The Political Culture of Writer’s Festivals

Last month, the Brisbane Writers’ Festival announced it was dis-inviting Germaine Greer and Bob Carr as speakers for the event.

The announcement followed the recent controversy at the Sydney Writers Festival, where Junot Diaz was publicly accused of sexual harassment and pressured to leave the festival.

While we may celebrate the freedom of a victim to accuse an attacker, some – including novelist Richard Flanagan – worry whether the recent dis-invitations are a sign that we’re becoming less open to controversial opinions.

To discuss the political culture of Writers’ Festivals, Dr Leigh Boucher, lecturer in Modern History at Macquarie University spoke with 2SER’s Julia Carr-Catzel :

You can read Dr Boucher’s article “Writers’ festivals aren’t an imaginary republic of letters- they are political arenas” here at The Conversation.