1 September: Humanity’s Moment: Joëlle Gergis in conversation with Jess Hill
Joëlle Gergis is an award-winning climate scientist and lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report. Join Joëlle in conversation with investigative journalist and author Jess Hill at the Royal Oak in Balmain.
1 – 25 September: BLEED
BLEED is a six year project exploring how the online world makes us feel. Taking place both live and digitally as well as across borders, the 2022 partners Arts House (Melbourne) and Campbelltown Arts Centre (Sydney) are delighted to be joined by the Taipei Performing Arts Center and Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei.
Throughout September: Australian Poetry Slam heats
The Australian Poetry Slam is a live literary performance program where the audience decides the champion. Whether you’re there to perform or support, join Word Travels for over 60 APS heats across the country during September. The best slammers will perform for the chance to compete in the APS National Final in October.
3 September: Writers Unleashed Sutherland Shire Writers Festival
Join the Sutherland Shire Writers Festival for a jam-packed day of talks, discussions, manuscript consultations and workshops held at Tradies Gymea.
3 September: Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected Essays of Charmian Clift
To mark this new edition of Charmian Clift’s selected essays, Garden Lounge is proud to host a public conversation with Clift’s biographer, Nadia Wheatley, and Harriet McInerney, Associate Publisher at NewSouth Books. Their combined passion has championed this new selection into publication. Interviewed by experimental writer Holly Isemonger, they’ll be discussing and exploring Clift’s accomplishments as a writing intellectual.
3 – 4 September: Bundanon Writers Week
Bundanon’s 2022 Writers Festival, Dreaming with Eyes Open, offers a program of talks and workshops with inspiring writers and storytellers. The mini festival responds to the ideas of inner and outer landscapes that run throughout Bundanon’s current exhibition season Parallel Landscapes. You can also book in to stay the weekend.
5 September: History Week 2022: Making a documentary podcast with Jane Curtis at Ashfield Library
As part of History Week 2022, join Jane Curtis at Ashfield Library for this free workshop. Go behind the scenes in the making of a documentary podcast – from idea and audience, to research, recording, editing, sound design, publishing and promotion.
6 – 10 September: You Know We Belong Together
At Sydney Opera House, this critically acclaimed theatrical masterpiece stars Julia Hales: actor, daughter, dreamer and person with Down syndrome. Equal parts thought-provoking, funny, enlightening and effervescent, this Black Swan production burrows right to the heart of the stuff that makes up a community, a relationship, and a life.
7 September: Indigenous Literacy Day 2022
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s annual Indigenous Literacy Day, National Digital Event – Celebrating Stories, Cultures and Languages is a free digital event for all ages, premiering on Wednesday 7 September.
8 September: Elaine Pearson in conversation with Craig Foster
In her new book, Chasing Wrongs and Rights, the Australia Director at Human Rights Watch Elaine Pearson shares her experiences defending human rights – from human trafficking in Nepal to the ‘drug war’ in the Philippines to treatment of detainees in Papua New Guinea and in Australia. Join Elaine at Roaring Stories Balmain on Thursday 8 September, where she will discuss the book with Craig Foster, a former Socceroo star turned broadcaster, social justice advocate and human rights campaigner.
8 – 10 September: BAD Crime Sydney Festival
BAD Crime is back in person at the State Library of New South Wales, with discussions and workshops with established and emerging writers. The extensive program also includes true crime and social justice panels, crime walks, and a trivia night.
9 September: Dubbo Writers Festival
A one-day festival for readers and writers, kicking off with a free launch and author showcase at 5pm at the Dubbo library.
9 – 10 September: Dorr-e Dari : A Poetic Crash Course in the Language of Love
Inspired by the tradition of private recitals and ‘curtain shows’ performed all through the Persian-speaking world, Dorr-e Dari is a rich and tender theatre work that combines thousand-year traditions, with personal stories spanning continents, singing, joyous dancing and sumptuous video imagery.
11 September: First Languages First
There are over 150 Indigenous languages actively maintained by community groups in Australia, and a growing movement to preserve, revitalise and promote Indigenous language. Join Kirli Saunders and others at the Sydney Opera House for what promises to be a visionary and agenda-setting conversation, full of personal stories and testimony. Presented with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in this first year of UNESCO’s Indigenous Language Decade.
