Hollywood meets Capital Hill for this year's Sydney Writers' Festival with Julia Gillard and Call Me by Your Name author, Andre Aciman, leading the names in the event's line-up.
While Aciman brings the glamour of the Academy Award-winning film, based on his 2007 coming-of-age book, Gillard will provide some insight into power and gender in one of the event's most high-profile discussions at Sydney Town Hall on May 5.
The political intrigue doesn't stop there, with several former senators promoting their memoirs including Jacqui Lambie, the Green Party's Christine Milne and Labor's Sam Dastyari all appearing at various events over the festival's week-long tenure across Sydney.
"Across the 2018 program, our guests will examine power and its adjacent qualities, and its relationship to sex, money, politics, identity, and the state of the world. We'll be making a firm case for literature, stories and public conversation helping resist the pull of a backward-lurching culture," the festival's artistic director Michaela McGuire said.
Aciman will open the festival on May 1 alongside international authors Min Jin Lee (Pachinko) and Alexis Okeowo (A Moonless, Starless Sky) who will each deliver an address on the theme of power.
High-profile human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson will be making an early appearance pre-festival in Sydney's CBD, the week before the event kicks off.
Pulitzer Prize-winners Jennifer Egan and Junot Diaz will be jetting into town to talk about their new work. Egan just recently released historical novel Manhattan Beach, while Diaz has written a children's book, Islandborn.
One man who has been basking in his 15-minutes of fame as "BBC Dad", academic Robert E Kelly, will also appear to talk about his life after that infamous home interview (with cameos from his children) with the British broadcaster.
High-profile Australian authors including Barracuda writer Christos Tsiolkas, Helen Garner, Jane Harper and journalist Peter Greste will also make appearances over the week while reporter Tracey Spicer will talk about her work uncovering sexist abuse in the media on a panel alongside New York Times journalist Jenna Wortham and Washington Post writer Irin Carmon.
*The 21st Sydney Writers' Festival runs from April 30 to May 6 at Carriageworks, The Seymour Centre and various venues across greater Sydney.
Australian Associated Press
