Program

Some evenings stay with you. This will be one of them.

The Night Shift is Manly Writers' Festival's late-night event — two hours exploring the one question that defines our moment: what can humans do that AI can't? And what might AI do that surprises even us?
The evening unfolds in four parts.

First, tech writer Cory Alpert cuts through the noise with a sharp, accessible explainer on what AI is actually doing to human creativity — and what it isn't.

Then, internationally bestselling author Heather Morris — whose novels have moved millions of readers worldwide — joins host Nick Place for an intimate conversation on writing empathy: what stories can do that facts never will.

Next, writers Candida Baker, Amy Coomer, Cocoa the Conscious, Amy Hutton and Daniel Nour go head to head with AI in The Human Sentence — a live experiment in voice, tone and what makes writing unmistakably human.

And to close, musicians Con Campbell (saxophone), Max Holzner (violin), and Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier take the stage for The Human Sound — a live performance that asks the same question through music.

Your ticket includes a complimentary themed cocktail from Wildfire — The Afterword — on arrival.

This is not a panel. It is not a lecture. It is a late night out with some of Australia's most interesting creative minds, asking the most urgent question of our time.