Writers festivals have had a bit of a reckoning in the last 12 months. So there's no time like the present to contemplate their value and potential. Bebe Oliver, Prof. Clare Wright and Daniel James come together to reflect on the turbulent waters writers festivals have been in, taking this opportunity to re-evaluate how they can best move forward.

Archive Fever is a podcast hosted by Professor Clare Wright OAM and Dr Yves Rees that invites guests to go deep on the kinds of archives they use and how they use them. In this special festival edition, the podcast will be recorded live in conversation with Dr Micaela Sahhar, writer, educator and author of Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: an encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family.

Researching a documenting some of the most significant historical events comes with a burden of responsibility.

Setting the story straight and ensuring it is accessible to us and to future generations is important work - a springboard for discussion, knowledge and learning.

Clare Wright and Don Watson sit down with academic and historian, Tom Griffiths to chat about their role in bringing these stories to life and ensuring that the painstaking research is valued.

Join us for An Afternoon with Yanis Varoufakis and Friends, featuring Yanis Varoufakis, Dr Bob Brown, Professor Clare Wright, Hannah Ferguson and Dominic Guerrera.

In his most personal book yet, Raise Your Soul: A Personal History of Resistance, Yanis Varoufakis tells the engrossing story of his political awakening. This captivating portrait is told through the extraordinary lives of five women, and the West’s tumultuous history from 1924 to the present.

Yanis Varoufakis will be joined by award-winning historian, author, broadcaster, podcaster and public commentator Professor Clare Wright for a panel discussion, hosted by the Australia Institute’s Director of International & Security Affairs, Dr Emma Shortis.

Join Tony as he shares stories from his remarkable career... hosted by Best-selling historian and beloved ABC broadcaster, Clare Wright.

Now, Tony celebrates a life on stage and screen, sharing stories from his remarkable career, his passion for history, and his thrilling fiction debut The House of Wolf, an epic tale of Alfred the Great and the bloody birth of England.

Hear behind-the-scenes stories from Time Team,  Blackadder, The Worst Jobs in History and beyond. Audiences will also get the chance to ask Tony anything, from writing his first novel at 78 to why Baldrick still gets the biggest laughs.

Drawing on decades of archaeological expertise and his gift for making the past come alive, Tony will reveal the gritty reality behind the legend of Alfred the Great in his latest work.

What was life really like for ordinary people caught between Saxon kings and Viking raiders? How did political scheming in medieval courts compare to today's power struggles? This isn't just historical fiction, it’s Tony’s unique take on the real events that forged our nation.

Experience a night of brilliant storytelling, enormous laughs and histories with a twist.

Clare will be in conversation with Geordie Williamson. Geordie has been chief literary critic of The Australian since 2008. He is publisher of the Picador imprint at Pan Macmillan, a former editor of Island Magazine and Best Australian Essays, and author of The Burning Library, a collection of essays on neglected figures from Australian literature.

Join Clare and Geordie at the Afterword Cafe.

Readers and Writers Against the Genocide (RWAG) invite our Naarm community for an evening of literature and connection at Bard's Apothecary bar in the CBD.

Speakers include:

• Evelyn Araluen, Overland editor and Stella-winning poet

• Aviva Tuffield, publisher and RWAG founder

• Professor Clare Wright OAM, Bendigo Writers Festival co-curator and Stella-winning historian

• Maher Mughrabi, Palestinian journalist and writer

• Sonia Orchard, author and Mountain Writers Festival director

• Tim Loveday, poet and lecturer

• Dr Yves Rees, author and historian

William Dalrymple is back in Australia to present a history of the Mughals, India, and the East India Company.

From the rise of the Mughal Empire to British colonialism, the East India Company to it’s demise, William Dalrymple brings 400 years of South Asian history to life with his signature wit, charm, and masterful storytelling.

Author of The Golden Road and the four-part The Company Quartet, Dalrymple explores how Indian philosophy, art, language, and science shaped the modern world—tracing legacies from Angkor Wat to the invention of zero.

