The Wheeler Centre

Each year at the Melbourne International Film Festival, a panel of guests gather to dissect the highs and lows of the zeitgeist.

Host Michael Sun, essayist and regular writer for the Guardian, is joined by actor and writer Maria Angelico, Chicago–based New York Magazine Vulture culture critic Angelica Jade Bastién and visiting Los Angeles Times film critic Amy Nicholson to discuss the most overrated, underrated...

What can ageing teach us? For broadcast and writer Jacinta Parsons, the answer is – perhaps everything.  

Inspired by many conversations with women across the country, A Wisdom of Age captures the brewing tone of revolution that sits in the hearts of women who are ready to tell a new kind of story about the experience of growing older.  Set against the backdrop of an intimate two-course dinner at Mo...

Join New York Times bestselling author Lauren Roberts in her exclusive Melbourne appearance to celebrate Fearless, the highly anticipated third and final book in the Powerless series.  

Romance, fantasy and intrigue collide in this runaway BookTok success known for its fierce heroine, witty banter and deliciously fraught enemies-to-lovers plot. After the shocking cliff-hanger ending of Reckless, Fearless sees Paedyn Gray ...

In 2020, Cheng Lei was working as a business reporter for China's state-run English language television station when she was arrested on charges of sharing state secrets. She was detained in China for over three years under harsh conditions, including prolonged solitary confinement and restricted access to her family, before finally being released. 

Now, back in Australia and free to write and speak her mind, Lei recounts her ...

American Jewish journalist Peter Beinart reflects on the world around him – and his place within it – amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. 

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza offers a timely reflection, seeking to reimagine what it means to be Jewish in the wake of the horrors unfolding in the Middle East. 

Drawing on Jewish tradition and history, and global efforts at moral reconstruction, Pe...

In 1985, Jeanette Winterson published her debut novel – the groundbreaking and subversive Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Genre-bending and narratively bold, it garnered then-rare mainstream success for a story that was fiercely feminist and challenged traditional gender roles.  

Four decades on, Winterson remains one of our most distinguished writers, renowned for her singular voice and restless curiosity. Her work...

Join Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry, hosts of the Guardian’s political podcast Back to Back Barries, for a clear-eyed analysis of the 2025 Australian federal election.

After five weeks of relentless campaigning, Australians have cast their votes – and political commentators and former major party insiders Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry are here to offer a discerning examination of how, and why, we arrived at the results o...

Over an intimate two-course dinner at Montalto, broadcaster and social policy expert Jamila Rizvi and comedian and podcaster Rosie Waterland come together with host Tracee Hutchison for a candid discussion about their deeply personal new book, Broken Brains.  

Drawing from their own experiences, Rizvi and Waterland reflect on their journeys with illness – Rizvi's rare brain tumour diagnosis and Waterland’s ong...

Legendary tech journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher opens up about a lifetime of reporting on Silicon Valley with host Sophie Black.  

In a world where tech billionaires operate beyond the reach of government regulation and press scrutiny, Kara Swisher has devoted her career to holding them to account.  

Her new memoir Burn Book offers an insider’s history of some of Silicon Valley’s most influentia...

Trailblazing journalist and proud Gamilaroi woman Brooke Boney opens up like never before in All of It, her powerful debut essay collection.

Like many millennial women, Brooke Boney is navigating a society that expects her to chase it all – career, success and personal fulfillment – while doing so under an unforgiving public gaze.

In her highly anticipated essay collection, All of It, she reflects on the pressures of li...

For the past 20 years, Pankaj Mishra has written incisive studies of a world marked by inequalities and the effects of globalisation. He has traced global histories of fascism, the impacts of rising nationalism and applied an astute lens to the fragility of our democratic institutions.   

Now, he sets his expert mind to the war in Gaza.  

Garnering praise from the likes of Rashid Khalidi, Naomi Klein and Hi...

In this panel discussion journalist Emma Do, A Plus Market founder Sam van Zweden and writer and podcast host Maggie Zhou examine the barriers within the industry and discuss the evolving vision of an inclusive fashion future. Moderated by cultural commentator Sabina McKenna, these fashion experts and enthusiasts explore the most pressing issues in fashion, from size inclusivity and high price points to ethical production and susta...

After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine Brooks and partner Tony Horwitz relocated from Australia to the idyllic Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, USA, to raise their children. 

The life they built there was one of meaningful work, good humour and tenderness. But all this ended abruptly when, during the spring of 2019, Brooks received a phone call with the news that Hor...

Rachel Kushner’s new novel Creation Lake tells the story of Sadie Smith, an American spy-for-hire working in the secretive world of privately contracted surveillance. Tasked with infiltrating a commune of anarchists in rural France, she becomes entranced by a mysterious cult-leader-like figure named Bruno Lacombe who believes that freedom from the pain of the modern condition can only be achieved through a return to the ancie...

Ben Shewry knows obsession well. It’s what has propelled his innovative Melbourne restaurant, Attica, to national and global acclaim. His new memoir-meets-manifesto, Uses for Obsession: A (Chef’s) Memoir, is a reflection on leadership, hospitality and humanity, and an unforgettable look inside the sometimes-brutal world of cheffing. 

Shewry joins host Marieke Hardy for this special live ep...

Content warning: This episode includes occasional course language.

From her childhood in the Australian outback to the heights of her chart-topping international success as a singer-songwriter, country music icon Kasey Chambers has trusted her gut, stuck to her values and learned some hard truths, always while trying to live by the best advice she’s ever received: just don’t be a d**khead. 

At this special...

Unapologetic, sometimes controversial, and always unflinchingly honest, Roxane Gay has built a remarkable career using her powerful voice to articulate the nuances of our most pervasive issues. Body image, civil rights, feminism, popular culture, social etiquette – you name it, Gay has written about it.

The esteemed writer, professor and cultural commentator was joined by host Jan Fran at Melbourne Town Ha...

National treasure Noni Hazlehurst details her life on stage and screen and takes us behind-the-scenes of a brilliant career. 

Noni Hazlehurst’s versatility as a performer knows no bounds. A household name and a beloved actor, she's graced Australian screens and theatre stages for over forty years. From Playschool and Better Homes and Gardens, to Monkey Grip and her acclaimed theatrical career – Hazlehurst has earned he...

Critics Eda Gunaydin, Michael Sun and Cher Tan examine the present state and potential futures of literary criticism. 

Literary criticism seems to be in an endless state of decline. In so-called Australia, a particular flavour of cultural cringe is yoked to cultural hegemony: a critic might find themselves locked within the ivory tower, or self-censoring for fear of offence, or deliberately pursuing contrarianism for clicks....