Rock star historian Bettany Hughes to headline Brisbane Writers Festival
It sounds like a marketing line but it is true – Brisbane Writers Festival has something for everyone this year in its new location at Brisbane Powerhouse.
Browsing the Brisbane Writers Festival’s newly released program for 2025, one name jumps out. Bettany Hughes. Yes, that Bettany Hughes!
If you’re a fan of this English historian, author and broadcaster, specialising in classical history, you will be thrilled to hear that she is coming.
Hughes will be the festival’s keynote speaker and will deliver the Marion Taylor Address: Is it all just a little bit of history repeating?
If, like me, you enjoy watching Hughes on telly trudge through deserts and ruins while filling us in on what went on in antiquity, you will be beyond excited to know that she will be taking part.
Hughes will also take readers on a fabulous sightseeing tour of antiquity as she discusses her book, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
This year’s program is packed with literary A-listers across more than 100 live events
Brisbane Writers Festival has just unveiled an exciting new chapter in 2025 with a star-studded program of events from October 9 to 12 – and it will be held for the first time at Brisbane Powerhouse.
This year’s program is packed with literary A-listers across more than 100 live events including author talks, conversations, panel discussions and special events. Two hundred artists, half of them from Queensland, form part of the blockbuster line-up of national and international guests.
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Australian headline authors include Helen Garner, Trent Dalton, Sally Hepworth, Michael Robotham, Di Morrissey, Anita Heiss and Pub Choir’s Astrid Jorgensen.
International highlights include Bettany Hughes, Hollywood insider (and nephew of Joan Didion) Griffin Dunne, Irish economist David McWilliams, romantasy star Callie Hart, American cultural critic Sophie Gilbert and New York Times bestseller Eric Puchner.
BWF artistic director Jackie Ryan says the 2025 program is designed to surprise, delight and encourage discovery.
“One of the many books we’re featuring at the festival this year is on conspiracies,” says Ryan. “Perhaps those authors can explain just how ‘Dark BWF’ managed to secure so many brilliant writers, such extraordinary panel combinations and a certifiably incredible venue in the form of Brisbane Powerhouse.
“Is it 5G or artistic destiny? Whatever the answer, BWF 2025 is shaping up like an unusually healthy candy store – bursting with irresistible artistic treats you won’t want to stop sampling, and all surprisingly good for you. Be an intrepid investigator and indulge widely. The truth about BWF awaits.”
This year BWF is joined by guest curators Sharlene Allsop (Aboriginal) and Jillian Bowie (Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait Islander).
Hollywood will come to Brisbane when Griffin Dunne and Ione Skye discuss their star-studded upbringings and iconic film roles.
This year BWF celebrates several literary milestones: Charlotte Wood will celebrate the 10th anniversary of her Stella Prize-winning novel The Natural Way of Things; Anne Summers will discuss the legacy of 50 years of Damned Whores and God’s Police; while acclaimed Australian authors Helen Garner, Di Morrissey, Fiona McIntosh and Anita Heiss will all reflect on their incredible careers.
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Romantasy fans will delight in meeting bestselling American author Callie Hart, plus there’ll be conversations with Australian romantasy writers Stacy McEwan, Jaymin Eve, Sarah A. Parker and Vanessa Len.
Australia’s traditional storytellers share culture and spark connections with panels and conversations featuring Indigenous authors including Anita Heiss, Nardi Simpson and Debra Dank.
Love true stories of resilience, reinvention and finding purpose? Formula One engineer turned Lune Croissanterie founder Kate Reid, MasterChef host Melissa Leong, kickboxer John Wayne Parr, Pub Choir’s Astrid Jorgensen, Ottolenghi offsider Helen Goh and all-round legend Turia Pitt share their personal journeys.
Non-fiction readers have no shortage of options: economist and podcaster David McWilliams will be discussing money, Steve Vizard studies the Anzac myth, Michelle Bridges talks perimenopause, Maggie Jackson explores the benefits of uncertainty, and The Atlantic critic Sophie Gilbert looks at pop culture and feminism in the ’90s and noughties.
Politics and the environment will be put under the microscope in sessions such as Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era; Bob Brown: Defiance; Human/Nature; and Tinkering with the Doomsday Clock.
We’re also talking music, food history, football, architecture, vaccines, agriculture and more.
If you can’t get enough of crime BWF has you covered too with bestselling authors such as Michael Robotham, Mark Brandi and Jane Caro as well as exciting new writers such as Angie Fay Martin, January Gilchrist and Sam Guthrie.
We’ve got plenty of Queensland favourites, too. Get in quick for locals including Steve Minon, Laura Elvery, Kimberley Allsopp, Melanie Saward, Martine Kropkowski, Cheryl Leavy, Joanna Jenkins, Lauren Ford and Allison Rushby.
BWF tips for book clubs? Clare Stephens, Naima Brown, Kimberley Allsopp and Suzanne Do will dissect life’s messy patches; Jana Wendt shares her first work of fiction; and Holly Wainwright, Sally Hepworth, Meg Bignell, Heather Rose and Debra Oswald will discuss their latest books.
BWF is also running a competition for one lucky Brisbane book club to win a day at the festival.
BWF’s program for schools and families returns October 9-10 with sessions for prep to year 12, including Andy Griffiths, Lynette Noni, Craig Silvey, Garth Nix, Steph Tisdell and Sophie Beer.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit bwf.org.au