From Pulitzer finalists to poetry slams: Wheeler Centre reveals bold 2025 winter lineup

Melbourne’s home for smart, passionate and entertaining public talks has announced its winter season featuring powerful voices and fresh perspectives. The Wheeler Centre’s winter program dives into intimate and epic storytelling, serving up bold ideas and compelling conversations across multiple venues and formats.

The program reflects the depth and breadth of contemporary storytelling, from urgent conversations on climate and identity to memoir, poetry and literary workshops. CEO Erin Vincent highlights the celebration of significant First Nations voices throughout the season, including NAIDOC Week events and discussions on music, identity and community.

The Wheeler Centre’s winter program

• When: June – September 2025
• Where: The Wheeler Centre, Melbourne and regional venues
• Highlights: International speakers, local favourites, First Nations celebrations
• Special events: NAIDOC Week programming, youth poetry finals, book clubs

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

International and local literary voices

• Randa Abdel-Fattah: Tuesday 9 September, 6.30pm
• John Vaillant: Wednesday 13 August, 6.30pm
• Tracey Lee Holmes: Wednesday 3 September, 6.30pm (Melbourne), Thursday 4 September, 6pm (Ballarat)

Award-winning author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah returns with Discipline, examining moral compromises in the pursuit of justice. The novel weaves together stories of an academic in freefall and a young journalist navigating storytelling ethics, interrogating liberal institutions and consequences of silence.

Canadian journalist and Pulitzer Prize-finalist John Vaillant brings Fire Weather, exploring the 2016 Fort McMurray blaze as a lens for examining fossil fuels, climate change and human error. His conversation with Jo Lauder will unpack the moral, political and environmental background to the climate crisis.

Sports broadcasting trailblazer Tracey Lee Holmes steps into the spotlight with memoir The Eye of the Dragonfly: A Life Seeing the World Through Sport. Drawing on over three decades of frontline reporting, Holmes reflects on sport’s transformative power and her fight for gender equality within the industry.

Personal stories and family legacies

• Adam Courtenay: Tuesday 5 August, 6pm (Geelong), Wednesday 6 August, 6.30pm (Melbourne)
• Laura Jean McKay: Saturday 19 July, 1pm

Adam Courtenay shares the story behind My Father Bryce, his memoir about growing up in the shadow of Australia’s bestselling author Bryce Courtenay. The work chronicles the joys, complexities and private struggles of their relationship, reflecting on tensions between myth-making and truth, fame and family.

Award-winning writer Laura Jean McKay champions creativity in The Wrong Path to the Right Story, an inspiring masterclass encouraging writers to embrace the unexpected. Presented in partnership with Writers Victoria, her seminar explores fiction as a meandering process filled with experiments and new beginnings.

New series and special celebrations

• Bookish Club: Saturday 5 July, 2pm
• Better Off Said: Saturday 17 July, 7pm

The inaugural Bookish Club sees broadcaster Zan Rowe join host Jess McGuire to unpack Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan’s quietly devastating tale of moral courage in 1980s Ireland. The new series features beloved personalities diving into favourite reads with intimate audiences over wine and nibbles.

Better Off Said returns with a feline-and-canine twist, presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria and inspired by their Cats & Dogs exhibition. Writers Tony Birch, Mimi Kwa, Laura Jean McKay and Shelley Ware pay tribute to four-legged companions, plus a Living Eulogy will be delivered by 2025 John Clarke Prize winner Robert Skinner.

First Nations programming

• Yarning Strong: Friday 20 June, 6.30pm
• Blak Classics Reborn: Thursday 10 July, 7pm

Yarning Strong brings together Kamilaroi/Samoan beatmaker Becca Hatch, Wemba Wemba hip-hop artist Philly, and DJ, designer and activist Soju Gang for conversations about art, identity and survival. The event explores how music shapes journeys of self-discovery, healing and connection, featuring a live performance by Philly.

Strength, Vision, Legacy: Blak Classics Reborn celebrates NAIDOC Week, bringing together contributors to UQP’s First Nations Classics series. The event features Professor MaryAnn Bin-Sallik AO, Amy Thunig McGregor, Dr Paul Collis, Samuel Wagan Watson, Tara June Winch, Yasmin Smith and Gayle Kennedy celebrating Bill Dodd’s legacy.

Genre celebrations and emerging voices

• Flights of Romantasy: Tuesday 2 September, 6.30pm
• We’re All Just Trying Our Best: Thursday 21 August, 6.30pm
• Drawn to Action: Tuesday 5 August, 6.30pm

Flights of Romantasy features international bestsellers Tigest Girma (The Immortal Dark trilogy) and Stacey McEwan (A Forbidden Alchemy) celebrating the genre blending romance, fantasy and high-stakes adventure. They’ll discuss fan communities, trope subversions and romantasy’s global appeal.

We’re All Just Trying Our Best explores comedy, tragedy and the millennial condition with Patrick Lenton, Sashi Perera, Sinéad Stubbins and host Brodie Lancaster. The panel tackles existential dread, ironic detachment and pressure to succeed in a broken world.

Drawn to Action features Indian artist Ita Mehrotra and Palestinian-Irish illustrator Sofia Sabbagh discussing visual storytelling’s transformative power. They’ll unpack graphic storytelling craft and how the form expands conversations around art, justice, advocacy and resistance.

Youth and education programs

• OutLoud Slam!: Monday 25 August (Years 10-12), Monday 1 September (Years 7-9), 9.30am-2.30pm
• Plain English Speaking: Friday 25 July, 10.30am

The OutLoud Slam! 2025 Finals celebrates spoken word from students in Years 7-9 and 10-12. Hosted by poet and educator Emilie Zoey Baker, the high-energy event features school teams performing original works with surprise performances and special guest judges.

The Plain English Speaking Award 2025: Victorian State Final offers a platform for Victoria’s best young orators to share ideas with clarity and passion. The competition challenges secondary students to present bold speeches on issues that matter.

For more information, head here.