How do stories change when they cross oceans, borders, and generations? Join celebrated authors Maame Blue, Christopher Raja, Christine Balint, and Moreno Giovannoni for a wide-ranging conversation on the literature of movement. Chaired by fellow author David Francis, this panel will explore how displacement, heritage, and travel shape the creative imagination. From deeply personal family histories to vivid fictional journeys, these diverse voices discuss how geography defines identity in a globalized world.

The history of childhood in Australia is discussed by Historian Emily Gallagher and author Vanessa Berry.

Historian Emily Gallagher meets with Vanessa Berry to discuss Gallagher’s work Playtime, a historical look at Australia between 1890 and the Second World War and how children interpreted and reflected the world around them.

This book has been shortlisted in the ACT Literary Awards and received a Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for Non-Fiction and received the highly commended award for the 2026 Australian History Prize.

From amateur journalism to dolls, monsters and fairies, this history examines Australia through the eyes of children. Items by both authors and other titles related to this subject can be found here.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

DR EMILY GALLAGHER is a historian at the Australian National University. She began her career as a teacher in Sydney before deciding to pursue her passion for history and writing in Canberra. Her first book Playtime: A History of Australian Childhood (La Trobe, 2025) was shortlisted in the ACT Literary Awards and received a Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for Non-Fiction. Emily is also a research editor for the Australian Dictionary of Biography and a research fellow on an ARC-funded project writing the first history of grandparenting in Australia.

VANESSA BERRY is an award-winning writer and artist who works with autobiography, history, memory and archives. Her work centres around autobiography and its formal and experimental possibilities, arising from her background in zine making and DIY literary practices. She is the author of Calendar, Gentle and Fierce, and authors the blog Mirror Sydney.

Award-winning author Moreno Giovannoni appears in conversation with Antoni Jach, to discuss The Immigrants, his acclaimed novel exploring migration, identity, and the search for belonging in regional Australia. Winner of both The Age Book of the Year Award and the NSW Literary Award for Fiction, Giovannoni reflects on storytelling, community, and the experiences that shaped this powerful and deeply human work.

In this wonderfully clarifying essay, Waleed Aly examines what happened to liberalism. As a set of ideas, it offered formal equality and guaranteed freedoms. But more and more, we live in a post-liberal world.

Aly looks and how and why this has happened. He discusses what has taken liberalism's place as we tackle thorny questions of freedom of speech and equality of opportunity. And he examines the limits of liberalism, the rise of illiberal democracy and the new battles over identity.

This is a supple and original essay about the forces transforming our politics.

Waleed Aly is a writer, academic, lawyer and broadcaster. He is a lecturer in politics at Monash University and a co-host of Network Ten’s The Project. He is the author of People Like Us and Quarterly Essay 37: What’s Right? With Scott Stephens, he co-hosts Radio National’s The Minefield program.

Join us with Jenny Bloomfield to discuss Australian Ambassador's themes of public service, women in diplomacy, multicultural Australia, and Australia's engagement with the world.

The true story of a trailblazing Australian diplomat who redefined what's possible – and what it means to belong.

In the forthcoming book Australian Ambassador​, Jenny Bloomfield traces her journey from childhood migration to a history-making diplomatic career. Australian Ambassador opens a rare window into the diplomatic world and the challenges of navigating bilateral relationships in times of intense political and economic upheaval. Told with warmth, honesty, and humour, Australian Ambassador is a celebration of dual heritage, public service, and the possibilities of a modern, outward-looking Australia.

In this wonderfully clarifying essay, Waleed Aly examines what happened to liberalism. As a set of ideas, it offered formal equality and guaranteed freedoms. But more and more, we live in a post-liberal world.

Aly looks and how and why this has happened. He discusses what has taken liberalism's place as we tackle thorny questions of freedom of speech and equality of opportunity. And he examines the limits of liberalism, the rise of illiberal democracy and the new battles over identity.

This is a supple and original essay about the forces transforming our politics.


Waleed Aly is a writer, academic, lawyer and broadcaster. He is a lecturer in politics at Monash University and a co-host of Network Ten’s The Project. He is the author of People Like Us and Quarterly Essay 37, What’s Right? With Scott Stephens, he co-hosts Radio National’s The Minefield program.

