Sydney Writers' Festival 19-25 May

It's Thinking Season Sydney Writers’ Festival marks that special time of the year when the city is transformed by readers and writers. Down at Walsh Bay the atmosphere is electric, with thousands of book lovers soaking up a world of ideas. American National Book Award winner Andrew Solomon gives the 2014 Opening Address. His latest book, Far From the Tree, tells the stories of hundreds of families affected by disability and difference, making the case that it’s diversity that unites us. READ MORE.

Benjamin Law's Picks of the Festival In the lead-up to the Festival, we’re asking a range of people in Sydney to offer their recommendations from the Festival program. Here is Benjamin Law's must-see list for the Festival. Amy Tan: The Valley of Amazement There was a period in my life where I read nothing else but Amy Tan. She was the first Asian writer towards whom I felt any sense of kinship or connection, and I still adore her work immensely. Everyone loves Tan’s fiction, but she’s such a sublime essayist and speaker too. It’s going to be surreal to see her in person without just staring at her like an idiot, with my mouth gaping open, just saying, “WOW, YOU’RE AMY TAN.” What's Normal Anyway? This’ll be great. Natasha Mitchell – who’s such a brilliant interviewer – interviewing two of the big stars of the SWF (A.M. Homes and Andrew Solomon) alongside Robert Hoge and Jo Case, two Australians who have such incredible stories of being different, on one of my favourite topics. More