Spring Fling Is the Wheeler Centre's New Festival of Thoughts and Ideas Hitting Melbourne This November

If the new season's put you in the mood to spring clean your thinking and soak up some fresh ideas, The Wheeler Centre's latest offering is one to add to your calendar. The literary hub's new celebration of words and ideas, Spring Fling, is coming our way from Wednesday, November 2–Friday, November 11. And it's got a sparkling lineup of local and international authors, artists, musicians, comedians and thinkers in tow.

Joining the bill for the inaugural event series, you've got UK literary legend Natasha Brown (Assembly), acclaimed Aussie writer Helen Garner (Monkey Grip, Everywhere I Look), Pulitzer-winning US novelist Andrew Sean Greer (Less, Less Is Lost), musicians Vika & Linda, and breakout star of the new Heartbreak High reboot Chloé Hayden.

Natasha Brown

The festival program is set to dish up more than 20 events, hitting venues like Melbourne Town Hall, The Capitol, Testing Grounds and Fed Square eatery Big Esso. You can catch the hilarious Shaun Micallef chatting life, tv and comedy; ponder how arts and activism can spurr positive environmental change with music icon Peter Garrett; and explore the intersection of music and thought at an inspirational talk by British neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield, complete with a special performance by artist and producer Sui Zhen.

Also on the bill: beloved broadcaster Myf Warhurst delving into the impact music's had on her life; a panel of culinary favourites chatting multiculturalism and Aussie food culture over a lunch heroing Indigenous ingredients; an exploration of friendship led by bestselling author Kamila Shamsie; and a special drag storytime featuring artists like Aysha Buffet, Stone Motherless Cold and Dandrogyny.

The Wheeler Centre's Spring Fling runs from November 2–11, at venues across Melbourne. Catch the full program and buy tickets over at the website.