11 September: Where Do We Go From Here?
This First Nations-led panel with Nardi Simpson & Nareen Young will set out what needs to happen to both realise its goals and to change the heart of all Australians. “Where Do We Go From Here?” is a question Dr Martin Luther King asked in his final book.
13 September: Dr Lachlan McIver in conversation with Tim Flannery
Dr Lachlan McIver is a doctor who has worked in some of the inhospitable conditions across the planet, including in rural Australia. His new no-holds-barred book Life and Death Decisions is at once a riveting expose of a broken health system that needs urgently to be fixed, and a deeply personal memoir. Join him in conversation with chief councillor of the Australian Climate Council and 2017 Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery.
14 September: Professor Tony Birch Lecture at the University of Wollongong
In this lecture, Tony Birch will address the Voice to Parliament and the concept of ‘truth-telling.’ “It seems to me that we are misleading ourselves with the deception that the truth of colonial violence lays hidden and must be exposed.”
14 September: DisCovered!: book cover design explained.
Join book designers Amy Daoud and Hazel Lam as they discuss the elements that goes into a great book cover. They will consider how a great cover can convey meaning, subtext and context of a book, and where Amy and Hazel think book design trends are going. Free at Marrickville Library.
14-18 September: Write Around the Murrary
A week of author talks, workshops, poetry slams, and storytelling events in Albury Wadonga.
15 September: Introduction to Screenwriting at Whitlam Library Cabramatta
Join award-winning writer and director Matthew Taket for this engaging series of three workshops focusing on different aspects of screenwriting and how to turn your idea into a flowing script. This first workshop will be an introduction to screenwriting.
16 September – For All Readers – School Library Conference
ISLA brings you a program of presenters to inspire and empower, catering for both primary and high school library workers. What’s happening in children’s literature? What are the emerging trends? Listening to creators and curators of stories deepens our connections to the what, why and how of building a school library collection.
17 – 18 September: Festival of Dangerous Ideas
FODI holds uncomfortable ideas up to the light and challenges thinking on some of the most persevering and difficult issues of our time, questioning our deepest held beliefs and desires. It presents a lineup of international and local thinkers and culture creators, inviting us all to immerse ourselves in ideas and conversations that encourage debate and critical thinking.
20 September – Speaker Series: Her Fidelity – Katharine Pollock in conversation
Local writer Katherine Pollock worked in independent record stores in Brisbane and Sydney for many years. She discusses her debut novel Her Fidelity free at Marrickville Library.
22 September: What is Pasolini for me? A Symposium for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pier Paolo Pasolini
To celebrate the centenary of the birth of Italian writer, filmmaker, playwright and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini, this event will offer insight into a controversial and somewhat problematic character. The event will be held in English and include speeches, discussions, and a Q&A.
23 – 25 September: The Northern Beaches Readers Festival
Join the NBRF at Avalon Recreation centre for a weekend featuring some of Australia’s leading authors in panel discussions and more intimate ‘in conversation’ events.
28 September: Young Writers studio: Sea Odyssey
Young writers aged 8 to 12 can join Bernard Cohen from The Writing Workshop for a highly imaginative creative writing workshop drawing inspiration from the fabulous ferries in MAG&M’s exhibition, Manly by Ferry: Treasures from the Vault.
29 September: Author talk: Harlem Nights: The Secret History of Australia’s Jazz Age
Historian Deirdre O’Connell tells the untold story of Australia’s Jazz Age. She captures a time of wonder and flux, when Australians sensed a world growing smaller, turning faster — and, for some, skittering off balance. Hear about William Rogers Campbell “Sonny” Clay, an American jazz pianist, drummer, and bandleader, who had an unusual impact on the development of Australian jazz. Free at Waverly Library.
29 September – 8 October: National Young Writers’ Festival
The National Young Writers’ Festival (NYWF) is an annual gathering of young writers to show work, share ideas, and learn. The programs are free, and made by and for young writers who create across stage, page, web and beyond. In 2022, a digital program will exist alongside the usual festival which takes place across the October long weekend in Newcastle, NSW.
More from Writing NSW
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