The Sheila Drummond Memorial Lecture – We do what must be done: preach to the converted with David Marr

Keeping old ideas alive is one of the great challenges we face as we’re bombarded with the fears and lies of contemporary discourse. Of course writers hope to change minds, but we also have to argue for holding fast to the truths we’ve always trusted.  

David Marr is presenting Late Night Live these days on ABC Radio National after writing and reporting since the 1970s for Fairfax, the Guardian and the ABC. He’s written half a dozen books on politics, race, religion and the arts. His most recent is Killing for Country which examines the part his family played with the Queensland Native Police in the bloodiest years of the Frontier Wars.

A true festival highlight. Environmental giant Bob Brown reflects on a monumental lifetime of activism. From his foundational, fierce work saving the Franklin River to his latest reflections in Planet Earth, he sits down with fellow nature-champion Costa Georgiadis to discuss the unstoppable power of grassroots movements.

AI is masquerading as human; how can we respond? with Alan Finkel

AI is everywhere.  Politicians and executives love it because of the promise of increased prosperity through increased productivity.  Regular people use it because it flatters them and gives them easy answers.  However, AI is also beginning to undermine our society and the essence of being human.  For thousands of years, the advances that have formed our modern society were delivered by creative thinkers.  The desire to create and for our creations to be appreciated is innate, as is the desire to appreciate the creations of others.  As humans, we have the right to choose to read books written by humans, listen to music composed by humans and admire art produced by humans.  Increasingly, books, music and art created by AI are being made available for purchase with the claim that they were created by humans.  This deliberate deception makes it difficult for you to choose the creative outputs of your fellow humans.  In this talk, Alan Finkel will consider how we can defend our innate right to the information that will allow us to choose human.

Alan Finkel was Australia’s chief scientist from 2016 to 2020. He is a neuroscientist, engineer and entrepreneur. He led the 2017 National Electricity Market Review and the 2019 development of the National Hydrogen Strategy, and chaired the 2020 panel developing the Low Emissions Technology Roadmap. He is currently special adviser to the Australian government on low-emissions technologies. 

Alec Derwent Hope was born a son of the manse, reading the Bible daily and attending regular church services conducted by his Presbyterian minister father. By the time he finished university, though, he was a declared atheist, influenced by the teaching of John Anderson at the University of Sydney.

This talk will discuss the way his changing attitudes to religious belief influenced his poetry—from his anticlerical satires and antiromantic versions of sexual desire in the 1940s to his search for a non-religious understanding of a universal harmony that embraced creativity and love in the 1950s and 1960s. Hope thought religious belief might be associated with personality—and he was at ease with uncertainty.

Two absolute titans of Australian conservation, Bob Brown and David Lindenmayer, unite for an urgent, highly engaging look at the future of our planet. From defending wild rivers to preserving native canopies, discover what it takes to step up and be better stewards of the earth. Moderated by Sarah Macdonald.

In the forthcoming issue of the Quarterly Essay 102, Anna Goldsworthy explores the implications of AI for art, culture and the self – how it forces a confrontation with what it means to be human, raising questions about human connection, learning and how we live our lives; and bringing new existential and ethical risks. Anna shares her perspectives on this complex issue live in conversation with Jacqueline Ogeil.
 

Anna Goldsworthy is the author of several books, including the novel Melting Momentsand the memoirs Piano Lessonsand Welcome to Your New Life. Her writing has appeared in The Monthly, The Age, The Australian, The Adelaide Review and The Best Australian Essays. She is also a concert pianist, with several recordings to her name. She is currently Dean of the Elder Conservatorium of Music and School of Performing Arts at Adelaide University, and will be taking up the position of Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music in 2027.

Anna Goldsworthy will be in conversation with Andrew Leigh on her new quarterly essay The God We Made. The Threat and Promise of Artificial Intelligence.

Humanity in the age of AI . How will we be changed by the rise of artificial intelligence? In this scintillating essay, Anna Goldsworthy argues that AI is a rupture that makes us confront what it is to be human – what we do, and want. As it learns human ways, AI raises big questions about work, leisure and education. It brings new existential, social and ethical risks. Above all, it invites us to consider what is irreplaceable in us, starting with the body and the friction of others.

The God We Made is a brilliant inquiry into identity and a transformed future. How can we learn to live with AI? And will AI be happy to live with us?

"The experts have spoken, but many of us remain curiously unprepared, burying our heads in the sand – Look at its hallucinations! It's never going to be as smart as us! – or imagining that the only issue is plagiarism. AI is not just another tool: it is a paradigm shift, a ceding of our superiority." —Anna Goldsworthy, The God We Made

Anna Goldsworthy is the author of several books, including the novel Melting Moments and the memoirs Piano Lessons and Welcome to Your New Life, as well as the 2013 Quarterly Essay Unfinished Business. She is also a concert pianist and chamber musician, with several recordings to her name. She is currently Dean of the Elder Conservatorium of Music and School of Performing Arts at Adelaide University and incoming Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music.

Andrew Leigh FASSA is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT He holds a PhD from Harvard University, and before elected in 2010, he was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. His numerous books include The Shortest History of Innovation, The Luck of Politics, Battlers and Billionaires and Randomistas.

 The vote of thanks will be given by Professor Anthea Roberts, School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) ANU

Books will be available for signing from 5.30pm and again after the event.

Celebrate Refugee Week and the 20th anniversary of Alice Pung's memoir, in-conversation with Bruno Lettieri.

The evening begins with a poetry reading by Flora Chol, setting the tone for a celebration of storytelling and migration. Alice Pung and Bruno Lettieri will then engage in an in-conversation discussion exploring Alice’s groundbreaking memoir—a story that deliberately "does not begin on a boat."

