Son of Nobody tells the story of Harlow Donne, a classicist, whose research unearths an undiscovered account of the Trojan War written from the point of view of an ordinary soldier. Pairing the text of the epic poem itself with Donne’s contemporary commentary, Martel unspools a powerful meditation on life, death and the resonances of the past.  
 
Appearing in Australia for the first time in a decade, don’t miss this opportunity to see Martel live in conversation with ABC Radio National’s Sarah L’Estrange.   

Horror is hardly a genre that needs much introduction – graveyards, monsters, things that go bump in the night. But what is at the heart of horror and stories of the uncanny for Indigenous Peoples, when colonisation is as horrific as humanity gets? What does a history unburied look like in the light?

This panel will discuss Indigenous perspectives on heroes, ghosts, and hauntings, and how this genre is being subverted in the face of real, ongoing horrors.

With Alicia Elliott, Jasmin McGaughey, John Morrissey and host Jessica Johns. Curated by Evelyn Araluen and Jessica Johns.

Toni Jordan and Michael Winkler: Animal Instincts

What can animals teach us? Two beloved novelists discuss their new books that explore our relationship to our canine companions.

From poetry, to fiction, to nonfiction, to everything outside of and in-between, this event is a celebration of the encompassing, expansive, and uncontained way we know Indigenous brilliance, globally and locally, to exist.

“Sintering is bonding; it is building coalitions with your neighbours.” — Theory of Water: Nishaabe Maps to the Times Ahead by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Each of the featured writers hold love and joy together as a testimony to their unique cultural knowledges and thought systems, and this event will celebrate the ways in which they have come together to share their art.

Featuring readings from Quill Christie-Peters, Alicia Elliott, Jasmin McGaughey, John Morrissey, Mykaela Saunders, Chelsea Vowel and Jesse Wente. Curated and hosted by Evelyn Araluen and Jessica Johns.

What drives our fascination with the myths and legends of the past? What can they tell us about ourselves? And what happens when we reframe ancient tales through contemporary understandings of race, gender, sexuality and class?  

In this fascinating panel discussion, writers Nikita Gill (Hekate: The Witch), Yann Martel (Son of Nobody) and Zoe Terakes (Eros) consider what draws them to archetypal tales of gods, goddesses, heroes and monsters – and how their work breathes new, often subversive life into old stories.

As Martel has written: ‘The past is never done with: always the song continues.’

Mark your literary calendars: Yann Martel, beloved and critically acclaimed author of the Booker-winning novel Life of Pi, is back with his first book in a decade. In Son of Nobody, a classics scholar discovers a lost account of the Trojan War that unlocks both a new historical perspective and a profound personal meditation on love, ambition and grief. Son of Nobody is vintage Martel, elegantly weaving its dual narrative with astute philosophical reflections on the echoes between fact and fable, myth and memory. 

Life takes us in many directions, but not always the right ones. In the Festival’s major opening night, eight exceptional writers speak to a moment in their life or work where their compass was reset – by choice or by chance; hard-won or by happenstance; early in life or in its later acts – that set them on a course truer to themselves.

Lining up to tell us about their new Norths, their True Norths, and the moments of reckoning, rebellion, resilience, reinvention, resolution or raw nerve it took to find them are:

One of Aotearoa’s most distinguished novelists Witi Ihimaera (Te Whānau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Ira and Ngāti Porou); acclaimed artist and activist Tāme Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe); grief expert and best-selling author Dr Lucy Hone; Women’s Prize for Fiction winner and New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones; Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement-winning author of 14 novels Elizabeth Knox; #1 New York Times and Sunday Times best-selling author RF Kuang; Booker Prize-winning Canadian novelist Yann Martel; Edinburgh’s Poet Laureate and prize-winning Scottish author Michael Pedersen.

Hosted by Miriama McDowell (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi).

Whether covering The Troubles, the opioid epidemic, or London’s underworld, Patrick Radden Keefe is renowned for illuminating human stories in his scrupulous interrogation of power systems. Barbara Demick is unparalleled in her meticulous reporting on authoritarian regimes (North Korea, Tibet, China) and capturing the lives of those within. Closer to home, next-generation talent Asher Emanuel’s The Valley is a landmark examination of New Zealand’s criminal justice system and two young men enmeshed in it.

Fascinating and vital systems to interrogate but all with human lives – often vulnerable ones – at their centre. How close is too close for a writer to get? And where is the line between capturing the right story and doing the right thing?

Adam Dudding meets them to discuss.

We are delighted to host a stellar line-up of writers from Canada at the Festival this year.

Spanning Vancouver to Saskatchewan, Ottawa to Winnipeg, as well as fiction, non-fiction and writing for young people, are:

Esteemed Booker Prize-winning novelist of Life of Pi Yann Martel (Son of Nobody)

Leading political commentator and writer David Moscrop (Too Dumb for Democracy?, Elbows Up!, On Nationalism)

2025 Booker Prize-longlisted Ukrainian-Canadian author of Endling and Good Citizens Need not Fear Maria Reva

Double Governor General’s Literary Award-winning writer for children and adults and member of Norway House Cree Nation David A. Robertson (The Misewa Saga, 52 Ways to Reconcile, All the Little Monsters)

They join Artistic Director Lyndsey Fineran for introductory interviews about their work, share insights into their writing lives in their respective corners of Canada, and discuss what conversations they’re looking forward to having at AWF.

With thanks to our friends at Vancouver Writers Fest.

From Nothing to Envy, her seminal book on North Korea, Eat the Buddha, which chronicled life in Tibet, to Besieged, her account of wartime Bosnia, Barbara Demick’s rigorous reporting and empathetic portraits of life in some of the world’s most closed or politically febrile places have earned her the Samuel Johnson Prize and been shortlisted for Orwell and Pulitzer prizes.

A former foreign correspondent who covered Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, The Economist wrote that “few writers have done more to illuminate isolated parts of the world than Barbara Demick”.

In her first Aotearoa New Zealand appearance, she discusses her lauded career and new book Daughters of the Bamboo Grove, about twin girls separated by China’s one-child policy, with Anna Fifield.

Supported by Platinum Patrons Joséphine and Ross Green.