Magical Thinking: Message from Festival Director Veronica Sullivan

Any reader will tell you that books possess a special kind of magic. They transform our understanding of ourselves and others. They animate divergent ways of seeing. They immerse us in fantastic worlds that blur the line between the real and the imagined, and offer pathways towards new possible futures. 

Magical thinking can be risky – assumptions are fallible, memory is subjective, and it’s impossible to ever fully know what’s inside another person’s mind. Unaccompanied by action, belief can stagnate or taper into inertia. 

But reading equips us to navigate the world with empathy, curiosity and imagination – to dream big and take a leap of faith. Storytelling is a transformative force – a way to not only understand the world but to change it, one story at a time.  

Across four packed days this May, some of Australia and the world’s most brilliant and incisive writers and thinkers will gather in our City of Literature to celebrate the alchemy of storytelling, and the power of imagination and connection to open doors we never thought possible. We invite you to immerse yourself in a spectacular long weekend of fascinating stories and big ideas. 

At this year’s Festival, you’ll encounter nuanced discussions spanning literature, politics, philosophy, history and psychology. We’ll explore the fine line between utopia and dystopia; the mythologies of our national identity; and consider how to find meaning in times of crisis.  

We’ll celebrate different types of brains and thought traditions across cultures. We’ll centre alternative means of communication from art to translation, podcasting to poetry. We'll traverse time and space, from the mountains of Iceland to the International Space Station, from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to medieval France, before returning to the laneways of Melbourne.  

The 2025 Festival program has been immeasurably enriched by the contributions of this year’s First Nations Curators, Daniel Browning and Nardi Simpson. Clear-eyed creativity and passion are at the heart of their five curated events, which are set to be highlights of the festival. 

You’ll also encounter Booker Prize winners, inspiring memoirists, genre-defying storytellers, acute political analysts, vibrant podcasters, transcendent musicians, shimmering poets, and emerging writers who will shape Australian literature in years to come.  

Join us in May to be transported to other worlds, and to find connection in this one, as we embrace the magic that lingers long after the final page.