Meeting of literary minds

Pornography, anthropology, the future of journalism and James Joyce are just some of the topics to be discussed by UNSW academics at the Sydney Writers Festival next week.

Several Faculty of Arts and Social Science academics will be panelists at the Festival, one of the largest in the world, which runs from 16-22 May.

Associate Professor Gerhard Fischer will discuss his recently released book, The Enemy at Home - German internees in WWI Australia, co-authored with Nadine Helmi.

Professor Ronan McDonald, Associate Professor Sarah Maddison, Professor Catharine Lumby, Dr Kama Maclean and Dr Ursula Rao and authors from UNSW Press will all bring their literary talents to the event which hosts 300 writers and 80,000 visitors annually.

UNSW is the first university to be named a partner of the Festival.

Festival director, Chip Rolley, said UNSW's partnership has been essential in attracting key authors to the event.

"We wouldn't have some of these writers at the Festival if it weren't for our partnership with the University," he said. "We consider very carefully whether we want our partners to have this kind of involvement and in UNSW's case it has been very beneficial."

UNSWriting will host an event next week featuring British journalist, author, and screenwriter Emma Forrest in conversation with the director of UNSW's Journalism and Media Research Centre, Professor Catharine Lumby.

The UNSWriting series is presented by the School of English, Media and Performing Arts.

Media contact: Fran Strachan, UNSW Media Office | 9385 8732| 0429 416 070