Big Ideas

Two neurospicy minds talk neurodiversity, creativity, and what it's like to get a diagnosis like Autism or OCD as an adult. Can it bring clarity, upheaval, grief, or all of the above? And how can writing about it help? Host of The Bachelor and Bachelorette, podcaster, and mental health advocate Osher Günsberg and poet, essayist, editor and author of Kill Your Boomers Fiona Wright join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell. This event was held at the 2026 Byron Writers Festival on Bundjalung Nation Country. Speakers
Osher Gunsberg Host of TV shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, and of the Better Than Yesterday podcast.  Author of Back, After the Break (2018). Co-author of So What? Now What?: How to Stop Being Stuck and Start Living (2026) with illustrator Campbell Walker aka Struthless. 
Fiona Wright Poet, writer, editor 2024 Judy Harris Writer in Residence, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney Author, Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger (2015); Kill Your Boomers (2026), and contributor to the Someone Like Me anthology of autistic writers. 
I was unseen even to myself: as many as half of people with anorexia are autistic (Fiona Wright in The Conversation, 2026)

From the rise of One Nation at home, to surprising election results abroad, recent events suggest that people feel that politics as usual is no longer delivering for them. So what alternatives are they reaching for?
This conversation Political Rupture: Identity, Equality and Opportunity was recorded at the Canberra Writers Festival on 17 October 2026.
Speakers:
Niki SavvaAuthor, Earthquake: the election that shook Australia and morePolitical commentator and columnist with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapersFormer press secretary to Liberal Treasurer Peter Cosetllo
Waleed AlyAuthor, Chaos: Dispatches from disorder, Time of Monsters: What Future for Liberalism? (Quarterly Essay #103) and moreCo-host (with Scott Stephens) of The Minefield, ABC Radio NationalAdjunct Professor at Monash UniversityColumnist with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspaper
Jordan McSwiney (host)Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy, University of Canberra2026 ABC Top 5 Humanitites Scholar

Is there method in Donald Trump's madness? His plans for Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, Greenland — even Canada. His disdain for global institutions and democratic processes. His preference for traditional values. What is the logic behind "Trumpian world making", and how is it reshaping the globe?
This event was recorded at the Ultimo Institute at the University of Technology Sydney on 14 October 2026.
Speakers:
Gary GerstleEmeritus Paul Mellon Professor of American History at the University of CambridgeAuthor, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
Roy Green (host)Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Advisor at the University of Technology Sydney

The fire season is changing across Australia, becoming hotter, drier and longer. The evidence about the best ways to protect lives, property, and the environment is changing too. While fuel reduction burning has become a vital tool in the arsenal for land managers in every state and territory, some are now questioning whether we are doing it right - or whether we should be doing it all.
The Burning Conversation was recorded at the Royal Society of Victoria on 21 September 2026.
Speakers:
Professor Trent Penman Bushfire risk modeler and Team Leader of FLARE Wildfire Research at the University of Melbourne
Dr Phil Zylstra Adjunct professor, Curtin University and the Australian National University
Gregg Borschmann (host) Writer and oral historian, Driector, Talking Country

The year is 2046. After 2026, a whole lot changed in the world. Citizens started to vote women into power in parliaments everywhere. What happened next? Four Far North Queensland leaders are leaping into a tardis to hurtle twenty years into the future. Jump in, if you want the world to be different, this could be the ride of your life. Join Natasha Mitchell and guests in Cairns on Yidinji Country at the 2026 WOW (Women of the World) Festival.
Speakers
Dr Rana DadpourResearch Fellow at The Cairns Institute at James Cook University.Director of AUSIRAN, an advocacy group for Australian Iranians.
Francoise LaneDescendant of the Meriam and Kaurareg peoples of Zenadth KesArtist, curator, designerCo-founder and director of Indij Architecture and DesignFounder, Francoise Lane FashionFormer Artistic Director, Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair.
Claudia KurowskiYear 12 student and 2026 Youth Mayor of Cairns2026 Cairns Young Citizen of the Year, 2025 Cairns Young Woman, and co-founder of The Gratitude Initiative.
Anita VeiversExecutive Director, Centacare Far North QldChair, Cairns Regional Jobs CommitteeBoard Member, Regional Development Australia Tropical North.
Further information
Women of the World WOW Australia