Join us for the launch of Realms of Gold. by A.J. Mackinnon, hosted by Matilda Bookshop.

Realms of Gold is the charming sequel to the bestselling The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow. When A.J. 'Sandy' Mackinnon sailed a tiny dinghy through twelve countries from North Wales to the Black Sea, he survived pirates, the English Channel, international incidents and all the disasters, big and small, that can befall a little boat on a long voyage. Those adventures became his beloved bestseller The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow.

Decades later, that trip is a happy memory and Sandy is firmly back on land – until a message from a stranger presents an opportunity too good to refuse. Sandy picks up where his first voyage left off, sailing and rowing single-handedly around the coast from Romania to Venice. From Istanbul to Ithaca, Mount Olympus to the ruins of Troy, he finds himself immersed in the legends of antiquity, plays chicken with mercurial border police, and is saved more than once by the kindness of strangers. He recounts it all with his unbreakable enthusiasm and self-deprecating humour, taking the reader on a hilarious and unforgettable adventure.

Readings Hawthorn are delighted to host the launch of Waves of Plenty by Mark Cully. 

Mark will be in conversastion with George Megalogenis.

Many Australians can trace family journeys to new lives in Australia. In this landmark work, Mark Cully tells the full story of immigration to Australia. Rigorously researched, Waves of Plenty dismantles persistent myths, gives human faces to statistics, and maps the forces that transformed a distant colony into one of the world's most diverse societies. He traces how immigration has changed Australia, making it bigger, younger, diverse, less provincial and more powerful.

This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where Australia came from, the fraught politics of immigration, and lessons for the future.

Mark Cully was chief economist for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Department of Industry, as well as chair of the OECD's Working Party on Migration. As head of macroeconomic policy in the Treasury, he led the design of the JobKeeper program during the pandemic. He is an expert panel member of the Fair Work Commission and a visiting fellow at ANU's Crawford School of Public Policy.

George Megalogenis is an author and journalist with more than three decades’ experience in the media. His book The Australian Moment won the 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Non-fiction and the 2012 Walkley Award for Non-fiction, and later formed the basis of the ABC documentary series Making Australia Great.

A.J. Mackinnon in conversation with Peter Ironmonger

Six seas, eight countries, 3000 kilometres, all in a tiny dinghy ... What could go wrong?

When A.J. ‘Sandy’ Mackinnon sailed a tiny dinghy through twelve countries from North Wales to the Black Sea, he survived pirates, the English Channel, international incidents and all the disasters, big and small, that can befall a little boat on a long voyage. Those adventures became his beloved bestseller The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow.

Decades later, that trip is a happy memory and Sandy is firmly back on land – until a message from a stranger presents an opportunity too good to refuse. Sandy picks up where his first voyage left off, sailing and rowing single handedly around the coast from Romania to Venice. From Istanbul to Ithaca, Mount Olympus to the ruins of Troy, he finds himself immersed in the legends of antiquity, plays chicken with mercurial border police, and is saved more than once by the kindness of strangers. He recounts it all with his unbreakable enthusiasm and self-deprecating humour, taking the reader on a hilarious and unforgettable adventure.


A.J. Mackinnon was born in Australia in 1963 and travelled as a boy on P&O liners between Australia and England, developing a love of slow travel. He has taught in schools around the world, sharing his passion for English literature, mathematics, drama, art and philosophy with countless students. He now lives in the Victorian High Country of Australia. He is the author of the international bestseller The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow, as well as The Well at the World’s End and Quaint Deeds. His forthcoming book is Realms of Gold.

A linguist and lifelong sailing enthusiast, Peter Ironmonger has been involved in sailing since learning with his father at Beaumaris Yacht Club on Port Phillip Bay in the early 1970s. He is currently building an 18-foot plywood trailer sailer, a Norwalk Islands Sharpie designed by Bruce Kirby, in his workshop. He spent 30 years with the Australian Trade Commission, including a posting as Trade Commissioner to Shanghai in the 2000s.

Tom Griffiths will be in conversation with Mark McKenna on his new book Alice's dreaming. An astonishing work of history about a girl and the Indigenous world she encountered.

Early last century, Alice Duncan-Kemp grew up on a remote Queensland cattle station. Later she would write down her childhood memories of learning from Aboriginal women and men at home on their own Country. In her books, she evoked a rich parallel universe of storytelling and lore, which she felt privileged to witness. She also spoke of an informal local treaty that curbed the violence of the frontier.

What are we to make of 'Alice's dreaming' today? Master historian and writer Tom Griffiths takes us into – and beyond – this revelatory encounter. Through it we glimpse the turmoil of a complex and tragic frontier, and a remarkable story of survival and cultural resilience. In recent years, the Mithaka people Alice lived among and wrote about have reclaimed their Country, drawing in part on her writing to support their claims.

Alice's dreaming is at once biography, literary thriller and stunning evocation of Country and place.' —Mark McKenna

Tom Griffiths reveals how 60,000 years of First Nations history is intricately woven into the fabric of contemporary Australian values. Alice's dreaming is a work of the greatest importance to our understanding of who we are. It is also great literature, an epic story told with imaginative distinction.' —Alex Miller

Tom Griffiths AO is Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University. His writing has won prizes in literature, history, science, politics and journalism, including the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History and the Douglas Stewart and Nettie Palmer prizes for non-fiction. His books include The Art of Time Travel, Hunters and Collectors, Forests of Ash and Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica.

Mark McKenna is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of several prize-winning books, including Looking for Blackfellas’ Point: An Australian History of Place and the multi-award winner An Eye for Eternity, The Life of Manning Clark, winner of the 2012 Prime Minister’s Prize for Non Fiction. His most recent book, From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories, won the NSW Premier’s Australian History Prize.

The vote of thanks will be given by Associate Professor Ruth Morgan, Director, Centre for Environmental History. Australian National University

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

Join acclaimed author and CHL alumnus John Zubrzycki as he brings the history, stories and spirit of one of the world’s great cities to life.

From emperors and sultans to Mughal splendour, colonial rule and the sprawling metropolis of today, Delhi is a city where layers of history are everywhere you look. Join acclaimed author and ANU School of Culture, History & Language (CHL) Hindi alumnus John Zubrzycki for the launch of his latest book, The Shortest History of Delhi, and a fascinating conversation about one of the world's most compelling cities.

John will be joined by Dr Stephanie Majcher and Dr Shameem Black from CHL to explore Delhi's extraordinary history, its cultures and contradictions, and the stories that have shaped the city across centuries. CHL School Director Professor Matt Tomlinson will officially open the event, which will also feature an opportunity for audience questions and conversation.

Whether Delhi is a city you know and love, somewhere you have travelled, or a place you have always wanted to understand better, join us for an afternoon of history, stories and conversation.

 As political debate over the idea of a 'monocultural Australia' escalates, questions of immigration and multiculturalism have once again become defining issues in public life. But beyond the headlines and political rhetoric lies a deeper question: who defines Australian culture?

Former chief economist of the Department of Immigration Mark Cully, author of Waves of Plenty, constitutional lawyer and a leading advocate for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Megan Davis and CEO of the Grattan Institute Aruna Sathanapally join host Tasneem Chopra for a timely conversation exploring multiculturalism in Australia and how debates about national identity intersect with democracy, inequality and First Nations justice. 

Ashley Hay will be in conversation with Tom Griffiths for his book Alice's dreaming. With opening remarks from Mithaka Elders, George Gorringe and Rainy McKellar.

ABOUT THE BOOK

An astonishing work of history about a girl and the Indigenous world she encountered

Early last century, Alice Duncan-Kemp grew up on a remote Queensland cattle station. Later she would write down her childhood memories of learning from Aboriginal women and men at home on their own Country. In her books, she evoked a rich parallel universe of storytelling and lore, which she felt privileged to witness. She also spoke of an informal local treaty that curbed the violence of the frontier.

What are we to make of 'Alice's dreaming' today? Master historian and writer Tom Griffiths takes us into – and beyond – this revelatory encounter. Through it we glimpse the turmoil of a complex and tragic frontier, and a remarkable story of survival and cultural resilience. In recent years, the Mithaka people Alice lived among and wrote about have reclaimed their Country, drawing in part on her writing to support their claims.

