Ideas at the House

Born in Syria, moving to Detroit as a child, and running away to New York in her twenties to become a rock star: Rayya Elias built up a lifetime of stories by the time she was 25, and a few more in the decades after.Her brash, brutal memoir Harley Loco – probably the only book you’ll read this year titled after the author’s prison nickname – doesn’t stop there. Elias’s book stomps through a lifetime’s worth of self-discovery: identity in migrant communities, an addiction story with a happy ending, and how to support yourself as an amateur hairdresser in the old, dirty anddangerous NYC. She’ll be joined by her friend Elizabeth Gilbert, who encouraged Elias to tell her story. Rayya Elias is a hair stylist, filmmaker, musician and most recently, author. Her first book is Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side.Elizabeth Gilbert is an author and journalist, best known for her international bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Time Magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She went on to write two other books, Committed and The Signature of All Things, which also became widely acclaimed bestsellers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shakespeare wrote challenging, glorious roles for female characters well before women were allowed on stage. With often fewer lines than the men, Shakespeare’s women pack a dramatic punch, from cross dressing girls to bloodthirsty villains, and everything in between. Two Australian icons take the stage to discuss what 21st-century audiences want from 16th-century heroines.John Bell’s passion for Shakespeare resulted in an audacious idea 25 years ago, when he founded Bell Shakespeare - a theatre company dedicated to performing Shakespeare in a way that’s relevant and exciting to Australian audiences. Inimitable feminist icon Germaine Greer has been writing about Shakespeare since 1967. When it comes to the artistic and political puzzle of Shakespeare’s women, it’s hard to imagine a more qualified (and entertaining) duo.”John Bell is one of the nation’s most illustrious theatre personalities. Award-winning actor, acclaimed director, risk-taking impressario and torch-bearing educationalist, Bell has been a key figure in shaping the nation’s theatrical identity over the past 50 years. He is the founder of Bell Shakespeare theatre company, which is celebrating its 25th year.Germaine Greer is a writer and academic and is best known for her work as a key figure in modern feminism. Her ideas about gender and sexuality have provoked controversy since the release of her 1970 book The Female Eunuch. Her other works include Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility, The Change: Women, Aging and the Menopause, The Whole Woman, Shakespeare's Wife and most recently White Beech: The Rainforest Years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When two young men lose their lives in drunken assaults in the space of a few weeks, governments declare ‘Enough is enough’, and enact strict regulation to prevent another incident. But despite one Australian woman being killed by a current or former partner every week, family violence doesn’t attract anywhere near an equivalent amount of airtime, or popular outrage.Rosie Batty awed Australians with her eloquence and compassion after her 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his estranged father in February 2014. In the intervening year she’s shown that that extraordinary resolve was no fluke, as she’s worked tirelessly to encourage a conversation about family violence in Australia – one that might help us work out what we can do to stop it.Rosie Batty's 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father Greg Anderson at cricket practice in Tyabb in February 2014. She has since become a domestic violence campaigner and has eloquently spoken out against family violence. She was named Victorian of the Year in October 2014, Daily Life Woman of the Year 2014 and was recently awarded Australian of the Year 2015. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a background in journalism and philosophy, Yotam Ottolenghi was never going to be your average chef. Starting out as a pastry chef, Ottolenghi delicatessens and restaurants followed, as did cook books includingOttolenghi and Jerusalem, both with Sami Tamimi, Plenty, and his latest book Plenty More (Random House/Ebury Press). With his close-knit team of collaborators, he has created a style of food that is vibrant and bold, bursting with the flavours and spices of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and beyond. Join him in conversation with Joanna Savill to find out more about his food and philosophy. Yotam Ottolenghi appears as a guest of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month presented by Citi. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sydney Writers’ Festival and Ideas at the House presents one of Australia’s finest writers Peter Carey. The only Australian to have twice won the Booker Prize, Peter speaks with Jennifer Byrne about his extraordinary career and new novel Amnesia.With uncanny timeliness, Amnesia explores the relationship between Australia and America, from the Battle of Brisbane to computer hackers, via the Dismissal, Pine Gap and the great Australian forgetfulness.Amnesia is Peter at his best: dark, funny, profound and clearly one of our most engaged and radical writers.