After each presentation, Dalrymple will be joined by a special guest interviewer, offering a rare glimpse into the personal journey and creative process of one of the world’s most respected public intellectuals.

A must-attend event for fans of the Empire podcast, history lovers, and anyone curious about the forces that shaped the Indian subcontinent.

We are delighted to host a conversation between author Phil Craig and historian Professor Clare Wright.

Craig's book, 1945: The Reckoning is about war, empire and the struggle for a new world.

As the fate of the world is decided, so too is that of the British, Dutch and French empires. Clearing away the haze of nostalgia, many uncomfortable truths emerge - but so too does a humane and balanced exploration of what victory in the Second World War truly means.

Free, but bookings are essential.

Please book here.

Celebrate History Month at the PMI Victorian History Library with a truly inspiring event, “In Conversation with Professor Clare Wright OAM: A Monument of One’s Own”. 

Professor Clare Wright is one of Australia’s most influential historians and our proud library patron. This session will see Clare explore the fascinating stories behind Victoria’s public monuments and share the journey and impact of her acclaimed project, A Monument of One’s Own. Through her passion for commemorative justice, Clare invites us to reflect on whose stories are celebrated in our streets, and the remarkable lives yet to be recognised.

Join us to discover how public statues shape our collective memory and how Clare’s work seeks to balance who is honoured in Victorian history. It’s a chance to engage with someone who has dedicated her career to bringing Australia’s hidden voices and untold stories into the light.

This event is part of our Exploring Victorian Voices lecture series, your gateway to the rich and diverse tapestry that makes up our state’s heritage.

La Trobe Presents

In the final session of the festival, we once again pay respects to literary elders very much present.

Jeanine Leane is a Wiradjuri writer, poet, essayist, critic, academic and activist. Her scholarly, creative and critical writing explores sites of personal, national and collective memory. Her latest book, gawimarra gathering, won the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. Noongar author and La Trobe University alumni, Claire G Coleman talks to Jeanine about her impactful career.

Robert Dessaix is a writer, translator and broadcaster whose novels, memoirs, travel writing and essays have been adored by Australian and global audiences for decades. His latest book is Chameleon, a meditation on art, love, sex, literature, music and happiness, which reveals Robert’s trademark wit, intellect and idiosyncrasy. La Trobe University historian and BWF Co-curator, Clare Wright will host Robert in this contemplative reflection on his life and writing.

La Trobe Presents

What do golf balls, language revitalisation and radical acts of diplomacy have in common? They have all happened – and are still happening! – on country. Unceded sovereign country.

In Golf Dreaming, Worimi man John Maynard reveals the fascinating and complex Aboriginal connection to golf. Clare Wright provides a forensic account of Yolŋu resistance and innovation in Ṉäku Dhäruk, her history of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions. And poet and editor Evelyn Araluen reflects on learning Bundjalung on Tharawal in Words to Sing the World Alive. With host, journalist and broadcaster, Daniel James.

La Trobe Presents

After the 2025 federal election, Australia has the most progressive parliament in recent memory. Perhaps ever. What are the game-changing ideas that Australia needs now? Is there a mandate for policy decisions that might safeguard Australia’s democracy, economy, environment and polity beyond the blip of the news cycle?

Leading thinkers and activists from all corners of Australia — Fiona Stanley, Thomas Mayo and Richard Denniss— offer fresh possibilities for our collective future. With participating host, La Trobe University historian and BWF Co-curator, Clare Wright.

In partnership with The Australia Institute.

Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions is the story of a founding document in Australian democracy, and a pulsating picture of the ancient and enduring culture of Australia’s first peoples. Join Clare Wright for the annual Thea Astley Address, and in conversation with Kerry O'Brien.

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Supported by The Book Room

Join leading historians Jackie Huggins (Deep History: Country and Sovereignty) and Clare Wright (Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions) in conversation with Grace Lucas-Pennington for a discussion on their remarkable new books that change our concepts of time, nationhood, sovereignty and Country.

Clare Wright (Naku Dharuk) and Inala Cooper (Marrul) discuss the impact of First Nations activism.

