How to keep calm when it seems like the world is going to hell in a hand basket? A retreat to words and stories is the Sydney Writers' Festival's suggested antidote to international and domestic confusion and upheaval, be it Donald Trump's White House, Brexit, climate change or resurgent nationalism.
Refuge is the theme of this year's festival, running from May 22 to 28, a double entendre alluding to the emotional shelter books offer from chaos, and intellectual suspicion and the various threads of political and social inquiry running through contemporary fiction, poetry and historical study.
"I wanted something that would allow our writers to speak about something that was quite serious, that impacted many people and also to have a side that could be celebratory and fun," says new artistic director Michaela McGuire, whose appointment was announced the day after Trump's election.
"The flipside of all the examination of the forces that people are seeking refuge from is the idea of returning to literature as solace. That gives us an opportunity to have some lighter, more playful moments."
The festival will host 482 writers and facilitators across 400 events at Walsh Bay Pier 2/3 and 4/5, the city, and suburban and regional locations.
Large events will be streamed to 30 venues around the country from Alice Springs to Broken Hill, and a dedicated series of talks have been programmed in Auburn, Bankstown, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Granville, Hurstville, Parramatta and Penrith.
International names include the American short story writer George Saunders, feminist Susan Faludi, the Man Booker Prize winners Paul Beatty and Anne Enright, Libyan essayist Hisham Matar, All the Kremlin's Men author Mikhail Zygar, Charlie and Lola creator Lauren Child, and crime writer Ian Rankin.
McGuire has included some smart minds not so well known to Australian audiences, writers who have already begun to "circle the wagons" - Chris Kraus, author of the seminal work of feminism I Love Dick, adapted for television by Transparent creator Jill Soloway, and Elaine Welteroth, the youngest editor of Teen Vogue, who is shaking up teen stereotypes with hard-hitting editorials in a magazine known for light-weight articles on dating and lipstick colour.
Saroo and Sue Brierley, whose personal story of adoption inspired the film Lion, will be at the festival as will Liane Moriarty, writer of domestic tales of marriage, sex and parenthood, and there will be a Q&A with Jimmy Barnes.
Saunders, Enright and the activist-writer Brit Bennett will open the six-day program, the first time the podium has been shared in the festival's 20-year history.
Saunders will also be a keynote speaker alongside New York Times' bestseller Colson Whitehead at a Sydney Town Hall exposition on American Carnage and what lies head for America.
A festival centrepiece is a panel of "nasty women" - Kraus, Bennett, New York writer Durga Chew-Bose, rising Italian literary star Viola Di Grado, American writer Nadja Spiegelman and writer/activist Anita Heiss - who discuss the merits of confrontation.
Could the silver lining of current global politics be a political art renaissance? Anne Enright, Stephen Metcalf and Sebastian Smee lead a session titled Do Bad Times Make for Great Art?, while essayist Robert Dessaix plays humbug in a discussion on Kissing, Hugging and Saying I Love You. Enough of the emoting, he says.
The award-winning podcast Slate Culture Gabfest, of which McGuire is a personal fan, will record its first ever show outside North America. "The hosts are like your smartest, funniest friends, friends who happen to know the best in books, film and the arts from around the world before you do."
For the generation whose common cultural reference points are the wizarding world of Hogwarts, video games and binge-watching television, Benjamin Law will host a discussion of the best so-bad-it's-good television shows in Netflix and Chill.
Social researcher Rebecca Huntley will explore the migrant experience of Australian settlement. "There is not much of a narrative around what happens to a refugee after they've made the journey to Australia," McGuire says. Children's and teenagers' programs continue to grow, with a day dedicated to youth adult writing at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre.
Full festival program is at swf.org.au and will appear as an insert in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald
