WAM Through the Years

Write Around the Murray 2025 Wrap Video

Write Around the Murray, Albury's writers' festival, returned for its 19th iteration in 2025 from 10 to 14 September. Award-winning and best-selling Australian authors such as Jane Caro, Antoinette Lattouf, Melanie Cheng, Matt Cosgrove, Thomas Mayo

Book of the Festival Featuring Kate Grenville, Write Around the Murray 2024

This is a recording of an in conversation between award-winning, best-selling author Kate Grenville and book editor from The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Jason Steger. The talk is named Big Book Club -- Book of the Festival and was the closing

Whose Story Is It? Write Around the Murray 2024

This video shows a panel talk about cultural appropriation featuring authors Julie Janson, Siang Lu and Shirley Le. Moderated by Festival Director and author Aimee Chan, the writers talk about the tricky business of who can tell whose story in

Retelling the Past, Write Around the Murray 2024

This is a video of a panel talk about historical fiction which occurred at Write Around the Murray on Sunday 15 September 2024 at the Albury LibraryMuseum. It features authors Julie Janson, Katrina Kell and Emily Gale discussing their latest books.

The Story of the Shearer, Write Around the Murray 2024

This is a recording of a panel talk with award-winning, best-selling author Kate Grenville, sculptor and visual artist Andrew Whitehead and curator Sophie Gerhard from the National Gallery of Victoria. Moderated by journalist Annie Brown from ABC

WAM 2023 - My Calling: Racheal Oak Butler & We Come With This Place: Debra Dank & Michelle Evans

Begins with a performance of Racheal Oak Butler's moving monologue, My Calling, followed by Debra Dank delving into her multi-award-winning memoir, We Come With This Place, with host Michelle Evans.

WAM 2023 - Deep in the Story: Debra Dank and Kathryn Heyman

Debra Dank and Kathryn Heyman speak with author Gina Perry about their personal stories and how they approached writing them.

WAM 2023 - The First Time: Publishing: Kathryn Heyman, T.R. Napper and Irma Gold

Kate Mildenhall talks to authors Kathryn Heyman, T.R. Napper and Irma Gold about their first and subsequent publishing experiences.

WAM 2023 - The Hummingbird Effect: Kate Mildenhall

Kate Mildenhall chats with Paul Dalgarno about combining historical and speculative fiction and how her fears and hopes for the future informed her new novel.

WAM 2023 - Drawing Inspiration: Sher Rill Ng, Jordan Gould and Richard Pritchard

Sher Rill Ng, Jordan Gould and Richard Pritchard talk to YA author Karen Ginnane about illustration, collaboration and superpowers.

WAM 2023 - Killing it! with Shelley Burr and Margaret Hickey

Jason Steger talks to local authors Shelley Burr and Margaret Hickey about their latest crime fiction novels.

WAM 2023 - Book of the Festival: The Bookbinder of Jericho: Pip Williams

Pip Williams, in conversation with The Age Literary Editor and perennial WAM favourite, Jason Steger.

WAM 2023 - Prudish Nation: Paul Dalgrano

Liz Duck-Chong talks to Paul Dalgarno about his newly released non-fiction work, Prudish Nation.

WAM 2023 - Mum's the Word: Gina Perry, Paul Dalgarno, Rijn Collins

Paul Dalgarno, Rijn Collins, and Gina Perry talk to Irma Gold about the themes in their novels and the personal and familial secrets and taboos that propel their stories. * Please note that this session included a Yarnbomb from Ruth Davys which is

WAM 2023 - Artificial Realities: Grace Chan and T.R. Napper

Grace Chan and T.R. Napper discuss science fiction, AI, virtual reality and what it means to be human, with Kate Mildenhall.

Nothing to hide - Yves Rees, Sam Elkin, Liz Duck-Chong, Jack Nicholls, and Anastasia Le

WAM 2022 - Scary monsters: Michelle de Kretser

Jason Steger talks to Michelle de Kretser about her surprising double-sided novel, Scary Monsters.

WAM 2022 - Shades of Noir: Margaret Hickey and T.R. Napper

Jock Serong talks to Margaret Hickey and T.R. Napper about the ways and whys of their novels being described as noir fiction.

WAM 2022 - Notes from a transition: Yves Rees

Matthew Ruby talks to Yves Rees about their journey of transition and re-becoming, beyond the gender binary.

WAM 2022 - Haunting stories: Nardi Simpson, Eliza Henry-Jones and Jock Serong

Jason Steger talks to Nardi Simpson, Eliza Henry-Jones and Jock Serong about historical trauma and the spirit of place in their novels.

