Show Notes
We're living in increasingly brittle times. Ideas that once provoked argument, now provoke outrage – and the art of debate has now shattered. What does it mean to think freely about our world when speech itself is treated as a hazard?
Through his experiences, writer Salman Rushdie speaks about the major themes of his writing, freedom of expression, religion, East-West relations and the role of the artist in the contemporary world.
Salman Rushdie is the best-selling author of twenty-two books, including Midnight's Children, which won both the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker; Shame, The Satanic Verses, The Moor's Last Sigh, and Quichotte, all of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize; East West a collection of stories; Joseph Anton a memoir; The Jaguar Smile a work of reportage; and three collections of essays, including Languages of Truth. His most recent book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for nonfiction. Rushdie is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. He is a former president of PEN America and the recipient of the PEN Centenary Courage Award. His books have been translated into over forty languages. In 2023, he was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of the Year, and has received a Queen's knighthood for his 'services to literature'.
More from Festival of Dangerous Ideas
For most of its modern history, Australia has sheltered under the wing of a great and powerful friend – first the UK, then the USA. But the rules-based order we've relied on is now unraveling. America is no longer the reliable ally it once was.
What happens when the institutions designed to protect human dignity come under strain? In the frontline human rights battles across the US, Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, China and beyond, the future of freedom may depends less on superpowers and more on whether democracies and civil society can reinvent the right for rights before it's too late. Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Philippe Bolopion and Australian Director at Human Rights Watch, Daniela Gavshon discuss how this is a moment to resist, not retreat. This session was recorded live in Sydney, August 2026. Philippe Bolopion is the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. He was formerly the United Nations Director of Human Rights Watch and has held several leadership positions. Bolopion has extensive experience in designing and implementing Human Rights Watch's advocacy strategies worldwide and in overseeing the organisation's advocacy response to crises. He has traveled extensively to conflict zones, including in Myanmar, Burundi, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Mali. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch in 2010, he spent five years working with the French daily Le Monde as the UN correspondent in New York. He has also worked as a journalist for France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI). Daniela Gavshon is the Australia director at Human Rights Watch, leading the organisation's engagement with the Australian government on foreign and domestic policy. Prior to this, she spent ten years at the Justice and Equity Centre (formerly Public Interest Advocacy Centre), where she founded the Truth and Accountability program, led human rights and war crimes investigations, and led a landmark project mapping laws and policies affecting First Nations people in Australia. She also serves as an adjunct lecturer at the University of New South Wales, is the co-chair of the War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association, and holds degrees in law and arts from the University of Sydney, and a master's in international humanitarian law from the Geneva Academy.
History's response to heretics has been consistent – to silence, shame and ultimately, burn them. Booker Prize-winning Australian novelist Richard Flanagan presents a new essay inspired by his book, Heresies. This session was recorded live in Sydney, August 2026. Richard Flanagan is an Australian writer who has been described by the Washington Post as 'one of our greatest living novelists' and as 'among the most versatile writers in the English language' by the New York Review of Books. He is the first and only author to have ever won both the Booker and the Baillie Gifford prizes.
Australia has spent years building new ways to recognise suffering and combat discrimination. From dedicated envoys to public reckonings – but are these approaches deepening division rather than healing it?
All the digital spaces we rely on have transformed into giant piles of inescapable shit. The app that used to work, now doesn't. The platform that once connected you, now surveils you. The internet that promised everything, now delivers misogyny, manipulation, conspiracy and fraud. Journalist Cory Doctorow has a word for it, and you've probably already used it – enshittification.