SPECIAL EVENT
Closing Night: Light Bulb Moment
Robbie Arnott, Om Dhungel, Kirstin Ferguson, Dr Neela Janakiramanan, Thomas Keneally, Peter Papathanasiou, Stephen Romei, Tracey Spicer and Lea Ypi
There are moments in life when everything changes – small moments with mammoth consequences. CWF’s signature closing night event, Light Bulb Moment, is not to be missed. Join a stellar line-up of speakers as they divulge their personal epiphanies – from the profound to the profoundly funny. End your festival weekend on a high with this warm-hearted night of storytelling.
Artist
ROBBIE ARNOTT’S acclaimed debut, Flames (2018), won a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist award and a Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prize, and was shortlisted for a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, a New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, a Queensland Literary Award, the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and the Not the Booker Prize. His follow-up, The Rain Heron (2020), won the Age Book of the Year award, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the ALS Gold Medal, the Voss Literary Prize and an Adelaide Festival Award. He lives in Hobart.
Artist
OM DHUNGEL is a trained telecommunications engineer turned ‘Inner Engineer’. A former refugee from Bhutan and an author of the newly released book: Bhutan to Blacktown – Losing everything and finding Australia, Om Dhungel combines his cross-sectoral professional expertise and rich lived experience to help shift thinking and drive transformational change. A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, he serves on different Boards and Committees including the NSW Health Ministry and NSW Police. Amongst many other accomplishments, Om is a recipient of the 2016 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Community Medal for Lifetime Achievement.
Artist
DR KIRSTIN FERGUSON AM is one of Australia's most prominent leadership experts and the author of two award-winning books. She writes a weekly column in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and sits on a range of company boards. Kirstin is the former Deputy Chair of the ABC and was the creator of the viral #CelebratingWomen campaign.
Artist
DR NEELA JANAKIRAMANAN is a reconstructive plastic surgeon, author, commentator and health advocate. She was a clinical lead in the Kids off Nauru and ‘Medevac’ campaigns to improve access to healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers in offshore migration detention. She is a health commentator, writing for publications including Women’s Agenda, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald and The Saturday Paper, and regularly appears on ABC Weekend Breakfast and ABCs The Drum. Her bestselling debut novel, The Registrar, was released in 2022.
Artist
THOMAS KENEALLY was born in 1935 and his first novel was published in 1964. Since then he has written a considerable number of novels and non-fiction works. His novels include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Schindler’s List and The People’s Train. He has won the Miles Franklin Award, the Booker Prize, the Los Angeles Times Prize, the Mondello International Prize and has been made a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library, a Fellow of the American Academy, recipient of the University of California gold medal, and is now the subject of a 55 cent Australian stamp.
Artist
PETER PAPATHANASIOU is an author of four books and has published many articles in mainstream media and literary journals. His first book in 2019 was a memoir about his international adoption; since then, he has authored a series of crime novels that have been published and translated internationally. Peter is currently working on his next novel and also screenwriting with filmmakers as his books are adapted to the screen.
Artist
STEPHEN ROMEI is a former literary editor of The Australian and a current film critic for the same paper.
Artist
TRACEY SPICER AM is a multiple Walkley Award winning author, journalist and broadcaster. The inaugural national convenor of Women in Media, Tracey is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers and emcees in Australia. In 2019 she was named the NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year, accepted the Sydney Peace Prize alongside Tarana Burke for the Me Too movement, and won the national award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership through Women & Leadership Australia. In 2018, Tracey was chosen as one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence.
Artist
LEA YPI is Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science. A native of Albania, she studied Philosophy and then Literature at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, and was a Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. She is the recipient of many academic and literary prizes. Her last book, Free, was awarded the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2021 and the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2022, and shortlisted for many more. It has been sold in more than 25 languages. Lea contributes regularly to The Guardian, New Statesman, and Financial Times.