Professor Clare Wright OAM is an award-winning historian, author, broadcaster, podcaster and public commentator who has worked in politics, academia and the media.

Naku Dharuk is the story of a founding document in Australian democracy and the trailblazers who made it. It is also a pulsating picture of the ancient and enduring culture of Australia’s first peoples. 

Bookings are essential.

Join award-winning historian Clare Wright in conversation with Shireen Morris for a fascinating discussion of Naku Dharuk: The Bark Petitions. The third and final volume in Clare’s Democracy trilogy, it explores the 1963 Yirrkala Bark Petitions – text that was delivered to Parliament by the Yolŋu people, which ultimately became the very first time that Indigenous relationships to Country were recognised by the Australian government.

Clare and Shireen discuss the profound significance of these documents – a powerful assertion of sovereignty and a foundational moment in the Australian Indigenous land rights movement. This promises to be a truly powerful and illuminating discussion, exploring this historic intersection of art, law, and resistance, revealing a vital chapter in national history.

Debra Dank, Steve Vizard & Clare Wright. Moderator: Ginger Gorman

It is time to take an unflinching look at questions around identity and history that Australia has long grappled with. Debra Dank presents Terraglossia and examines the linguistic colonisation that European arrival brought with it. Steve Vizard delves into the creation of the myth of Gallipoli in Nation, Memory, Myth. And Clare Wright examines how the course of Australian democracy was changed in Naku Dharuk: The Bark Petitions.

It’s been two decades since The Secret River was released, a landmark book exploring colonial history that was then transformed into a smash-hit stage play and mini series. Now in Unsettled, celebrated author Kate Grenville returns to the site of the Hawkesbury River and the rich terrain of her family history.

But this celebrated Australian author has been plenty busy in between. From the Women’s Prize shortlisted Restless Dolly Maunder, a reimagining of the life of Kate’s grandmother; to A Room Made of Leaves which speculates an alter-ego for historical figure Elizabeth Macarthur; and much more besides, there is so much to dip our curious oars into.

At this exhilarating evening event, we chart a course through Kate Grenville’s incredible life and literary works alongside conversation host and historian Clare Wright. It is all the more significant as our venue sits beside Broken Bay and the mouth of the mighty Hawkesbury, where it all began. We hope you can join us.

Please note:

• Doors at 5:30pm

• Seating is unallocated

• There will be a licensed pop-up bar onsite, only alcohol purchased from the bar at the event may be consumed at the event site. You must be aged 18 years or over to purchase and/or consume alcohol on the event site and you must provide photographic identification documents to purchase

• Bookseller Umina Beach Book Nook will be onsite to sell books, which can be signed by the authors after the event.

Every family has their secrets – but what happens when a writer dives into the family archive to uncover and share those stories with the world?

In this live episode of Archive Fever podcast, co-hosts Yves Rees and Clare Wright are joined by Lech Blaine and Anne-Marie Te Whiu to probe the promise and pitfalls of working with stories close to home. Why dig up the family skeletons? How do you navigate the minefield of the truth about loved ones and forebears? And what does journeying into family history do to the writer themself? 

Stella Prize–winning historian Clare Wright’s democracy trilogy comes to a close with Ṉäku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy.   

This account traces the history of the land rights movement in Australia from the petition’s creation by the Yolŋu of north-east Arnhem Land in 1963 to this founding document’s place in Australian democracy. A feat of scholarship and a propulsive read, this book is a testament to the endurance of First Nations people and a must-read for understanding our country.

Hear Clare tell the whole story in conversation with Barrie Cassidy. 

The fight for First Nations rights in Australia is ongoing, most recently frustrated by the lost 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum.

Indigenous leader and author Thomas Mayo’s newest work, Always Was, Always Will Be: The Campaign for Justice and Recognition Continues, is a guidebook to action for Indigenous recognition and a rallying cry for those working to close the gap.

Historian Clare Wright’s conclusion to her democracy trilogy, Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy, tells the story of how the Yolŋu of Arnhem Land created the Yirrkala Bark Petitions in 1963 and gave birth to the land rights movement.

