We’re doomed! Or, are we?
Join six big thinkers in a fight for the future, a great debate for our times inspired by the legacy of Blue Mountains environmentalist Mick Dark. Drawing on backgrounds in science, technology, journalism, mathematics and literature, two teams go head-to-head debating the topic, “We’re doomed!”
From the pessimistically affirmative to the optimistically negative, watch the sparks fly in this lively verbal sparring featuring journalist Royce Kurmelovs (Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil), mathematician JM Field (The Eagle and the Crow), author Jane Rawson (Human/Nature: On life in a wild world), comedian and writer Jennifer Wong, science writer Bianca Nogrady and ABC Sydney’s inimitable Craig Reucassel.
Royce Kurmelovs is an Australian journalist and author of five books, including The Death of Holden and Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil.
Dr J.M. Field (Spearim) is a Gamilaraay mari from Moree way, but grew up on Darug land in a small town along the Great Dividing Range. He studied maths and French literature at the University of Sydney, before completing a doctorate at Balliol College, Oxford. JM is the author of Etta and the Shadow Taboo, which was highly commended for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize for Indigenous Writing, as well as being shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Prize for Children's Literature. His latest book is The Eagle & the Crow.
Jane Rawson's most recent book is Human/Nature: On life in a wild world, about our relationship with the non-human world we live in. She is also the award-winning author of novels A History of Dreams, From the Wreck and A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists, a novella, Formaldehyde, and the non-fiction book The Handbook: Surviving & living with climate change. She is currently the Managing Editor of Island magazine.
Jennifer Wong is the co-author and host of Chopsticks or Fork?: Recipes and Stories from Australia’s Regional Chinese Restaurants, and a contributor to Admissions: Voices within Mental Health. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, ABC News, SBS Food, Monocle and The Big Issue. Her comedy in English and Cantonese has been seen by millions online, and her stand-up shows have sold out around Australia. Jennifer has appeared on The Cook Up, Celebrity Letters and Numbers, Thank God Its Friday! and Chat 10 Looks 3.
Bianca Nogrady is a freelance science journalist, author and broadcaster. She is a two-time editor of The Best Australian Science Writing anthology, author of Climate Change: How We Can Get to Carbon Zero, The End: The Human Experience of Death, and co-author of The Sixth Wave: How to Succeed in a Resource-Limited World. Bianca is the Chair of Varuna and founding president of the Science Journalists Association of Australia.
Craig Reucassel is an Australian writer and comedian who is best known for his work with The Chaser and for going through your bins on The War on Waste. Craig has also hosted climate change documentaries Fight for Planet A and Big Weather. In 2020, he directed the movie Big Deal, which looked into the issue of money in politics in Australia. He is currently the host of the ABC 702 Breakfast show in Sydney.
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This event is part of the Main Program and included as part of Platinum, Gold, Silver and Saturday Bronze Passes.
Subject to availability, a limited number of single tickets may become available 9 September.
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This venue is wheelchair accessible. Please visit our Accessibility page or email hello@bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au if you have any other accessibility requirements.