Festival of Dangerous Ideas

Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) and Sydney Opera House have joined forces to bring five of the most exciting speakers from this year's Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) into the MWF program.

Five international stars will join the FODI at MWF line-up:
Naomi Klein: internationally renowned activist and author of No Logo and This Changes Everything: Capitalism and Climate Change
Jon Ronson: documentary maker and writer of books including The Pyschopath Test, Men Who Stare at Goats and 2015's So You've Been Publicly Shamed
Tariq Ali: English Pakistani political commentator and author of The Duel: Pakistan on the Flightpath of American Power, The Obama Syndrome and The Extreme Centre: A Warning
Eric Schlosser, investigative journalist and author of books including Fast Food Nation, Reefer Madness and, most recently, Command and Control
Dr Marc Lewis, recovered drug addict, neuroscientist, professor of developmental psychology and author of The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease.

MWF Director Lisa Dempster said the FODI partnership added an exciting new dimension to the MWF program, which will run from 20-30 August 2015.

'For our 30th anniversary, we've planned the biggest, best and most innovative Festival yet, with more than 500 local and international artists coming together over 11 days," Ms Dempster said.

'For the first time this year a mini Festival of Dangerous Ideas will join the Melbourne Writers Festival program, bringing five amazing talents to Melbourne to challenge our thinking.

'We hope these incredible international names encourage Melburnians to save the date for MWF this year. Our full program and tickets will go live online at mwf.com.au on 24 July."

Ann Mossop, Head of Talks and Ideas at the Sydney Opera House, said: 'Working with the Melbourne Writers Festival is a great way for us to bring the Festival of Dangerous Ideas to Melbourne. These are some of the most exciting Festival of Dangerous Ideas sessions and speakers, and they will be bringing to life dangerous ideas about global politics, shame culture, climate change, nuclear weapons and addiction. This will add a new twist to Lisa Dempster's brilliant Writers Festival program and we know that Melbourne audiences will be excited and challenged by what they have to say."

MWF events will roll out across 60 venues including auditoriums, cafes, bars, on the streets of Melbourne and in a retro caravan on Federation Square. There will be 500 events to enjoy, and a third will be free.