8049d5f7-ad04-4399-810a-4064e7cfc4d5 Manly Spirits Distillery VENUE DETAILS Winbourne Industrial Estate, 4A/9-13 Winbourne Rd, Brookvale NSW 2100 Rooms Used: xxx < VIEW ALL VENUES NEXT VENUE > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

5de7968f-2cd8-4af9-b666-21c05c155879 Kate Grant ABOUT < VIEW ALL HOSTS Kate Grant Kate Grant has been a teacher for 24 years, working in England and Australia. She teaches English at the Mackellar Girls Campus of the Northern Beaches Secondary College, where she has taught for the past nine years. Before teaching, Kate was a copywriter in the advertising industry in London. < PREVIOUS HOST NEXT HOST > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

4868dac1-0d81-43f8-bf95-5147314b1316 Heidi Coupland ABOUT < VIEW ALL AUTHORS Heidi Coupland Heidi is an accomplished ethnographer and academic researcher who over the past 20 years has written about the experiences of others. She has a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, a Master of Public Health and a PhD. She has also been a board member for the National Centre for Childhood Grief. A Single Lifeline is her first book. PROGRAM SESSIONS WHAT: Fighting the Long Goodbye DATE: Friday 28th March TIME: 11.20am-12.20pm WITH: TICKETS < PREVIOUS AUTHOR NEXT AUTHOR > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

d8bcd9fe-2858-4995-92f6-79824d69ef07 Melinda Ham ABOUT < VIEW ALL AUTHORS Melinda Ham Melinda Ham is the author of The Lucky Ones Stories of Australian Refugee Journeys published in 2024. Melinda has been a journalist and writer for more than 30 years. Born in Canada, her career started in southern Africa where she was a correspondent for the Associated Press and London’s Daily Telegraph, The Economist and other international publications. She has also reported from India and Singapore for the Australian Financial Review. After immigrating to Australia, Melinda wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun Herald for 12 years. She now creates content for large organisations, universities and not-for-profits. Continuing her passion for refugee issues, Melinda has volunteered as a community speaker, tutor and mentor. She lives on the Northern Beaches, and loves bushwalking, running, sailing — and the occasional visit from her two grown-up children. PROGRAM SESSIONS WHAT: Reflections: Transitions to a New Land DATE: Friday 28th March TIME: 2.00pm-3.00pm WITH: Antony Loewenstein TICKETS < PREVIOUS AUTHOR NEXT AUTHOR > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

df32a284-c574-49ac-a5e8-fbe30b4c051e Sahira al Younany ABOUT < VIEW ALL AUTHORS Sahira al Younany Sahira al Younany is an Iraqi refugee studing Pharmacy at Newcastle University. She is one of the 'lucky ones' featured in Melinda Ham's book of the same name. PROGRAM SESSIONS WHAT: Reflections: Transitions to a New Land DATE: Friday 28th March TIME: 2.00pm-3.00pm WITH: Antony Loewenstein TICKETS < PREVIOUS AUTHOR NEXT AUTHOR > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

Gavin Fang, Tracey Kirkland, Julia Baird Fractured Foundations: Trust in an Uncertain World BUY TICKETS 2025 PROGRAM < VIEW ALL PROGRAMS Fractured Foundations: Trust in an Uncertain World DATE: Saturday 29th March LOCATION: Darley Smith Building COST: $22 Almost the entire world seems polarised. We’re overcome by misinformation, and we are told we can no longer rely on our institutions, which once gave us stability and certainty. So, how can we restore trust and confidence in our world? Gavin Fang and Tracey Kirkland’s Age of Doubt brings together top thinkers from various sectors who attempt to tackle doubt and chart a pathway towards trust. Host: Michael Brissenden BUY TICKETS < PREVIOUS NEXT > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

