Did you know that the All About Women festival is coming into its 12th year?
Yup, the Sydney talks festival has built something of a reputation when it comes to buzzy and agenda-setting conversations. For a decade, it’s brought international and local artists together to explore ideas important to women, gender-diverse people and their allies. This includes bodies, desire, identity, consent, beauty, parenthood, consumerism and more.
In 2024, these conversations are perhaps more important than ever, as our lives continue to change in extraordinary ways. Thankfully, the Sydney Opera House event is once again pulling out all the stops. This year boasts a program that spans 24 sessions and over 40 thinkers. And they’re all to help you parse some of today’s biggest challenges as they relate to gender, power and justice.
Regardless of your interests, the festival offers an opportunity for people from all walks of life to come together as a community. It’s what makes All About Women such an inspiring and joyful experience.
Who is Speaking at All About Women 2024?
This year’s guests at All About Women include US novelist Rebecca F. Kuang, fresh off the heels of Yellowface smashing bestselling lists at both the New York Times and Sunday Times.
Kuang’s satirical novel explores the complexities of culture, cultural appropriation and the book industry’s attitudes to “diversity”, through the eyes of her protagonist Juniper Hayward. Oh, and it’s very funny.
Set to make a splash is UK feminist icon Mary Beard, who will make her very first trip to Australia. Arguably the one woman who thinks about the Roman Empire more than any man on TikTok, Beard is also a renowned classicist, offering a unique perspective into the misogyny’s long and ancient history.
While there’ll be plenty of thought-provoking and challenging talks at the event, festival punters will also be treated to a ‘Feminist Roast’, boasting a red-hot line up of the most iconoclastic and entertaining women in Australia today: Zoë Coombs-Marr, Jane Caro, Jan Fran, Michelle Law and Nakkiah Lui, with Steph Tisdell keeping the peace as moderator. It’ll still have you thinking, but it’ll have you in hysterics as well.
Another highlight of the agenda — ‘Our Bodies’. Explore the contested nature of the body as a source of both strength and vulnerability, of pleasure and pain and of course as a site subject to endless attempts at patriarchal control. Grace Tame, Tanya Hosch, Madison Griffiths and Tara Rae Moss will take the reins as they hone in on the intricacies of our bodies.
Book lovers can also check out ‘Why So Sad, Girl’, featuring Neha Kale, Jessie Tu and Madeline Grey, as these three writers question the omnipresence of the ‘sad girl’ in contemporary literature.
This is just a small selection of talks at All About Women, so view the full schedule here.
When is All About Women 2024?
The entirety of All About Women will be held on Sunday, March 10 — just a couple of days after International Women’s Day.
How Do I Get Tickets To All About Women 2024?
Tickets to All About Women are available online now via Sydney Opera House’s website. Browse the full schedule to grab tickets to individual talks, or research the event’s multipacks.
Buying tickets to multiple talks can unlock discounts and save you money, so be sure to spend your day soaking up everything All About Women has to offer.
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.
