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Melbourne Writers Festival 2017

Melbourne Writer’s Festival 2017 is touted as the festival for anyone who reads, which really, should be everyone that can.

Reading stimulates your mind and keeps the brain active, which slows the progress of mental decay and keeps you sharp… like… like… sharp like the Night King’s spear. Yeah. That’ll do.

The annual winter event is a celebration of readers, writers and thinkers. Each year hundreds of local and international scribblers take part in a provocative program of storytelling, banter and dialogue and debate.

Whether you’re a fan of reading classical literature, Frank Milller’s graphic novels, Roger Ebert film reviews, Dr Karl’s fact sheets, VICE news articles or even memes, it doesn’t matter. You’ll find something you fancy in the eclectic collection of talks, workshops, exhibits and performances that make up Melbourne Writer’s Festival 2017.

The 10-day festival will be held at various libraries, museums, theatres, galleries, public spaces and spots around town.

The stellar line-up includes big names like Kim Scott, Joyce Carol Oates, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Angie Thomas, Janet Mock and Robert Fisk. And while many of the events are ticketed, more than a quarter of the program is free.

We recommend checking out the following:

Binge Culture

We’ve all binge watched a series of some description. Megan Abbott (novelist and writer on HBO series The Deuce), Melbourne writer Brodie Lancaster (No Way! Okay, Fine) and Sydney writer Benjamin Law (The Family Law) delve into the way that binge culture has influenced the idiot box.

AI: Towards Worklessness

Is Elon Musk going to save us? And more importantly, is he going to make robots so we don’t have to work anymore? An expert panel discusses the increasingly pertinent question: as machines become more brainy, what does this mean for the future of jobs, our society and our sense of purpose?

Rutger Bregman

One of Europe’s most prominent thinkers tackles the concept of a 15-hour work week… enough said.

Reni Eddo-Lodge

London-based writer and activist sprung to fame after writing a blog post titled ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’. Three years on and Eddo-Lodge has turned it into a book of the same name.

Melbourne Writer’s Festival 2017 runs from August 25 – September 3.

words by niall roeder


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