Melbourne’s gearing up for spring – and The Wheeler Centre is gearing up for its third Spring Fling, an event series designed to shake off the winter chill with big ideas, conversation-sparking talks and engaging performance. This year’s theme is Wild Abandon, and the centre hopes to encourage attendees to embrace the unexpected and think a little differently via a line-up of speakers spanning novelists, presenters, musicians, comedians and more.

A highlight of the program will be a conversation between UK-based Australian author and journalist Lucia Osborne-Crowley and human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson. Osborne-Crowley was one of only four journalists permitted in the courtroom during the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, which is the subject of her new book The Lasting Harm. Robinson and Osborne-Crowley will discuss the impact of trauma on survivors’ memories and testimonies.

Attica’s Ben Shewry will also take to the stage, to speak with Marieke Hardy about his career and the world of restaurants for a live recording of Hardy’s podcast Marieke Hardy Is Going To Die. At The Moat, Bruce Pascoe and his partner Lyn Harwood, who recently co-wrote Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra about a year on their farm in the aftermath of the release of Pascoe’s groundbreaking book Dark Emu, will host a lunch of Aboriginal food while speaking about Country and sustainable food and land management practices.

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Meanwhile, actor and beloved Play School host Noni Hazlehurst will speak about her life, while Widubul-Wiabul lawyer Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts will present a lecture on her vision for reform and justice overhauls for First Nations people. Kanye West’s vocal anti-Semitism – and the time satirist and writer John Safran spent squatting in one of West’s mansions to try and understand it – will be the subject of a conversation between journalist Mahmood Fazal and Safran. And First Nations performers Nardi Simpson, Jazz Money and Laniyuk will speak to how their artistic practices intersect with depictions of the natural world.

Plus, speaker and writer Gina Chick will share the story of her time on Alone Australia, Lebanese-Palestinian writer Hasib Hourani will launch his debut poetry collection and Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser will chat about her latest novel Theory & Practice. Other guests include journalist Virginia Trioli and comedian Shaun Micallef, as well as debut authors Keshe Chow, Sophie Matthiesson, Kylie Mirmohamadi and Lucinda Price, who will present their works.

For the kids, TV presenter Tony Armstrong is reading his children’s book George the Wizard during a storytelling session and Andy Griffiths’s new story collection Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things will be celebrated in an interactive stage production.

Tickets for The Wheeler Centre’s 2024 Spring Fling are now on sale.

wheelercentre.com