Festival Opening Event

Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for non-fiction and the Western Australian Premier’s Book Award. In 2019 she was honoured with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. Her books include Monkey Grip, The Children’s Bach, Cosmo Cosmolino, The Spare Room, The First Stone, This House of Grief, Everywhere I Look and Yellow Notebook.

Nicole Abadee is the books writer for Good Weekend magazine. Following a twenty-year career in law, Nicole regularly moderates at writers’ festivals and literary events. In her podcast Books, Books, Books, Nicole interviews leading international and Australian writers about their latest books. She was a judge for the 2021 and 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction.