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UNSW x Sydney Writers' Festival 2023

22 – 28 May 2023
7.00am – 11.00pm AEST
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Explore events featuring UNSW academics and researchers!
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Sydney Writers’ Festival will take place from 22–28 May 2023. With a massive program featuring 262 Australian speakers and 18 international speakers, experience a week of literary culture showcasing the best of public discourse as readers, writers and thinkers converge to share ideas, tell stories and celebrate books.  

UNSW Sydney is the exclusive university sponsor and proud Premier Partner of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Featuring UNSW academics and researchers on Sydney Writers’ Festival stages, and events at the UNSW Kensington Campus, this partnership brings together a shared vision of creativity, curiosity and thought leadership. 

Explore the Sydney Writers’ Festival events featuring UNSW academics and researchers below, and don’t forget to register for the UNSW Kensington Campus event, Jenny Odell: Resisting the Attention Economy. 

Explore UNSW special offers here.

Past Events

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23 May Past event
Connections, Community and Culture
Sydney Writers' Festival | In Conversation with the winners of the NSW Premier’s History Awards 2022.
Centre for Ideas
Humanities and Social Sciences
Media
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24 May Past event
Jenny Odell: Resisting the Attention Economy
Sydney Writers' Festival | In a world where our value is often determined by our productivity and busyness, doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance.
Campus events
Centre for Ideas
Humanities and Social Sciences
Media
Politics and Society
Technology
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25 May Past event
Toby Walsh on the Artificial in Artificial Intelligence
Sydney Writers' Festival | World-leading AI expert and Machines Behaving Badly author Toby Walsh delivers a Curiosity Lecture on the ethical considerations and unexpected consequences that new technologies pose in the world. 
Engineering
Innovation
Technology
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25 May Past event
Beginnings: Generations
Sydney Writers' Festival | Come and meet our festival guests as they unfold their beginnings in five-minute readings.
Art and Culture
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25 May Past event
Brigitta Olubas on the Life and Work of Shirley Hazzard
Sydney Writers' Festival | Author and English Professor Brigitta Olubas shares insight into Shirley Hazzard, her illuminating biography of one of Australia’s greatest ever novelists.
Art and Culture
Humanities and Social Sciences
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25 May Past event
Beginnings: Past, Present, Future
Sydney Writers' Festival | Come and meet our festival guests as they unfold their beginnings in five-minute readings.
Art and Culture
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25 May Past event
Future Shocks
Sydney Writers' Festival | In the wake of flood, fire, plague and ChatGPT, Joëlle Gergis, Norman Swan, and Toby Walsh consider what shocks lie ahead and how we can prepare. With host Julianne Schultz.
Engineering
Medicine and Health
Politics and Society
Technology
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26 May Past event
Beginnings: 21st Century Lives
Sydney Writers' Festival | Come and meet our festival guests as they unfold their beginnings in five-minute readings.
Art and Culture
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26 May Past event
Raina MacIntyre on Past, Present and Future Pandemics
Sydney Writers' Festival | World-leading epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre examines pandemics through the lens of history and how we can navigate the new frontiers of biosecurity.
Medicine and Health
Politics and Society
Science
Technology
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26 May Past event
Stan Grant: The Queen is Dead
Sydney Writers’ Festival | Award-winning journalist Stan Grant shares insights from his book, The Queen is Dead, building an impassioned argument for an end to monarchy in Australia. With host George Williams.
Law
Politics and Society
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26 May Past event
Sri Lankan Stories
Sydney Writers' Festival | Booker Prize-winning author Shehan Karunatilaka, acclaimed playwright S. Shakthidharan, and novelist Shankari Chandran discuss the ripple effects of the Sri Lankan Civil War in the cultural canon and their own storytelling with Roanna Gonsalves.
Art and Culture
Humanities and Social Sciences
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27 May Past event
Ok Boomer
Sydney Writers' Festival | Comedian Tom Ballard, writer Alison Pennington team up to examine why Millennials and Gen Z are getting such a raw deal and what can be done about it, alongside economist Richard Holden. With host Jessica Irvine.
Business and Economics
Politics and Society
Technology
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28 May Past event
Beginnings: True Stories
Sydney Writers' Festival | Come and meet our festival guests as they unfold their beginnings in five-minute readings.
Centre for Ideas
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28 May Past event
Ben Newell on the Truth About Our Unconscious Minds
Sydney Writers' Festival | Professor of Psychology and author Ben Newell shares insights from his book Open Minded: Searching for Truth about the Unconscious Mind, upending commonly held notions about the human mind.
Medicine and Health
Science
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28 May Past event
Who's Afraid of AI?
Sydney Writers' Festival | AI expert Toby Walsh and journalist Tracey Spicer tackle the big questions about living with AI with Erik Jensen.
Engineering
Innovation
Science
Technology