates), along with previously announced names Kaliane Bradley (UK), the British-Cambodian author behind The Ministry of Time, a standout page-turner of 2024; internationally acclaimed novelist Colum McCann (Ireland); author Yael van der Wouden (Netherlands) whose debut The Safekeep was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize; and Asako Yuzuki (Japan), whose novel Butter had Booktok buzzing.
MWF plays host to many more panels, conversations, workshops, performances and children’s programming across the festival’s four day season.
The Melbourne Writers Festival runs 8 – 11 May 2025. For more information and full program, visit: www.mwf.com.au for details
Images: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, and Twist by Colum McCann (supplied) | Hannah Kent (supplied) | Jimmy Barnes – photo by Jesse Lizotte | Daniel Browning (supplied) | Jasmine Wallis (supplied) | Marian Keyes (supplied) | A. C. Grayling (supplied) | Mariana Enriquez – photo by Ariel Grinberg