Alice's dreaming shows how moving, intimate – and unexpected – history can be.

Join us at Harry Hartog Mosman Bookshop at 6pm on the 24th of September to hear A.J. Mackinnon speak about his new novel Realms of Gold.

When A.J. 'Sandy' Mackinnon sailed a tiny dinghy through twelve countries from North Wales to the Black Sea, he survived pirates, the English Channel, international incidents and all the disasters, big and small, that can befall a little boat on a long voyage. Those adventures became his beloved bestseller The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow.

Decades later, that trip is a happy memory and Sandy is firmly back on land – until a message from a stranger presents an opportunity too good to refuse. Sandy picks up where his first voyage left off, sailing and rowing single-handedly around the coast from Romania to Venice. From Istanbul to Ithaca, Mount Olympus to the ruins of Troy, he finds himself immersed in the legends of antiquity, plays chicken with mercurial border police, and is saved more than once by the kindness of strangers. He recounts it all with his unbreakable enthusiasm and self-deprecating humour, taking the reader on a hilarious and unforgettable adventure.

Imprint Books are delighted to host the launch of Mark Cully's new book, Waves of Plenty  – with ABC Radio National's Peter Martin, at the Wheatsheaf Hotel.

The definitive story of how immigration made Australia

Many Australians can trace family journeys to new lives in Australia. In this landmark work, Mark Cully tells the full story of immigration to Australia, from pre-colonial origins through colonisation, the gold rush, the post-war immigration boom, the end of the White Australia policy, and the modern policy of temporary migration.

Rigorously researched, the book dismantles persistent myths, gives human faces to statistics, and maps the forces that transformed a distant colony into one of the world's most diverse societies. He traces how immigration has changed Australia, making it bigger, younger, diverse, less provincial and more powerful.

This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where Australia came from, the fraught politics of immigration, and lessons for the future.

Stretching from Fiji in the east to New Guinea in the west, Melanesia is astonishingly diverse. Its islands are home to some 1200 language groups, many of them still isolated from the outside world. In Australia, this complex region tends to make the news only in times of crisis: military coups in Fiji, Kanak unrest in New Caledonia, rioting in Solomon Islands. Melanesia offers a deeper insight into the people and places behind these headlines, combining travelogue, history and astute political analysis. 

By land and sea, Hamish McDonald travels from one end of Melanesia to the other. Speaking with locals from all walks of life, he uncovers the histories, values, aspirations and tensions that have shaped their communities. And he considers the big changes unfolding today, as shifting demographics produce a new balance of power across the region. 

Vividly written, Melanesia is essential reading for anyone looking to understand this fascinating part of the world and its growing international significance. 
 

Whether you’re passionate about travel, fascinated by politics, or simply love hearing fresh perspectives that challenge the way you see the world, this is an evening not to be missed. 
Light refreshments provided.  

Mark Cully will be in conversation with Alan Gamlen on Mark's new bookWaves of Plenty: Immigration and the Making of Australia, thedefinitive story of how immigration made Australia.

Many Australians can trace family journeys to new lives in Australia. In this landmark work, Mark Cully tells the full story of immigration to Australia, from pre-colonial origins through colonisation, the gold rushes, the post-war immigration boom, the end of the White Australia policy, and the modern era of unbound temporary migration.

Rigorously researched, the book dismantles persistent myths, gives human faces to statistics, and maps the forces that transformed a distant colony into one of the world's most diverse societies. Cully traces how immigration has changed Australia, making it bigger, younger, richly diverse, less provincial and more powerful.This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where Australia came from, the fraught politics of immigration, and lessons for the future.

‘Mark Cully’s detailed and lively account of the waves of migration that have shaped Australia provides new insights into our society, our economy and our place in the world. Written with a researcher’s head but a (migrant) writer’s heart, it goes beyond the numbers to highlight the richness of the migrant experience and contribution. —Danielle Wood, chair of the Productivity Commission

Mark Cully was chief economist for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Department of Industry, as well as chair of the OECD's Working Party on Migration. As head of macroeconomic policy in the Treasury, he led the design of the JobKeeper program during the pandemic. He is an expert panel member of the Fair Work Commission and a visiting fellow at ANU's Crawford School of Public Policy.