WAM 2022 - Truth and Storytelling: Patti Miller, Lee Kofman, and Eliza Henry-Jones

Patti Miller and Lee Kofman talk to Eliza Henry-Jones about creativity, memory and truth in storytelling.

WAM 2022 - Storytelling essentials: Michelle de Kretser, Keir Wilkins and Amal Awad

Michelle de Kretser, Keir Wilkins and Amal Awad get at the heart of what’s essential to storytelling, with Margaret Hickey.

WAM 2022 - Creating Culture: Gabrielle Wang, Gary Lonesborough and Eliza Hull

Gabrielle Wang, Gary Lonesborough and Eliza Hull discuss the importance of diversity and representation in writing for children and young people, with Yves Rees.

WAM 2022 - A World of Possibilities: Jeff Sparrow

Yves Rees talks to Jeff Sparrow about climate change, capitalism, and the power of people just like you and me to change the tide of history.

Dymocks presents Pip Williams **

Margaret Hickey talks to Pip Williams about her much loved debut novel. Dymocks presents Pip Williams was part of the Write Around the Murray program for 2021

WAM 2021: Complicated Love

Complicated Love with Sofie Laguna, Emily Maguire, Campbell Mattinson and Jason Steger

WAM 2021: Creating Captivating Children's Books

Creating Captivating Children's Books with Ursula Dubosarsky, Sofie Laguna, Leigh Hobbs and Lisa Walker

WAM 2021: Humour & Heart

WAM 2021: Humour & Heart with Fiona Scott-Norman, Judy Horacek, Rick Morton and Lisa Walker

WAM 2021: Historical Frictions

Historical Frictions with Anita Heiss, Dorothy Simmons, Jock Serong and Jason Steger.

WAM 2021: Seismic Shifts

WAM 2021: Seismic Shifts with Delia Falconer, Rick Morton and Ailsa Piper

Women Doing Politics Differently

In celebration of International Women’s Day, La Trobe University and Write Around the Murray present a panel discussion on the historical and contemporary experience of women in politics. Featuring Judith Brett, Emeritus Professor of Politics at

Present Tense. Our Uneasy Inheritance

Both searing yet beautiful, the poetry and prose of Ellen van Neerven traces the continuing dispossession and violence that are our country’s uneasy inheritance. Ellen speaks with Dr Jeanine Leane about their powerful new poetry collection, Throat.

Animal Magnetism

Prehistoric animals, a pandemic and climate catastrophe are at the pointy ends of a three-way conversation between the latest novels of Chris Flynn, Laura Jean McKay and James Bradley. Jane Rawson explores an uncanny confluence of science,

Criminal Types

Jason Steger chats with them about font crimes, typomania and a P.I. who is many things, including deaf. This event will be Auslan interpreted.

Body Count

Respected journalist Paddy Manning tells stories of tragedy, loss, heroism and resilience, in a book that is both monument and warning in his account of the human toll of climate change. With Jane Rawson.

Past Tense. History: What is it good for?

With Professor Clare Wright at the helm, we hear from Megan Davis, Tony Birch, Lucy Treloar, Chris Flynn and James Dunk responding to the NSW History Week theme, History: What is it good for?

A Room Made of Leaves

A Room Made of Leaves turns historical fiction inside out. It is a stunning sleight of hand that gives the past the piercing immediacy of the present and reveals its urgent implications for our future. Don’t miss Kate Grenville in conversation

Bedlam

In Bedlam at Botany Bay, historian James Dunk looks at how mental illness surfaced in colonial New South Wales. Weaving a narrative of freedom and possibility, unravel and collapse, he traces the path of people who found themselves at the edge of

Somebody's Story

Working in various mediums including film, theatre and podcast, our panellists showcase recent projects and discuss the delicate art of working with the stories of others, working regionally, and working through Covid. With Alyson Evans, Helen

WAM 2020 Program Launch: Future Tense

Future Tense launches the WAM 2020 program and gives you a taste of what's to come when we delve further into the festival theme, Past Lives/Present Tense. Lucy Treloar and James Bradley's recent novels, Wolfe Island and Ghost Species, inhabit

Psychogeography: discover the secrets of the streets

Many writers have been inspired by walking in urban environments - among them Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Charles Baudelaire and Rebecca Solnit. But you don't have to live in Paris, London or San Francisco to find mystery on your doorstep. This

Short Stories

Kate Rotherham in conversation with Lucy Treloar about the art of short story writing, what they love and what tips they have for aspiring writers.​