Two incisive thinkers on law and power ask a deceptively simple question: is justice possible, and if the systems we have keep failing us, where else might we look?
In her new book Finding Justice, Larissa Behrendt draws on decades of experience moving between courtrooms and Country. She argues that more than one way of understanding law has always existed in Australia and looks to First Nations practices of sovereignty – grounded in self-determination, reciprocity and collective care – as evidence that another kind of justice is possible.
Shortlisted for the 2026 Stella Prize, Marika Sosnowski's 58 Facets: On Law, violence and revolution is part memoir, part exposé, weaving together the narratives of Holocaust survivors and Israeli war criminals with Syrian activists, revolutionaries and dissenters, to trace how governments use law and bureaucracy to control the people caught within them.
Larissa Behrendt AO is a Eualeyai/Gamillaroi woman, award-winning author, filmmaker, lawyer and is Distinguished Professor and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney. Larissa has written fiction and non-fiction books, including Finding Eliza, After Story and her new book, Finding Justice.
Marika Sosnowski is a legal anthropologist and the granddaughter of Polish and Dutch Holocaust survivors. 58 Facets: On law, violence and revolution was shortlisted for the 2026 Stella Prize and the 2026 Douglas Stewart Prize for non-Fiction.
Eric Sidoti is Deputy Chair of the Varuna Board. He is currently a person of relative leisure, having been a self-employed consultant and adviser until recently in addition to his position as Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University.
This event is presented in partnership with the Whitlam Institute
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Tickets to main program events are included in weekend and day passes. Single tickets may be available from September 8, subject to availability.
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This venue is wheelchair accessible, and AUSLAN interpreters are available upon request. Please email hello@bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au if you have any accessibility requests or wish to book an AUSLAN interpreter. More info about accessibility can be found on our Accessibility page.