4eb8366b-0379-4efc-8b5b-dc00bb0cb033 Don Watson ABOUT < VIEW ALL AUTHORS Don Watson Don Watson is the author of three Quarterly Essays and many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys, The Bush, Watsonia, The Story of Australia, Death Sentence, Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words and The Passion of Private White. His most recent Quarterly Essay is High Noon: Trump, Harris and America on the Brink. PROGRAM SESSIONS WHAT: Conversation Circle: Navigating the Shifting Global Order DATE: Saturday 29th March TIME: 4.10pm-5.45pm WITH: Geraldine Doogue TICKETS < PREVIOUS AUTHOR NEXT AUTHOR > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

92c44c56-8028-47f9-8f28-94ce7fd5673c Sharon Verghis ABOUT < VIEW ALL AUTHORS Sharon Verghis Sharon Verghis is a journalist, lawyer, and research and content manager. Her work has appeared in The Weekend Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Good Weekend, The Guardian, SBS, BBC.com, TIME magazine and many others. Her story A Tale of Three Beaches was inspired by her experiences as a Manly local, and her lifelong love-hate relationship with the beach. Storytelling is her passion. PROGRAM SESSIONS WHAT: Made In India DATE: Saturday 29th March TIME: 1.30pm-2.30pm WITH: Summer Land TICKETS < PREVIOUS AUTHOR NEXT AUTHOR > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

3aecd5e1-2627-449f-bd2f-f245f78a37d0 Emily Maguire ABOUT < VIEW ALL AUTHORS Emily Maguire Emily Maguire is the author of seven novels, including An Isolated Incident, shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2017, and Love Objects, shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the Margaret & Colin Roderick Literary Award in 2022, as well as three non-fiction books. Her articles and essays on sex, feminism and culture have been published widely including in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Observer and The Age. Emily works as a teacher and as a mentor to young and emerging writers and was the 2023 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University. PROGRAM SESSIONS WHAT: Historical Fiction Beyond the Border DATE: Friday 28th March TIME: 3.20pm-4.20pm WITH: Victoria Haskins TICKETS < PREVIOUS AUTHOR NEXT AUTHOR > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

9794ffa5-4ab2-4e5e-97c1-6a3732bacf8e Ian Syson ABOUT < VIEW ALL AUTHORS Ian Syson Ian Syson is a retired academic with a PhD in Literature from the University of Queensland who taught English literature, communication and sportswriting at Victoria University for 25 years. His main research interest is in the history of Australia’s football codes, mainly soccer. He is interested in the often fraught relationships between the codes and the rhetoric of these tensions as manifested in the media. He has written about the origins of the codes and the relationship between them and the AIF during WW1 and is currently head of The Soccer Anzacs project. He was editor of Overland magazine for six years and, in 1999, set up Vulgar Press, a publishing house specialising in working-class literature and politics. His book, The Game That Never Happened, was published in 2018. PROGRAM SESSIONS < PREVIOUS AUTHOR NEXT AUTHOR > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

d9280409-da29-4cb2-90bc-415d72ed5d14 Angela Priestley ABOUT < VIEW ALL HOSTS Angela Priestley Angela Priestley is the co-founder of the independent daily news publication, Women's Agenda. She’s a board member of the Women's And Girls' Emergency Centre, supporting 200 women and children in emergency accommodation every night, and sits on the board of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, promoting media freedom. Angela is also a mother of three boys. < PREVIOUS HOST NEXT HOST > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.

d571f5be-bd07-423d-97e2-236a1858f115 Summer Land ABOUT < VIEW ALL HOSTS Summer Land Summer Land is an author, ghostwriter, copywriter, podcaster, keynote speaker and moderator. Summer has ghostwritten over ten books including The Last Victim (2024) with Tracy Hall which will be featured at the Manly Writers’ Festival. Originally from the United States, Summer lives mostly in Mudgee and occasionally on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. < PREVIOUS HOST NEXT HOST > ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Manly Writers' Festival acknowledges and thanks the original storytellers on the lands on which our events take place, the Gameraygal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing connection and culture, and we pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present, as well as emerging leaders.