Unapologetic, sometimes controversial, and always unflinchingly honest, Roxane Gay has built a remarkable career using her powerful voice to articulate the nuances of our most pervasive issues. Body image, civil rights, feminism, popular culture, social etiquette – you name it, Gay has written about it. The esteemed writer, professor and cultural commentator was joined by host Jan Fran at Melbourne Town Hall for one night only as they discussed her most strongly held views on the culture and...

National treasure Noni Hazlehurst details her life on stage and screen and takes us behind-the-scenes of a brilliant career.  Noni Hazlehurst’s versatility as a performer knows no bounds. A household name and a beloved actor, she's graced Australian screens and theatre stages for over forty years. From Playschool and Better Homes and Gardens, to Monkey Grip and her acclaimed theatrical career – Hazlehurst has earned her place as an Australian icon.  At this Melbourne-exclusive event,...

Critics Eda Gunaydin, Michael Sun and Cher Tan examine the present state and potential futures of literary criticism. Literary criticism seems to be in an endless state of decline. In so-called Australia, a particular flavour of cultural cringe is yoked to cultural hegemony: a critic might find themselves locked within the ivory tower, or self-censoring for fear of offence, or deliberately pursuing contrarianism for clicks. How, then, do critics move beyond this deadlock? Who decides what is...

Content warning: This recording includes occasional course language.Evelyn Araluen, Hasib Hourani and Mykaela Saunders discuss the careful craft of shaping a language unsettled. Trace the contours of language, seek out its limits and push. Histories are cut up, struck through, misplaced, misremembered. Join Evelyn Araluen, Hasib Hourani and Mykaela Saunders as they discuss the careful craft of ripping the empire’s language to shreds. In their work, these brilliant writers shift form in...

What is the future of the great Australian novel? Novelists Jessica Au, Brian Castro and André Dao contemplate the novel, the nation and its literature with Lynda Ng. Marking 30 years since Brian Castro considered the ‘new novel’, three of Australia’s most talented contemporary novelists discuss the future of the form. Is there such a thing as a ‘Great Australian Novel’, or have twentieth-century paradigms expired? What, exactly, does greatness have to do with fiction? How does the novel...

International bestselling author Rebecca F. Kuang discusses her groundbreaking novel Yellowface and the future of storytelling at this exclusive Melbourne event.   Investigating diversity, racism and cultural appropriation with the thrilling pace of a Twitter meltdown, Rebecca F. Kuang’s 2023 novel Yellowface captivated readers across literary and BookTok communities alike. In her only Melbourne event, Kuang discusses her successful career, plagiarism, privilege, and the state of the...

A runaway favourite of book clubs the world over, Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel Lessons in Chemistry transports readers to early 1960s California. Elizabeth Zott – single mother and brilliant chemist – unexpectedly finds herself hosting a television cooking show, and changes hearts and minds in the process. Inspired by Garmus’s mother’s generation of overlooked and under-acknowledged women, Lessons in Chemistry examines the gender pay gap, misogyny in the workplace and women’s rights. At her...

On the 5 November this year, the American people will go to the polls to make a choice, the impact of which will be felt around the globe.  Will Republican nominee and now convicted criminal, former President Donald Trump, topple Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris?? How did America reach this point, and how will either candidate’s victory impact Australia’s relationship with the US and the global political landscape?  Don Watson, celebrated Australian writer and former political...

Award-winning journalist Heather Ewart hits the Back Roads to Kyneton to journey through her great Australian road trips.   Over a career spanning four decades, Heather Ewart has been senior political reporter and a foreign correspondent posted to London, Washington and Brussels. Raised on a farm in country Victoria, her adventures have come full circle to see her hosting ABC TV’s popular program Back Roads. In Ewart’s new book, Back Roads: The Great Aussie Road Trip, the much-loved...

Our annual panel of pop culture experts Brodie Lancaster, Alison Willmore, Hannah Diviney and Jared Richards gather for a dissection of the zeitgeist. Baby Reindeer, The Bear and hot rodent men: lt has been a ferocious (and sometimes feral) year for pop culture, and it seems that we’re not slowing down any time soon. On the occasion of the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival, host Brodie Lancaster is joined by Vulture and New York magazine film critic Alison Willmore, disability...

As part of The Wheeler Centre's 2024 Spring Fling program and in partnership with Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, listen to an exclusive podcast interview with celebrated writer Olivia Laing, interviewed by Sophie Cunningham.  Olivia discusses her new book, The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise, which moves between real and imagined gardens, exploring how new modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds. The result is a beautiful and exacting account...

