Byron Writers Festival Byron Writers Festival

With our social media feeds constantly inundating us with images of trauma, Black Joy is an expression of resistance and healing. Storytellers Maxine Beneba Clarke, Bebe Backhouse and Nakkiah Lui discuss with poet Cheryl Leavy what Black Joy means to them.

Older women know that our society, smitten with youthfulness, devalues them in ways that can diminish their self-worth. In this episode Susan Johnson, Jacinta Parsons and Tracey Spicer discuss ways to reclaim pride in one’s ageing self – including by living disgracefully.

Sometimes the people who make us laugh find the joke is on them. Comic writers Shirley Le, Myf Warhurst and Oliver Phommavanh reveal to Mandy Nolan their wildest dreams and the day they came true.

From the dangers of inherited magical powers, to haunted North Sea islands where witches were once hunted to a Danish fairytale about a woman swallowed by the sea, novelists Sarah Armstrong, Eliza Henry-Jones and Holly Ringland tell Kári Gíslason how old tales become new in their fiction.

What does it mean to be free? Lea Ypi grew up in Stalinist Albania, one of the most isolated countries on earth and a place where Communist ideals had officially replaced religion.

Our housing is in crisis. Ownership is out of reach for many, rents are through the roof and homelessness is on the rise. This panel explores the causes of the problem and possible pathways to a better future.