Source: Melbourne Writers Festival flickr

Last night under the glass shards of the atrium at Federation Square the Melbourne Writers Festival program was officially launched. It’s Steve Grimwade’s final year as Festival Director and he delivered an enthusiastic outline of the events happening throughout the festival, which runs from 23 August to 2 September.

There are several events I’m quite excited about — especially the series with writers and editors from The New Yorker.

The New News conference, with Crikey’s Margaret Simons on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 August should be interesting, especially Paul Ramadge’s session on ‘Future Journalism’, given recent events at Fairfax.

Charles Dickens’s bicentenary will be celebrated in the opening keynote address from British actor, writer and director Simon Callow.

I’m appearing at the festival too, on Friday 24th August I’ll be In Conversation with Zoe Foster at ACMI Studio 1.

Tickets go on sale today — and you can view the full program of events here.