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Curate Your Festival | Lives and Times

We know that the Festival has a lot of events to choose from so we’ve curated a selection of events to help you decide what to see based on your interests.

We also have multipack discounting available for when you book 4 events, 5 events or 6 or more events. Book all or some of the events in this selection to receive your discount.

In the spirit of the 2025 Festival theme In This Together, this selection of events covers the big, human themes of life, death, love, loss, home and faith as continuous concerns throughout history and today.

Michael Visontay: Noble Fragments | Wednesday 21 May, 4pm

The Gutenburg Bible is well-known as the first substantial book to be produced on a printing press in Europe and it’s well-known in certain circles for a scandalous sale of individual pages by a 1921 bookseller. Journalist Michael Visontay didn’t know that his family’s history was also tangled up in the story of this monumental book, a tangle that would take some careful work to unwind.

A Matter of Life and Death | Thursday 22 May, 11am

Writers Michelle Lesh and Ailsa Piper experienced great grief after the loss of their husbands but both of them have found the light in the darkness that helped them navigate life after loss. Michelle and Ailsa share their stories of discovery, community and love with Michaela Kalowski.

Home and Homesick | Thursday 22 May, 1pm

The idea of home can be simple or complicated, a symbol or a very real place. Writers Hannah Kent, Abbas El-Zein and Peter Godwin discuss their new non-fiction works and how home changes across countries, through conflict and in the face of exile.

Family Secrets | Thursday 22 May, 4pm

These memoirists are airing their family’s secrets to dismantle cultural taboos, explore complicated relationships and a historical rare-book mystery with unexpected Sydney connections. Join Candice Chung, Peter Godwin and Michael Visontay as they share their secrets with Georgina Godwin.

Ittay Flescher: The Holy and the Broken | Thursday 22 May, 8pm

In the wake of the 7 October attacks in Israel, educator and journalist Ittay Flescher searches for a path to peace in history and the narratives we tell ourselves. He brings his experience facilitating dialogue between religious groups to imagine a future where we can all empathise with the pain of others.

The Power of Choice | Friday 23 May, 4pm

After a long campaign, voluntary assisted dying was made legal in all Australian states. Andrew Denton was an advocate in the campaign and he joins photographer Julian Kingma in this session featuring portraits of those who chose assisted dying from his collection The Power of Choice.

A.C. Grayling on Cancel Culture | Saturday 24 May, 12pm

It feels like everyone is decrying ‘cancel culture’ these days but philosopher A.C. Grayling traces these displays of disagreement and public shame back to the Ancient Greeks in his new book Discriminations. Try to find a middle ground in our era of division.

Philippe Sands: 38 Londres Street | Saturday 24 May, 1pm

The 20th century was punctuated with rising and falling dictatorship regimes. In his newest book, international human rights lawyer Philippe Sands draws a connection between two of the most brutal, Pinochet’s Chile and Hitler’s Germany, located in the infamous address at 38 Londres Street.

Come together at the 2025 Festival to reflect, connect and imagine through stories and a love of language.

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