Words on the Waves has released the names of its second wave of guest speakers as the writers festival approaches.
The festival will be held from May 29-June 3 at assorted venues with an Early Bird Weekend Pass now on sale until April 6 offering huge savings on a weekend pass.
Aboriginal writer Bruce Pascoe will be in the line-up.
He is a Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian Aboriginal writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children’s literature.
Pascoe is the enterprise professor in Indigenous Agriculture at the University of Melbourne.
He is best known for his work Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture (Magabala Books 2014).
Robyn Davidson, author of the iconic 1977 camel adventure Tracks, was born on a cattle property in Queensland.
She moved to Sydney in the late 60s, then returned to study in Brisbane before going to Alice Springs to prepare for her journey across the Australian desert.
Davidson’s first book Tracks, her account of this crossing, was an international sensation, and was adapted for a film starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver.
She has travelled extensively, and has lived in London, New York and India.
In the early 1990s Davidson migrated with and wrote about nomads in north-west India.
She is now based in regional Victoria, but spends some time each year in India.
Her most recent book is called Unfinished Woman.
It’s been 16 years since his international smash-hit The Boat, so what will Nam Le have to say next?
Le’s poetry has been published in The Monthly, The Paris Review, Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Bomb, Conjunctions, Boston Review, Lana Turner and Tin House.
His short story collection The Boat received numerous major international awards, including the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the Melbourne Prize for Literature, the PEN/Malamud Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.
The Boat has been republished as a modern classic and is widely translated, anthologised and taught.
Nam Le lives in Melbourne.
His book 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem was released in February.
Former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty will be sharing her story of hope.
Batty is a family violence campaigner and speaker.
After her 11-year-old son Luke was killed by his father in a violent incident in February 2014, she became a passionate campaigner on the issue of family violence.
She was named Australian of the Year in January 2015.
Her book Hope is coming out in 2024.
Gregory P Smith is one of Australia’s foremost lived experience experts in post-traumatic stress disorder, mental illness, domestic violence, alcohol and drug addiction, rough sleeping and homelessness.
His memoir, Out of the Forest, was published in 2018 and his most recent book is Better Than Happiness.
To secure an Early Bird Weekend Pass go to www.wordsonthewaves.com.au by April 6.