Anita Heiss, Celeste Liddle, Zachary Penrith-Puchalski and Sharon Payne — Photo: Scott Limbrick

In her introduction to Growing up Aboriginal in Australia, editor Anita Heiss writes: ‘[These] stories cover country from Nukunu to Noongar, Wiradjuri to Western Arrernte, Ku Ku Yalinji to Kunibidji, Gunditjamara to Gumbaynggirr and many places in between.’

It’s a collection of truly diverse stories – sometimes surprising and funny, often confronting and always illuminating – that paint a rich and detailed picture of what it means to come of age as an Aboriginal Australian. How do the formative experiences of Aboriginal Australians shape their sense of self and their sense of community? And what experiences do Aboriginal kids across the country have in common – whether they’re in the city or the suburbs or in the most remote corners of the continent?

With contributors Celeste Liddle, Zachary Penrith-Puchalski and Sharon Payne, Heiss hosts a frank, funny and forthright discussion of formative years and life lessons.

Vahideh Eisaei, Khalid Warsame, Maria Tumarkin, Hana Assafiri, Sofija Stefanovic, Alice Pung, Sam Pang and George Megalogenis

In an increasingly connected world where the question of immigration is often an anxious or heated one, being a newcomer can be uncomfortable, funny and weird. But it also makes for some great stories.

Each month at Joe's Pub in New York, This Alien Nation stages a celebration of immigration – inviting a handful of interesting, talented writers and performers to present stories about migration. Typically, those stories run the gamut from heartbreaking to hilarious – encountering language barriers, cultural missteps, rumbles, romance and more.

For the first time in Australia, host Sofija Stefanovic welcomes some of her favourite outsiders for a celebration of elsewhere and right here. Come for the stories and leave with some feelings – with restaurateur and Speed Date a Muslim founder Hana Assafiri, writer Khalid Warsame, journalist George Megalogenis, author and lawyer Alice Pung, musician Vahideh Eisaei and cultural historian and critic Maria Tumarkin.

Vahideh Eisaei

Clare Wright and Alexis Wright — Photo: Jon Tjhia

In this talk, we hear from freshly-announced 2018 Stella Prize winner Alexis Wright in conversation with past winners Emily Bitto and Clare Wright, and host Toni Jordan. They talk about the impact the award has had on their writing, their careers and Australian literary culture.

In recent months, the stories of women – and with them, impediments to women’s media participation – have taken a pointed and particular prominence in mainstream culture, underpinning sustained social and political movements. One of many takeaways from those movements has been a widespread emphasis on how women might experience, and process, the world we all share.

Toni Jordan and Emily Bitto — Photo: Jon Tjhia

Now in its sixth year, the Stella Prize was founded to do just that – and to elevate the writing of Australian women with an annual, $50,000 literary prize. Spanning both fiction and non-fiction, the prize also runs year-round programmes encouraging recognition of Australian women’s writing. Its shortlist is a deserving fixture on any discerning reader’s calendar.