A brilliant and important book about Australia’s future Can Australia defend itself in the Asian century? How seriously ought we take the risk of war? Do we want to remain a middle power? What kind of strategy, and what Australian Defence Force, do we need? In this groundbreaking book, Hugh White considers these questions and more. With exceptional clarity and frankness, he makes the case for a reconceived defence of Australia. Along the way he offers intriguing insights into history, technology and the Australian way of war. Hugh White is the country’s most provocative, revelatory and yet realistic commentator on Australia’s strategic and defence orientation. In an age of power politics and armed rivalry in Asia, it is time for fresh thinking. In this controversial and persuasive contribution, White sets new terms for one of the most crucial conversations Australia needs to have.

For decades in Australia we have assumed that America will prevent any serious emerging military threats to Australia, or defend us from them if they do, but now America's power in Asia is waning and those old assumptions are no longer valid.

So what now? We have never really tried to defend ourselves independently, but now we may have no choice. Can it be done, and if so how? What do we really need to defend? What forces do we need? How much would they cost and how serious are the threats?

At the Melbourne launch of his new book How to Defend Australia, Hugh White will make the case for a reconceived defence of Australia. He will also offer intriguing insights into history, technology and the Australian way of war.

Join Australian Foreign Affairs and Griffith Asia Institute for an important discussion of Australia's changing role in the Pacific. Professor of Strategic Studies at the ANU, Hugh White, and Walkley award-winning, former Papua New Guinea correspondent, Sean Dorney will tackle the complex security challenges facing nations in the southern Pacific and look at whether Australia will need new approaches to secure its relations and interests. The conversation will be moderated by Griffith Asia Institute Director Professor Caitlin Byrne.

Join Australian Foreign Affairs and Griffith Asia Institute for an important discussion of Australia's changing role in the Pacific. Professor of Strategic Studies at the ANU, Hugh White, and Walkley award-winning, former Papua New Guinea correspondent, Sean Dorney will tackle the complex security challenges facing nations in the southern Pacific and look at whether Australia will need new approaches to secure its relations and interests. The conversation will be moderated by Griffith Asia Institute Director Professor Caitlin Byrne.

Join editor Benjamin Law and contributors David Marr, Holly Throsby and Bec Shaw for the launch of the landmark anthology Growing Up Queer in Australia. This is sure to be one of the events of the year!

What's the fastest growing faith in the world? It's Buddhism, and Meshel Laurie says that's because it is very well suited to our contemporary age. Too busy for organised religion? Too stressed to commit to the contemplative life? In Buddhism, you can find all kinds of help, and this comedy writer and tv personality wants to let you know just what goodies are in store for you when you take a look at this ancient philosophy. Laurie is joined by Suzanne Donisthorpe for this first-ever Festival event at Bendigo's astonishing Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, for an event that promises to be most enlightening.

There used to be a particular version of Australian history that spanned two centuries and left out many people. Alice Pung’s debut memoir, Unpolished Gem, brilliantly challenged that limited story, telling us about what it was like to grow up Chinese-Australian in a working-class Melbourne suburb. Since then, she has written on everything from the role of grandparents to the damage done by racism. Alice talks to Fiona Parker about her own idea of home, how the places we live and the connections we make shape the people we become.

As a student in the United States in the 1980s, Min Jin Lee discovered through education and reading that every person - no matter what race, gender or class - contains within themselves "historical multitudes". She never dreamed that she would find a way, in fiction, to give voice to those multitudes. Alice Pung, growing up Asian in Australia, blending in was the goal, to escape notice. Now, successful and respected, she contemplates how - or if - bigotry has changed in the next generation of class-defined society. Join these two gifted writers as they consider how growing up Asian shaped their ideas and fuelled their writing.

Sludge is the fascinating story of the forgotten filth that plagued nineteenth-century Victoria. It exposes the dirty big secret of Victoria’s mining history – the way it transformed the state’s water and land; and also how the battle against sludge helped to lay the ground for the modern environmental movement. La Trobe University Chancellor John Brumby launches this fascinating book that will make us all see our landscape in a totally new light.

Ever said something in anger that you later regretted? An email sent that seems intermperate once the moment has passed. What about relationships you've gone into full of high hopes, then later found difficult and messy? What about a trolling tweet? Regrets - we've all had a few. From the trivial to the life-changing, the funny to the tragic, let's talk about how best to deal with the need to about-face. Steve Kendall hears from four writers whose recent work has dealt with mistakes and their aftermath.

They were energetic and committed, and outraged by the tyranny of a system that excluded them from politics and power. Some were half-loafers, willing to settle for the vote for women with property. The full-loafers demanded universal adult suffrage. What kind of women were these battlers? How did their own lives play out against this monumental achievement of winning the vote? Billy Griffiths talks to Clare Wright about her “Daughters of Freedom” and what their role in history means for the Australian nation.

