Emma Batchelor: What I’m reading after the Canberra Writers Festival

Posted on 20 September, 2023

This year’s Canberra Writers Festival marked a change in direction, with incoming artistic director Beejay Silcox shaping a broader, more inclusive program of events.

I was fortunate to attend a number of sessions across the full five-day lineup and have come away with a big bunch of reading recommendations to share.

The first festival event I attended this year was ‘Power and Possibility’ at the National Museum of Australia. Journalist and author Angela Saini spoke with Louise Milligan about her new book The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule. Saini demonstrated the fragility of patriarchy over time, suggesting possible mechanisms through which we might be able to dismantle gender inequality. Much like Saini’s other bestsellers Inferior and Superior: The Return of Race Science, The Patriarchs is bingeable, powerful and informative.

The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule by Angela Saini | Published March 2023 | Fourth Estate

This year, the Canberra Writers Festival offered a series of masterclasses alongside typical panel events. I signed up to attend a session on ‘Graphic Life’ with author and illustrator Eloise Grills whose debut, Big Beautiful Female Theory, was recently shortlisted for the Stella Prize. Eloise led our group in a delightful morning of drawing exercises, sharing her approach to graphic memoir. Big Beautiful Female Theory is poignant, sharply observed and full of stunning illustrations.

Big Beautiful Female Theory by Eloise Grills | Published June 2022 |  Affirm

During the festival, I attended a panel on ‘Body Politics’ featuring Eloise Grills and Kris Kneen in conversation with participating chair (and Canberra region icon) Kaya Wilson. Kris’s new book Fat Girl Dancing has been receiving lots of press and critical acclaim and it was a pleasure to hear them speak about this memoir on bodies, fatness, beauty and self respect. Fat Girl Dancing is a remarkable addition to Kris’s body of literary work.

Fat Girl Dancing by Kris Kneen |Published May 2023 | Text

Rounding out must-read books from the festival’s ‘Body Politics’ panel is Kaya’s memoir As Beautiful As Any Other which was recently shortlisted for ACT Book of the Year. Covering transness, queerness, bodies and families, this is an intimate, lyrical piece of writing. I recommend listening to the audiobook which is read by Kaya himself.

As Beautiful As Any Other by Kaya Wilson | Published April 2021 | Pan Macmillan

My favourite event that I attended at the festival was a panel celebrating the landmark series of First Nations Classics published by The University of Queensland Press. Authors Evelyn Araluen, Ellen Van Neerven And Debra Dank spoke with participating chair and series editor Yasmin Smith about the first six titles released, the state of Australian literature and the works by First Nations authors that have influenced them. On my way out, I picked up a copy of Ellen Van Neerven’s groundbreaking debut, Heat and Light which I am looking forward to reading.

Heat and Light: First Nations Classics by Ellen Van Neerven | Published May 2023 | UQP

I sadly missed the panel between Evelyn Araluen and Debra Dank discussing Debra’s hugely successful book We Come With This Place. The lovely Katy Mutton, CEO of MARION, did manage to catch the session and told me it was wonderful. I have now added Debra’s tribute to family and Gudanji Country to my reading list.

We Come With This Place by Debra Dank | Published July 2022 | Bonnier Echo

Canberra author Zoya Patel’s debut book of fiction came out earlier in the year, following on from her hugely successful memoir No Country Woman. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Zoya speak about this new work, a story of culture, home and family. Set between Australia and India, the story is full of familiar Canberra settings.

Once a Stranger by Zoya Patel |Published March 2023 | Hachette

Both Zoya and author of Roseghetto, Kristy Jagger, spoke about their books on a panel titled ‘Homecoming’. While each book shares themes of place, home and family, the way they untangle these threads is quite different. Roseghetto tells the stories of a Western Sydney housing estate where cycles of poverty and violence are commonplace. Kristy, a journalist by trade, was the winner of the inaugural Heyman Mentorship Award, established by author Kathryn Heyman for a writer from a background of social or economic disadvantage.

Roseghetto by Kirsty Jagger | Published July 2023 | UQP