From ‘manfluencer’ culture and the rising popularity of Andrew Tate, to lists ranking teenage girls on their appearance, there’s an urgent need to address the widespread sexism and misogyny in our schools and wider society. Left unchecked, these harmful attitudes and behaviours will see rates of male violence against women continue to rise. In this panel discussion, three experts consider where these attitudes begin, and the importance of positive male role modelling in addressing them. The...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers have been sharing stories on this continent for millennia. From best-selling and award-winning poetry, memoir and fiction to powerful works that defy categorisation, Blak writing depicts, challenges and honours culture, community and Country. Much-loved books by First Nations writers stand strong on shelves in homes, libraries, bookshops and classrooms – but there are always more books and writers to be discovered and rediscovered. In 2023,...

The Olympic Games have always been a site of soft diplomacy for participating nations. This has never been truer than in 2024, as athletes and countries prepare to compete from 26 July to 11 August at the Paris Olympic Games.Olympic champions Patrick Johnson and Kieren Perkins join award-winning sports reporter Tracey Holmes to discuss the future of the games and examine how Olympic competition is shaped by the tensions of geopolitical affairs. Together, they deep-dive into Australian...

Meredith Whittaker is not afraid to take on tech giants. In 2018, she led the famous mass staff walkout at Google over the company’s laissez faire attitude towards sexual harassment allegations and the moral and ethical implications of its business practices. Now, as President of Signal, the not-for-profit encrypted and secure messaging app, Whittaker is one of the world’s most respected experts on data surveillance and the future of big tech. She has advised the White House, the US Federal...

In this Wheeler Centre podcast exclusive, hear former Next Chapter recipient Khin Myint in conversation with Anna Krien as they discuss Myint's Fragile Creatures. Khin Myint is an Australian-Burmese writer from Perth. His debut memoir, Fragile Creatures, is about how his family tackled his sister’s wish to die as she fought a non-terminal illness. Fragile Creatures, is a family story told with humour, wonderment and complete honesty. This is a book about what happens when realities clash –...

In 1993, Ma Thida was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her support of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and for ‘endangering public peace, having contact with illegal organisations, and distributing unlawful literature’. Released from prison in 1999, Thida’s advocacy for freedom of expression continues unabated as Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee and as a current fellow in the Writers-in-Exile Programme of PEN Germany. Earlier this month, Ma Thida...

S Shakthidharan’s debut play Counting and Cracking began with a shoebox of his great-grandfather’s letters. Working with his family and the wider Sri Lankan diaspora, he excavated his family’s history, weaving threads of culture and connection into a multi-award-winning theatrical epic following four generations over five decade. To celebrate the Melbourne debut of this global hit, Shakthidharan is joined in conversation by Masterchef sensation Minoli De Silva, who infuses her culinary...

Sam Elkin’s Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga, recounts his bumpy journey from lesbian to transgender lawyer in the aftermath of the 2017 marriage equality postal survey. Set against the backdrop of a growing moral panic about the ‘trans agenda’, Elkin’s debut book is part-love letter and part-cautionary tale. Honest and unflinching, it’s sure to spark many prickly and productive conversations. Join Elkin as he launches Detachable Penis with host Yves Rees at an intimate and relaxed...

Bestselling author Dervla McTiernan discusses her suspenseful new novel about two families at war with host J.P. Pomare at Geelong Library. Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home. Dervla McTiernan is the critically acclaimed author of five novels, including The Murder Rule, which was a New York Times thriller of the year. Dervla has won multiple prizes, including a Ned...

Steve Albini was a legendary audio engineer and musician. The frontman of Big Black and Shellac, Albini saw the machinations of the industry up close and from multiple vantage points, working with huge international acts including PJ Harvey, Nirvana and Pixies. Despite recording with some of the biggest names in the business Albini continued, throughout his career, to collaborate with countless experimental bands. He passed away last week, aged 61. On the eve of Meredith Music Festival in...

Paul Auster was a true giant of American literature. Acclaimed for his best-selling works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, including The New York Trilogy, Invisible, and The Brooklyn Follies, Auster wrote complex and daring tales of humans experiencing, anticipating or searching for something lost, something they are struggling to comprehend.  In his 2021 book, Burning Boy, he turned his eye to the 19th-century bad boy of American literature, Stephen Crane. Crane is known for popularising...

Fern Brady, one of the UK’s most exciting stand-ups, visited The Wheeler Centre to discuss her bestselling book Strong Female Character as part of the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Hosted by Australian stand-up comedian and writer Laura Davis, Brady discussed her writing process, Catholic upbringing and late diagnosis of autism.This event was recorded on Wednesday 3 April 2024 at The Wheeler Centre.It was presented in partnership with the Melbourne International Comedy...

Chanel Contos has led a powerful movement to include consent education in the national curriculum, and was recently appointed by Julia Gillard to chair the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership’s Youth Advisory Committee. Her debut book, Consent Laid Bare: Sex, Entitlement & the Distortion of Desire, is a battle cry from a generation no longer prepared to stay silent. In it, Contos explores the political, legislative and cultural changes required to combat Australia’s culture of...