Anti-immigration rhetoric claims Africa-diaspora Australians are a recent phenomenon, but that ignores early settlers such as the 11 black convicts on the First Fleet. It ignores myriad stories from the past and present. At the height of the “African gang” furore, a group of writers decided it was high time to do a book: Growing Up African in Australia is about the ordinary, extraordinary, joyous and devastating – the diverse lives of those whose roots are in the African diaspora. Rachel Le Rossignol hosts three of the contributors to find out how this important anthology came about and to share their own stories.

Anti-immigration rhetoric claims Africa-diaspora Australians are a recent phenomenon, but that ignores early settlers such as the 11 black convicts on the First Fleet. It ignores myriad stories from the past and present. At the height of the “African gang” furore, a group of writers decided it was high time to do a book: Growing Up African in Australia is about the ordinary, extraordinary, joyous and devastating – the diverse lives of those whose roots are in the African diaspora. Rachel Le Rossignol hosts three of the contributors to find out how this important anthology came about and to share their own stories.

Who would have thought finance would turn out to be so dramatic, so full of nefarious deeds and shady deals, the stuff of true-crime thrillers rather than sober balance sheets. When accounting gave way to “consulting” and the future became a market, ethics became a whole lot fuzzier for financial institutions. Sharon Kemp is joined by two money wizards to sort out the black magic from the good spells. What are the basic rules of decent dealing and is it merely greed that undermines them?

It plays out in the media like a soap opera, full of melodrama, fuelled by one-liners and grandstanding accusations. Australia is influenced by the United States now even more than by the UK, culturally and politically. So, what kind of place is America today? Has the current president changed the way the country operates or has he been able to understand and benefit from the zeitgeist. Julie Rudner hosts a discussion about President Trump's America, and what it means for that nation, for its aliies and for global power.

The gold mining that made Victoria rich was disastrous for the land, causing environmental devastation that still affects our rivers and floodplains. Why has the story of contamination and destruction not been told before? Peter Davies and Susan Lawrence finally reveal a filthy secret, which also shows us all kinds of interesting things about the landscape we now inhabit. They talk to Chris Pedler about their search for the history of “sludge”.

For over 40 years, Don Walker’s songwriting has aimed to capture what it is to be Australian. From Cold Chisel to Catfish, Tex, Don & Charlie to his solo work, as well as many other writing collaborations, Walker’s words are poetic, moving and incisive. He talks with Jenny Valentish about classics such as “Khe Sanh”, “Flame Trees”, “Cheap Wine” and “Harry was a Bad Bugger”, to reveal what has driven him and how he makes the words fit the music. Was there a highpoint for lyrics? Are we still attuned to the words and the music?

Much has changed in the past 50 years for those who grew up gay. Benjamin Law has gathered memories written by those who are veterans of the fight for rights, and young people whose wit and wisdom is set free in this astonishing collection. Ben talks with Abe Watson about the book's genesis, about what he has discovered since his own memoir was published almost a decade ago, and what these stories tells us about the state of gay rights in our country.

What's the future for girls? In Tishani Doshi's words, they are "coming out of the woods", broken and bruised, but coming all the same. Jane Caro says it's crucil those girls have conversatons with older women - about looking after basic needs so you can get on with your interesting life. Jess HIll's writing looks at what hasn't changed, and what negative forces still controls women's bodies and lives. They talk to Nicole Ferrie about feminism 2019-style. Gains? Losses? Where to from here?

Is it a writer's role to stir things up or to settle things down? Have the days when there was time to slow-burn an idea, turn it into a book, long gone? When things crowd in, how does the writer clear a space to think and develop an idea? Jess Hill leads a conversation about whether there's a line between the personal and the public when it comes to being a writer and commentator.

The very idea of a bank going rogue would be shocking to Australians from another era who put the bank manager up there with the doctor and postmaster as pinnacles of community. But financial literacy hasn’t kept up with the times either. Alan Kohler is here to tell us to stop worrying and take control. He talks to Yvonne Wrigglesworth about financial planning, investment and superannuation, to show that it’s most practical wisdom you need. In his own career, what has been the best advice Alan has received?

In the words of music writer Stuart Coupe, the rock’n’roll road tour is hyped-up adrenalin surging bursts of activity. It’s extreme highs and hard comedowns. And the personal costs can be great. Stuart and performer Don Walker talk to Em Burgess-Gilchrist about music on the move, their finest and not-so-great memories, the difference between live and studio sound, and how the audiences have evolved since the first amp was loaded onto the back of a truck.

ABC Radio National's Paul Barclay is in-conversation with artist Peter Drew discussing his memoir Poster Boy. 

We are thrilled to be hosting the celebration of the 75th Quarterly Essay at the Melbourne Athenaeum with Annabel Crabb. As the author of the 75th QE, Crabb’s essay on politics, work and gender deploys political observation, workplace research and her characteristic humour to argue that gender equity cannot be achieved until men are as free to leave the workplace (when their lives demand it) as women are to enter it. In the last half-century, women have revolutionised the way we work and live. But men’s lives have changed remarkably little in that time. Join Crabb for a conversation in which she will ask why this is the case, and what we can do about it. Tickets are $45 per person and include a copy of Quarterly Essay 75: Annabel Crabb on Politics, Work and Gender. Bookings are essential, please click here.