By Caroline Baum, artistic director of True Story festival

True Story is three this year and it feels like we are growing up fast! Our theme, The State of Us, recognises what a complex and at times bruising year we’ve had. It made us want to curate a series of conversations that would prompt us to examine what we have in common rather than what divides us.

We’ve designed the festival program to both address the anxiety we may have all felt to some degree, whilst also chasing away the blues with voices of hope that offer different perspectives. The benefits are cumulative, so take a pause on your to-do list and spend the weekend immersed in True Story so you can throw yourself into the festive season armed with fresh ideas.

We set the agenda with one of the most distinctive and gifted figures in Australian journalism, Walkley winner Rick Morton, who is an eloquent champion of the disempowered, and we build on that sense of advocacy with  much-loved all-round inspiration Rosie Batty. These two  straight-talking powerhouses are heroes of advocacy, fairness and compassion.

Increase your buoyancy with our champions of the natural world: spiritual star gazer, the charismatic Gina Chick, seahorse whisperer Ailsa Piper, and our first overseas guest,  international  whale expert Tom Mustill (thanks to Jodi Edwards for this humpback-sized  coup). Bruce Pascoe joins us to talk about life after the controversy surrounding Dark Emu and how he and his wife renewed their shared sense of purpose on their farm.

For a change of gear, the worlds of the sacred and the profane collide in the improbable story of stolen manuscript sleuth, Michael Visontay.

Combining storytelling uplift with melody, local musical talents Jim Moginie and rock journalist  Glen Humphries discuss how lyrics become anthemic.

And we have a special screening of a new documentary to celebrate south coast icon  Charmian Clift (who, let’s not forget, is Gina Chick’s grandmother – a pleasing circle if ever there was one, demonstrating how close our connections in community can be).

Our workshops with historian Jo Oliver and memoirist Ailsa Piper promise to be creatively nourishing for those who are quick enough to book the limited places in each.

Come and have your sense of who we are renewed and stimulated, challenged and energised, by this fantastically talented and generous bunch of writers.

Book tickets via the South Coast Writers Centre.

Guests at 2024's True Story festival

Opening Address (Crime/Journalism)

With Mean Streak, his new investigation of how Robodebt was allowed to create a suicidal wave of despair, Rick Morton proves once again that he has an unflinching instinct for social analysis combining journalistic rigour with an outspoken sense of justice.

In our specially commissioned opening address, Rick will reflect on the painful truths he has learned while investigating and exposing brutal policies that ruin lives. But don’t expect a litany of gloom: Rick has a wicked and irreverent sense of humour, so anything is possible.

The Other Book Thief (Memoir/Crime/Journalism)

The theft of one of the world’s rarest books leads Sydney journalist Michael Visontay across the world in search of the missing pages of a sacred volume. But how do his adventures as a literary detective tie in with the story of his own family? He tells Caroline Baum how Noble Fragments took him around the world searching for clues…

Alone Together (Memoir/Spirituality)

When Gina Chick won the first Australian season of Alone, she captured the hearts of millions with her survival skills and earth-mother personality. Now, in We Are the Stars, she has written an exuberant, roaring affirmation of life in the face of loss and triumph. Join Gina for a high-octane hit of inspiration exploring what it takes to thrive beyond the wilderness.

Off a Duck’s back (Memoir/First Nations/Nature writing)

What does it take to disrupt Australia’s history and stand by your views when they are attacked? The answer is: a lot. After the controversy surrounding his bestselling book Dark Emu, First Nations writer Bruce Pascoe was bruised but unbowed. Black Duck, a Year at Yumburra is his personal account of his healing on his farm (where he somehow also found time to write a novel, Imperial Harvest). In a candid conversation, he tells Margaret Throsby what it took to rebuild a life, a marriage, and how custodianship of land renewed his sense of purpose.

All The Pretty Seahorses (Memoir/Nature writing)

Memoirist Ailsa Piper (Singing Across Spain, The Attachment) describes her latest offering, For Life, as a tale of living, dying and flying, but it is also about swimming, noticing, favourite words, friendship, and finding a home.  Written in prose that is both luminous and illuminating, For Life shifts from dark to light as Ailsa reflects on her experiences of loss and recovery. In conversation with celebrant and award-winning author of Eulogy Dr Jackie Bailey, she discusses ritual, belonging and the joys of dictionary definitions.

Bohemian Rhapsody (Biography/Journalism)

In a documentary rich with archival material and interviews with her friends, Life Burns High captures the charisma and appeal of journalist Charmian Clift, who lived a bohemian life in Greece before returning to Australia with her husband George Johnston. What was it about this outspoken unconventional free spirit that made readers adore the weekly column she wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald? Following the screening, filmmakers Sue Milliken and Rachel Lane join definitive Clift biographer Nadia Wheatley to discuss her enduring relevance.

Here’s Hoping (Memoir/Activism)

Family violence prevention campaigner and 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty is so beloved and admired, she needs no introduction. But having won the sympathy and respect of a nation in the face of the most terrible violence, what next? How do you move forward and restore your faith in human nature? What does Hope (the title of her new book) even mean in the aftermath of tragedy? Rosie Batty shares her remarkable capacity for optimism with Jeremy Lasek.

Whale Writer (First Nations/Nature writing)

Local First Nations author Jodi Edwards has been teaching us the Dharawal language at the festival these past couple of years. But she is also currently pursuing her own academic research into the relationship of coastal First Nations people to the whale population that migrates past our beaches every year. We are thrilled to present her in conversation with world authority and award-winning filmmaker Tom Mustill about his new book, How to Speak Whale. Join us for an unforgettable dialogue about animal communication and what it can teach us.

Singing Our Stories (Journalism/Music/Memoir)

Why do some songs catch the imagination of a nation and become anthems? Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie, author of music memoir The Silver River, explores the elusive qualities that make some lyrics resonate to express bigger truths about who we are with rock journalist Glen Humphries, author of Aussie Rock Anthems.

Attention and Devotion: An eye-opening workshop with Ailsa Piper

Super-observer and memoirist Ailsa Piper (Sinning Across Spain, The Attachment, For Life) invites participants to expand their writerly observational skills, and to explore the selections and the magnification of details that can become markers for character, place and even plot.

How can the micro transform, or even become, the macro? How can a miniature hold a world? How can a detail become an entry point, a beginning, or a satisfying resolution?

Whether you work in prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama or lyrics, the right detail in the right place can do more work, and carry more weight than pages of exposition or dialogue.

Participants are invited to attend with pen, paper, one small but very familiar object, and wide-open eyes.

True Story festival is a project by Caroline Baum, the South Coast Writers Festival and the Illawarra Flame. Book tickets via the SCWC website