A Weekend of Issues at the Cooroy Butter Factory

Queensland’s favourite author John Birmingham to appear at Reality Bites.

Most people know Birmo as the runaway bestselling author of He Died With a Felafel in His Hand, and his incredibly internationally successful speculative fiction Axis of Time series, but he does have a pointy headed side to his writing. Author of Leviathan, the unauthorised biography of Sydney which won Australia's National Prize For Non-Fiction in 2002, and regular writer for the Monthly and Quarterly Essay, he is also a highly respected print journalist. Birmo will appear at the final weekend of Reality Bites in two sessions at the Butter Factory Arts Centre, dealing with two of his specialties – politics and history.

On Saturday, Birmo will chair a panel with two of Australia’s hottest political commentators, and on Sunday, two of Australia’s most prominent Aboriginal voices.

Straddling the Faultlines: Has Malcolm Trunbull got what it takes to lead the new Australia

Annabel Crabb'slatest work is the Quarterly Essay 34, Stop At Nothing: The Life and Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull. Crabb tells the story of the man who would be prime minister. Based on extensive interviews with Turnbull as well as those who have worked with him, this is an essay full of revelations. Crabb delves into young Malcolm’s university exploits his remarkable relationship with Kerry Packer, the man for whom he was at first a prized attack dog, and then a mortal enemy. She asks whether Turnbull – colourful, aggressive, humorous and ruthless – has what it takes to re-invigorate the Australian Liberal Party in the wake of John Howard. She discusses his vexed relationship with Kevin Rudd, and the looming presence of Peter Costello.

George Megalogenis' Faultlines, he explores the seemingly contradictory tendencies in the nation’s political and cultural make up. How can Australia be both open and closed? Why are we pro-immigration, yet unsympathetic to asylum-seekers? Why is it that the majority of workers in our globally connected economy are women, yet the senior levels of government, media, and business remain dominated by men?

Omissions of History

Bruce Pasoce’s Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with your Country is a powerful, lyrical and passionate book that asks us to fully acknowledge our past and the way it continues to influence our nation today, both physically and intellectually. Convincing Ground resonates with ongoing debates about identity, dispossession, memory and community. Pascoe has written Convincing Ground for all Australians, as an antidote to the great Australian inability to deal respectfully with the nation's buried Indigenous past.

Dr Anita Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales and is one of Australia’s most prolific and well-known authors of Indigenous literature. Her Dhuuluu-Yala (To Talk Straight) – Publishing Aboriginal Literature, will form the basis of her presentation at Reality Bites, as she gives a rundown of the voices that have emerged since Aboriginal writers have begun to find an audience in mainstream publishing.

ALSO ON THE SAME WEEKEND

BARRY HEARD in conversation with RICHARD FIDLER

You've heard the Conversation Hour on ABC Brisbane, now see it live at Reality Bites.

Popular broadcaster and gifted journalist Richard Fidler comes to the Sunshine Coast to interview Barry Heard, best selling author of Well Done, Those Men: Memoirs of a Vietnam veteran. In his best selling, intensely personal account, Barry Heard draws on his own experiences as a young conscript, along with those of his comrades, to look back at life before, during, and after the Vietnam War. 

The result is a sympathetic portrayal of a group of young men who were sent off to war completely unprepared for the emotional and psychological impact it would have on them. In particular, this is a vivid and searingly honest portrayal of the author’s post-war, slow-motion breakdown. Barry Heard’s sensitive, poignant account of his long journey home from Vietnam is an inspiring story of a life reclaimed. Told with gentle understatement and wry humour, Well Done, Those Men gives voice to a lost generation of Australian men.

His latest work, Tag is a poignant, anti-war story which pulls no punches, describing the shellshock and depression which was the legacy of many World War I veterans, including the valiant nurses.

IAN LOWE Resources, Population & Climate Change

The warnings from scientists are unequivocal: we cannot sustain our current levels of consumption and growth. We are depleting the Earth's natural resources, damaging its environmental systems and compromising social stability by allowing the gap to widen between rich and poor. In short, we are consuming the future. Unless we radically re-think the way we live, the attitudes that fostered our development will also be the source of our downfall.

Eminent scientist and environmentalist Ian Lowe tackles this crisis head on and points the way to a sustainable future. Incorporating the most recent data, he proposes fundamental changes to our values and institutions, offers far-reaching solutions and a vision of a healthier society - one that is humane, informed and ecologically minded.

Hear Ian speak about resources, population and climate change and the technologies and values we need to embrace for a sustainable future.

For Session details go to Weekend 5.