Join Thomas and Clare as they explore these important struggles and what we can learn from them. With host Lorena Allam.

Our second event in the 2025 Book+Author series sees us return to Bard's Apothecary.

Curated and hosted by Dr Yves Rees, the series showcases new books from some of Australia’s most exciting historians. 

This atmospheric downstairs bar is a wonderful CBD venue for intimate literary and cultural events. (We regret that the venue is not wheelchair accessible.) Grab a drink at the bar before or after the event to make the most of your night! The event space will open at 5.30, half an hour before the scheduled conversation.

Our partners from the Paperback Bookshop will be there as usual to sell books, and the author will be happy to sign your copy.

Cold-blooded killers, grief-stricken widows, famous artists, independent women with sharp minds and large fortunes and a cap doffed to Jane Austen’s 250th birthday.  Do you love historical crime fiction?  Top-shelf literary fiction? 

The first Launches at the Library for 2025 has it all!

Come hear the authors of Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective, Kelly Gardiner and Sharmini Kumar, along with the author of Diving, Falling, Kylie Mirmohamadi, as we celebrate the publication of these outstanding books, in conversation with Stella Prize winning novelist, Carrie Tiffany.

Launches at the Library are curated and hosted by Prof Clare Wright, Professor of Public Engagement, and supported by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor.

Light refreshments available. 

The School Locker will also be selling these books at the event. 

Catch up on previous Launches @ the Library via the Literary La Trobe podcast (wherever you get your podcasts from)

In this returning series of conversations, we invite authors to share how they interrogate tough topics in their writing lives. Mark Dapin and Clare Wright challenge some great Australian myths and their long-lasting hold on our identity. Hosted by Catherine McKinnon.

In his newest book Always Was, Always Will Be, Thomas Mayo investigates ‘what’s next?’ for reconciliation and justice in Australia after the failed Voice to Parliament referendum. Thomas speaks with Clare Wright about lessons from the past, a path towards the future, and the new generation of Indigenous leaders who are ready, resilient, and hopeful.

This event will be live streamed. Details for the Zoom event will be emailed to you after 8.00am AEST on the day of the event. If you have not received this information prior to the event please check your spam folder.

In 1963—a year of agitation for civil rights worldwide—the Yolŋu of northeast Arnhem Land created the Yirrkala Bark Petitions: Naku Dharuk. ‘The land grew a tongue’ and the land-rights movement was born. The final book in Clare Wright’s historical trilogy tells the story of how the people of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian Democracy. Hosted by Jock Serong.

Amy McQuire, Anna Spargo-Ryan (live stream) and Clare Wright

When some of the institutions fundamental to democracy are struggling both here and overseas, when it feels like progress is slipping and hard-won rights are being wound back, how can the power of writing show us a way forward? Amy McQuire, Clare Wright and Anna Spargo-Ryan offer ideas for working our way out of some of the wicked problems of our time, in discussion with chair Alice Grundy.

Professor Clare Wright discusses her latest work with Kerry O’Brien. Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions is the story of a founding document in Australian democracy and the birth of the landrights movement.

Director's Choice: This session can be streamed at home for $15 as part of the Director's Choice series. Find out more and purchase livestream access HERE.

Clare Wright is an award-winning historian, author, broadcaster and public commentator who has worked in politics, academia and the media. She is currently Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement at La Trobe University. Clare is the author of the bestselling Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia’s Female Publicans (2003) and The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka (2013). Her latest book is Ṉäku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions. 

Kerry O’Brien is an Australian journalist based in Byron Bay. He is the former editor and host of The 7.30 Report and Four Corners on the ABC. Kerry has also been awarded six Walkley Awards during his career. 

In this special live recording of Hey History! host Axel Clark asks historians Clare and Anna how historical objects can help us learn history.

What can a piece of ochre tell us about Australia’s Deep Time History? Can an old gold pan help us to hear the past? We’ll look at how museums decide what objects to include in their collections, and how everyday objects all around us can link us to people from the past. You might even have a special object in your family from the past you’d like to tell us about!

Suitable for ages 8-12. Years 3-6