“Mr Carey is one of the finest living writers in English. His best books satisfy both intellectually and emotionally; he is lyrical yet never forgets the imperative to entertain.”- The EconomistPeter Carey has published 18 books and his work has been translated into 24 languages. Since his first collection of short-stories, The Fat Man in History, was published, Carey has won numerous awards including the Miles Franklin Award three times (for Bliss, Oscar and Lucinda and Jack Maggs); the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (for Jack Maggs and True History of the Kelly Gang); and the Booker Prize (for both Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The case of David Hicks, incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay and described as one of the ‘worst of the worst’, brought up many issues that we are still dealing with today.As the ‘War on Terror’ gradually became a range of other conflicts, questions about what happens to citizens who fight in other countries and the role of the Australian Government in protecting their rights remain contentious. When the Bush Government set up the military commissions to deal with ‘unlawful combatants’, the military lawyer Major Michael Mori became defence counsel for David Hicks, and his was the determined and reasonable voice that told Australia the story as it unfolded during the military commission process.Mori’s fight for justice for David Hicks saw him pitted against the institutions he had spent his life serving, as he risked his career to challenge the military commission system. Now retired from the US army as a Lieutenant Colonel and practicing as a lawyer in Melbourne, Michael Mori will give his account of the legal, ethical and personal struggles that shaped this extraordinary case and his involvement in it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Art of Belonging advances the argument put forward in Mackay's bestselling The Good Life: a 'good life' is not lived in isolation or in the pursuit of independent goals; a good life is lived at the heart of a thriving community, among people we trust, and within an environment of mutual respect.Most of us struggle to reconcile our need to belong with our desire to live life on our own terms. If we want to master the art of belonging, we need to be able to manage the conflicts that arise in a community when some assert their own needs at the expense of others. We need communities, but communities also need us.For this symmetry to work, we need to take responsibility for the places where we live by engaging, volunteering, joining up and joining in.Hugh Mackay is a social researcher and the author of 16 books, including, most recently, The Good Life, a 2013 bestseller, and his sixth novel, Infidelity. He is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and the recipient of several honorary doctorates from Australian universities. He lives in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big stories and dangerous ideas sometimes can come our way because someone had an idea, and sat down and thought about it. But some important stories, can only be found in forbidding environments and with dangerous consequences. For Lydia Cacho, death threats have been the result of her reporting on violence against women in Mexico. Outspoken journalist Masha Gessen left Russia when changes to Russian law meant that her children might be taken away because she was gay. Climbing London’s tallest buildings to chronicle urban exploration has seen Bradley Garrett arrested for his place-hacking efforts. For our panel of speakers, to pursue their dangerous ideas, living dangerously has been part of everyday life.Lydia Cacho is an award-winning investigative journalist, writer and activist, and is the author of Slavery Inc.: The untold story of international sex trafficking.Bradley Garrett is an American researcher, explorer and social/cultural geographer at the University of Oxford and the author of Explore Everything: Place-hacking the city.Masha Gessen is a Russian journalist and the author of a biography of Vladimir Putin, The Man Without a Face and Words Will Break Cement: The passion of Pussy Riot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Noel Pearson is a lawyer and activist. Pearson shows how the idea of "race" was embedded in the constitution, and the distorting effect this has had. Now there is a chance to change it - if we can agree on a way forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeanette Winterson OBE is one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. Across novels, screenplays, essays and journalism, Winterson has taken risks and challenged us to think differently about identity and relationships.At fifteen, Winterson's love affair with another woman was discovered. She was condemned by her church, leading to her expulsion from the community and her decision to leave home. She worked odd jobs, from an ice-cream van driver to a funeral parlour make-up artist, supporting herself as she obtained her B.A. in English from St. Catherine's College at Oxford. She would go on to write over twenty books, including the celebrated novels such as Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, The Passion and Sexing the Cherry, as well as the memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?Watch as Winterson talks about her life, and what she's learned from it through decades of searching for love and meaning through fiction and poetry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.