Overview
Calling all Parks and Recreation, Succession, Pulp and Exit West fans of Melbourne — you now have an exciting September date with Melbourne Writers Festival. The city's annual literary fest won't reveal its full program until late July, ahead of its spring arrival; however, it has just announced quite the impressive first batch of international guests.
On the bill: Parks and Recreation, Obvious Child, I Want You Back and Everything Everywhere All At Once star, and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On author Jenny Slate; Logan Roy himself, aka Succession actor Brian Cox; Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker; and bestselling Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West writer Mohsin Hamid. They'll each take part in sessions that survey their work and careers — which means they'll all have plenty to talk about.
Slate, Cox and Hamid are all physically heading to Melbourne, too, now that that's a possibility again. As for Cocker, he'll livestream in from the UK.
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From Slate, expect to hear about her on-screen work, her bestselling book Little Weirds, and also the process of bring Marcel the Shell with Shoes On to the big screen.
Cox recently released a memoir called Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, so that's what his chat will cover — including deconstructing his phenomenal work on one of the best shows currently on TV.
Via live link, Cocker won't be singing Pulp's hits — but he will be discussing his music, as well as his book Good Pop, Bad Pop. It's a guide to the objects that mean the most to him, and the experiences as well, so expect plenty of behind-the-tunes insights.
Jillian Edelstein.
Hamid's session will focus on his latest work, The Last White Man, which has been attracting acclaim — as the Booker-shortlisted Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist also did. His new tome is taken from his own experiences after September 11, as a "brown-skinned man with a Muslim surname".
If all of this sounds familiar, the same quartet have just been announced on Sydney Opera House's Antidote lineup, which is livestreaming its sessions — but Melburnians can now attend MWF's counterparts in-person.
Melbourne Writers Festival will run from Thursday, September 8–Sunday, September 11 at a variety of venues around Melbourne, with the full program announced on Wednesday, July 27. Tickets for the fest's first headline events are on sale from Tuesday, June 28.
Top image: Katie McCurdy.