Join us for a fascinating conversation with Michael Brissenden and Paul Daley, acclaimed journalists, now writing thrilling fiction. They’ll be discussing their books - how and why they write what they do – the writing process – their transition from journalism to fiction, and the latitude fiction provides to talk about things that are happening in our world.​

​

​Michael Brissenden is an author and a journalist. He has written both non-fiction and fiction. He has published four crime thrillers – The List -2017, Dead Letters 2021, Smoke 2024 and the most recent, Dust, published in 2025 by Affirm Press. Before becoming a full time writer Michael was a political journalist and foreign correspondent with the ABC for 35 years.

​

​​Paul Daley is a multi-award-winning journalist and an author of nine fiction and non-fiction books. He has been a finalist in major Australian literary awards including the Prime Minister’s History Prize and the NIB Award. He is a multi Walkley Award-winning feature writer and columnist for `The Guardian’ where he largely writes about national identity, history and Indigenous issues. His third, most recent novel is `The Leap (Summit Books, 2025), a critically-praised literary thriller about Australian frontier violence and its legacies. His next novel is about memory and male friendship.