They will examine the witty, moving portrait of a Chinese-Cambodian family pursuing the Australian Dream and explore themes of identity, belonging, and the everyday struggles and triumphs of family life.

This event is part of Refugee Week’s “A Million Stories” theme and offers audiences a chance to reflect on how personal stories, like Alice’s, continue to resonate two decades later, while enjoying poetry that complements the themes of migration, resilience, and community.

Celebrate Refugee Week and the 20th anniversary of Alice Pung's memoir, in-conversation with Bruno Lettieri.

The evening begins with a poetry reading by Flora Chol, setting the tone for a celebration of storytelling and migration. Alice Pung and Bruno Lettieri will then engage in an in-conversation discussion exploring Alice’s groundbreaking memoir—a story that deliberately "does not begin on a boat."

They will examine the witty, moving portrait of a Chinese-Cambodian family pursuing the Australian Dream and explore themes of identity, belonging, and the everyday struggles and triumphs of family life.

This event is part of Refugee Week’s “A Million Stories” theme and offers audiences a chance to reflect on how personal stories, like Alice’s, continue to resonate two decades later, while enjoying poetry that complements the themes of migration, resilience, and community.

We invite you to join us in a Q&A with local author, Moreno Giovannoni to discuss is book, The Immigrants: Fabula Mirabilis, or A Wonderful Story.

His latest book The Immigrants, has been greatly praised, shortlisted for the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, The Age Book of the Year Award, 2026 and Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in the 2026 NSW Literary Awards.⁠
⁠Please join us in meeting Moreno for this free event.

One of the most significant events of WordFest 2026, this landmark conversation features author, environmentalist and social changemaker Bob Brown.

Reflecting on his latest book, Defiance, and a lifetime of activism, Brown will share his personal views about leadership, protest, moral conviction and hope. Ranging across writing, wilderness, political struggle and legacy, he will offer rare insight into the personal costs and enduring rewards of standing firm on matters of principle. Thoughtful and inspiring, this is a defining WordFest event that invites audiences to reflect on their own responsibilities.

Anna Goldsworthy in conversation with Sophie Gee

How will we be changed by the rise of artificial intelligence? In this scintillating essay, Anna Goldsworthy argues that AI is a rupture that makes us confront what it is to be human – what we do, and want. As it learns human ways, AI raises big questions about work, leisure and education. It brings new existential, social and ethical risks. Above all, it invites us to consider what is irreplaceable in us, starting with the body and the friction of others.

The God We Made is a brilliant inquiry into identity and a transformed future. How can we learn to live with AI? And will AI be happy to live with us?

"The experts have spoken, but many of us remain curiously unprepared, burying our heads in the sand – Look at its hallucinations! It's never going to be as smart as us! – or imagining that the only issue is plagiarism. AI is not just another tool: it is a paradigm shift, a ceding of our superiority." —Anna Goldsworthy, The God We Made


Anna Goldsworthy is the author of several books, including the novel Melting Moments and the memoirs Piano Lessons and Welcome to Your New Life, as well as the 2013 Quarterly Essay Unfinished Business. Her writing has appeared in The Monthly, The Age, The Australian, The Adelaide Review and The Best Australian Essays. She is also a concert pianist and chamber musician, with several recordings to her name.

Sophie Gee is Professor of English at Princeton University. She's Director of Collaborative Inquiry at the University of Sydney, where she's engaged in building the public value of the humanities. She's the author of scholarly monographs and a historical novel and co-hosts the globally successful Secret Life of Books podcast. She writes for many publications including The New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Join author Anna Goldsworthy as she explores the concept of what it means for humanity in the age of AI in the latest Quarterly Essay, The God We Made.

AI may be our most persuasive God yet. At the same time, it forces a confrontation with what it means to be human: bodies, fragility, memory. It raises questions about human connection, leisure and learning, and brings new existential and ethical risks.

In this important and timely essay, Anna Goldsworthy explores the implications of AI for art, culture and the self.

Join historian Mark McKenna for a compelling exploration of his latest book, The Shortest History of Australia. In this powerful and deeply humane history, McKenna offers a new version of our national story: a modern Australia permeated by First Nations history; a multicultural society with an island mindset; a continent of epic beauty and extreme natural events; a country obsessed by war abroad but blind to its founding war at home; and a thriving nation-state still to realise its political independence.

McKenna’s wise and humane history reveals the surprising in the familiar, reframing the past so we can see the present more clearly.
Hosted by writer and journalist, Jack Latimore (Birpai-Thungutti).

Free event. Suitable for ages 15 and up.

Join us at Avid Reader Bookshop for Anna Goldsworthy in conversation with John Birmingham, to discuss Anna's new Quarterly Essay, The God We Made.

Quarterly Essay 102, Anna Goldsworthy explores the implications of AI for art, culture and the self – how it forces a confrontation with what it means to be human, raising questions about human connection, learning and how we live our lives; and bringing new existential and ethical risks. 

In The Ruin of Magic, award-winning writer Kate Holden meditates on her instinctive yearning for a long-ago Europe against the natural belonging she feels to the Australian landscape, and asks, What is a home? The strongest shelter or the most lethal trap? A museum of ourselves or a showcase of fashions? 

Kate Holden is the author of The Winter Road, winner of the 2021 Walkley Book Award and the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Nonfiction, as well as the two memoirs, In My Skin and The Romantic.

We are delighted to welcome her back to Maleny.

Kate Holden will be in conversation with Steven Lang.