M.A.D.E in Ballarat streams to Fed Square for Melbourne Writers Festival

After their Melbourne appearances for the Writers Festival, The Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E.) will be hosting award-winning international authors M.J. Hyland and Junot Díaz, plus other local and international luminaries, as part of the regional leg of the Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF).

Over the weekend of the 24th and 25th August, Victoria's newest Museum will welcome some of the biggest names on  the literary scene to the Ballarat community, as M.A.D.E. is re-imagined as a literary hub – with key events being streamed to Federation Square for the first time in the MWF's history.

Díaz and Hyland join social commentator Jane Caro and activist Aiden Ricketts along with local authors, journalists and bloggers as they discuss the sometimes contentious, always entertaining topics of politics, power and democracy.

Amongst the myriad of events on offer, Caro and Ricketts will lead a panel conversation entitled 'Destroying the Joint' - one of the fastest growing social media conversations about sexism and misogyny.

ABC social media expert Jarrod Watt, artist and writer Amy Tsilemanis, blogger Erin McCuskey and author Elmo Keep are also among the line-up.

A series of Writer Workshops will be held over the weekend, along with an opportunity to meet the speakers and book signings.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body

Both City of Ballarat Arts & Culture team and M.A.D.E are partnering with Melbourne Writers Festival as sponsors to help create this exciting program.

All tickets include free entry to M.A.D.E., a new style of museum where robust commentary and debate about contemporary issues is encouraged. M.A.D.E commemorates the role of the Eureka Stockade in shaping our nation and offers an opportunity for all to stand on the site where young miners stood up for their rights, and contemplate our future roles and directions.