Professor Alan Gamlen is the Founding Director of the ANU Migration Hub and a Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at ANU. He has worked on issues of human migration, mobility, and identity for two decades and held related appointments at Oxford University Stanford University, the Max Planck Society, the Japan Centre for Area Studies, Monash University and Wellington University. From 2010-2020 he was Founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Migration.

The vote of thanks will be given by Elizabeth Collett, a Global Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and a member of Australia’s Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration

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

Hosted by Avid Reader, 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start | 60 mins

Anne Tiernan will be in conversation with Waleed Aly for his Quarterly Essay: Time of Monsters. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this wonderfully clarifying essay, Waleed Aly examines what happened to liberalism. As a set of ideas, it offered formal equality and guaranteed freedoms. But more and more, we live in a post-liberal world.

Aly looks and how and why this has happened. He discusses what has taken liberalism's place as we tackle thorny questions of freedom of speech and equality of opportunity. And he examines the limits of liberalism, the rise of illiberal democracy and the new battles over identity.

This is a supple and original essay about the forces transforming our politics.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Waleed Aly is a writer, academic, lawyer, broadcaster and lecturer in politics at Monash University. He is the author of People Like Us and Quarterly Essay 37, What’s Right? With Scott Stephens, he co-hosts Radio National’s The Minefield program.

Anne Tiernan will be in conversation with Waleed Aly for his Quarterly Essay: Time of Monsters. 

In this wonderfully clarifying essay, Waleed Aly examines what happened to liberalism. As a set of ideas, it offered formal equality and guaranteed freedoms. But more and more, we live in a post-liberal world.

Aly looks and how and why this has happened. He discusses what has taken liberalism's place as we tackle thorny questions of freedom of speech and equality of opportunity. And he examines the limits of liberalism, the rise of illiberal democracy and the new battles over identity.

This is a supple and original essay about the forces transforming our politics.

Waleed Aly is a writer, academic, lawyer, broadcaster and lecturer in politics at Monash University. He is the author of People Like Us and Quarterly Essay 37, What’s Right? With Scott Stephens, he co-hosts Radio National’s The Minefield program.

We are delighted to host the launch of Matt Lloyd-Cape's guide to solving Australia's housing crisis, Our Place.

Australia has faced a housing crisis before – and solved it. We can do it again. In Our Place, leading policy expert Matt Lloyd-Cape cuts through the noise, showing exactly how our housing system broke. Drawing on the latest research, he reveals that although social housing tenants, renters and first-home buyers are worst affected, the whole of society suffers in a housing crisis. From the rise of far-right politics to intergenerational inequality, the housing crisis is reshaping the nation.

Matt Lloyd-Cape joined the progressive think tank Per Capita in 2019, and in 2022 he was the founding director of the Centre for Equitable Housing, where he is now the principal fellow. He is a prominent commentator and adviser on housing issues.

The legendary Kate Grenville discusses her new mystery The Country Schoolmaster with Toni Jordan.

Entry includes a copy of the book and refreshments  

Join us at Albert Park Yacht Club to hear from author and raconteur extraordinaire A.J. 'Sandy' Mackinnon on his new book Realms of Gold.

When A.J. 'Sandy' Mackinnon sailed a Mirror dinghy through twelve countries from North Wales to the Black Sea, he survived pirates, the English Channel, international incidents and all the disasters, big and small, that can befall a little boat on a long voyage. Those adventures became his beloved bestseller "The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow".

Decades later, that trip was a happy memory and Sandy was firmly back on land – until a message from a stranger presented an opportunity too good to refuse. In "Realms of Gold" Sandy picks up where his first voyage left off, sailing and rowing single-handedly around the coast from Romania to Venice. From Istanbul to Ithaca, Mount Olympus to the ruins of Troy, he finds himself immersed in the legends of antiquity, plays chicken with mercurial border police, and is saved more than once by the kindness of strangers. He recounts it all with his unbreakable enthusiasm and self-deprecating humour, taking the reader on an hilarious and unforgettable adventure.

Doors open at 7pm, and Sandy's talk commences at 7:30pm.