Events To Check Out This Sydney Writers Festival 2025
- Allen & Unwin
- May 7
- 3 min read
The events not to miss at Sydney Writers Festival 2025.
The Sydney Writers Festival 2025 is just around the corner! Here’s your guide to some of the events we think you should put on your list.
Australia’s first Booker Prize–shortlisted writer in a decade discusses her book Stone Yard Devotional, her craft and her career.
Tuesday 20 May – 8.15pm, Carriageworks
Facing the death of his mother, Peter did what any good journalist would do in a crisis: he wrote about it. In his latest memoir Exit Wounds, Peter shares a moving account of his midlife and the changing relationships he had with three women who shaped his life.
Wednesday 21 May – 6.30pm, Gordon Library – FREE EVENT
Spanish speakers unite! This session is in Spanish (captioned English translation available) and features the queen of Latin American gothic horror, Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night and A Sunny Place for Shady People. She will be discussing her horror which is steeped in the shadowy stories of her childhood and characterised by the fear and secrecy of the 1976-1983 Argentine dictatorship.
Wednesday 21 May – 6.30pm, State Library of NSW
Author Kerrie Davies reveals the little-known decade after Miles Franklin’s dazzling debut My Brilliant Career, as she faces poverty, rejection, and reinvention. Drawing on unpublished manuscripts and letters, this biography traces her undercover work, fierce advocacy for women, and unwavering determination to define herself beyond fame and convention.
Thursday 22 May – 3.30pm, Carriageworks – FREE EVENT
In Malcolm Knox’s, The First Friend, Georgian politician Lavrentiy Beria spares no expense preparing Stalin’s resort getaway, to the chagrin of his childhood best friend Vasil Murtov. In this session, Knox discusses how his novel combines tragicomedy with the banality of evil, exploring a friendship altered by power and violence – and a world where reality can be controlled by those who rule.
Friday 23 May – 3pm, Carriageworks
Hear bestselling author Debra Oswald discuss her latest release, One Hundred Years of Betty, its century-spanning saga and the life of the sharp, resilient woman at its centre.
Friday 23 May – 7pm, Botany Town Hall
How do we make sense of an ever-changing world that often feels overwhelming, absurd and sometimes a bit too much? Parramatta Laureate of Literature Yumna Kassab and award-winning graphic novelist Sarah Firth (Everything Eventually Connects) engage in an insightful discussion on their bold, genre-bending works that grapple with the enormity of existence.
Saturday 24 May – 2pm, Parramatta
Bestselling writer Lemn Sissay’s Let the Light Pour In is a collection of the four-line poems he has shared on social media daily for the past 10 years. This master of spoken word gives live readings of his work and shares the stories behind his poems to deliver a life-affirming hour of wonder and defiant joy.
Saturday 24 May – 4.30pm, Carriageworks
When Edward became the Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times, he started investigating his father’s mysterious past while reporting on the rising nationalism of Xi Jinping. Weaving together protests, politics and culture, At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China is a parallel history of a family and a nation undergoing momentous change.
Saturday 24 May – 7.30pm, Carriageworks
Did you know that a central bearded dragon’s beard can change colour to protect it from predators? Or that the temperature of a turtle’s egg nest determines the baby turtles’ gender? Those with little ones aged between 5-12, don’t miss this free event with Corey Tutt, the bestselling author of The First Scientists. Behold an incredible world of reptiles, some of them deadly in more ways than one.
Sunday 25 May – 10.30am, Carriageworks - FREE EVENT
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