The Art of the Essay
ABOUT THE SHOW
Andrew O’Hagan, Melissa Lucashenko, Elaine Castillo & Cameron Hurst in conversation with Carody Culver
Every few years, somebody on the internet will declare that the essay is dead…which is usually a sign that it’s thriving. Indeed, the essay may have as many lives as it has styles, and its endurance is testament to its creative dynamism and versatility.
Join four luminaries of this endlessly malleable literary genre as they discuss the value and valence of the essay and their own storied approaches to the art of short-form non-fiction.
PART OF BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Andrew O’Hagan has three times been nominated for the Booker Prize and is a winner of the E.M. Forster Prize. His novel Mayflies was adapted by the BBC and his latest, Caledonian Road, a state-of-the-nation epic, was a Sunday Times bestseller. He is Editor at Large of the London Review of Books.
Melissa Lucashenko is a multi-award-winning novelist from the Bundjalung nation. Too Much Lip won the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award and Edenglassie was released to critical acclaim in 2023. She is a Walkley Award winner, and her latest book is the essay collection Not Quite White in the Head.
Cameron Hurstis a writer, editor, and art historian. She is a co-founder of The Paris End, a newsletter of society and culture based in Naarm/Melbourne, and has written for scholarly and general readership publications including Memo, Index, Artlink, ANZJA, Griffith Review, and HEAT. She has contributed to two books: EXCLUSIVE! Dispatches from The Paris End (with Sally Olds and Oscar Schwartz, Giramondo, 2025), and Venus in Tullamarine: Art, Sex, Politics, and Norman Lindsay (with Jeremy George, Index Press, 2023). She is currently doing a PhD on Northern European Renaissance art at the University of Melbourne.
Carody Culver is the editor of Griffith Review. She’s also a writer and a literary interviewer. Her work has appeared in Australian Book Review, Meanjin, Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, Books+Publishing and more, and she’s been a contributing editor for Peppermint magazine. Her chapbook, The Morgue I Think the Deader It Gets, was published by Cordite in 2022.
Elaine Castillo: Named one of “30 of the Planet’s Most Exciting Young People” by the Financial Times, Elaine Castillo’s novel Moderation was longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize in Fiction and named one of the Top Ten Books of 2025 by The Atlantic, Slate, and a Best Book of 2025 by The New Yorker, TIME, and more.
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Suitable for All ages
18 months and under free on the knee; all other ages must hold a valid ticket
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Andrew O’Hagan has three times been nominated for the Booker Prize and is a winner of the E.M. Forster Prize. His novel Mayflies was adapted by the BBC and his latest, Caledonian Road, a state-of-the-nation epic, was a Sunday Times bestseller. He is Editor at Large of the London Review of Books.
Melissa Lucashenko is a multi-award-winning novelist from the Bundjalung nation. Too Much Lip won the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award and Edenglassie was released to critical acclaim in 2023. She is a Walkley Award winner, and her latest book is the essay collection Not Quite White in the Head.
Cameron Hurstis a writer, editor, and art historian. She is a co-founder of The Paris End, a newsletter of society and culture based in Naarm/Melbourne, and has written for scholarly and general readership publications including Memo, Index, Artlink, ANZJA, Griffith Review, and HEAT. She has contributed to two books: EXCLUSIVE! Dispatches from The Paris End (with Sally Olds and Oscar Schwartz, Giramondo, 2025), and Venus in Tullamarine: Art, Sex, Politics, and Norman Lindsay (with Jeremy George, Index Press, 2023). She is currently doing a PhD on Northern European Renaissance art at the University of Melbourne.
Carody Culver is the editor of Griffith Review. She’s also a writer and a literary interviewer. Her work has appeared in Australian Book Review, Meanjin, Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, Books+Publishing and more, and she’s been a contributing editor for Peppermint magazine. Her chapbook, The Morgue I Think the Deader It Gets, was published by Cordite in 2022.
Elaine Castillo: Named one of “30 of the Planet’s Most Exciting Young People” by the Financial Times, Elaine Castillo’s novel Moderation was longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize in Fiction and named one of the Top Ten Books of 2025 by The Atlantic, Slate, and a Best Book of 2025 by The New Yorker, TIME, and more.
