SWF Great Debate: True Friends Stab You in the Front
Annabel Crabb | David Marr | Rhys Nicholson | Justine Rogers I Jennifer Wong I Matilda Boseley | Yumi Stynes
The scintillating chronicler of human weakness, Oscar Wilde, once said, “True friends stab you in the front”.
In this popular event, writer and presenter Annabel Crabb and writer David Marr lead opposing teams in a rollicking debate on the legitimacy of this aphorism about friends who betray each other.
Featuring debaters Matilda Boseley, Rhys Nicholson, Justine Rogers and Jennifer Wong, and adjudicated by Yumi Stynes, this debate is sure to get provocative, pithy and personal.
This event is presented by Sydney Writers’ Festival and supported by the City of Sydney and UNSW Sydney.
UNSW SYDNEY X SYDNEY WRITERS' FESTIVAL
UNSW Sydney is the exclusive university sponsor and proud Premier Partner of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Featuring UNSW academics and researchers on Sydney Writers’ Festival stages, this partnership brings together a shared vision of creativity, curiosity and thought leadership.
TICKETS & VENUE INFORMATION
Ticket Prices*
Adult – From $35
Concession – From $30
Wheelchair User – $30
*plus booking fees
Venue Information
This event will take place live at Sydney Town Hall. For all venue and visitor safety information, please visit Sydney Writers' Festival.
ACCESS
Assistive Listening
Available in this venue.
Wheelchair Access
All Festival venues are accessible, and provide wheelchair and level access. To book accessible seats at Sydney Town Hall, please contact the Sydney Writers' Festival Box Office on 02 9256 4200 or email ticketing@swf.org.au.
Accessible Parking
Accessible parking is available for approved permit in designated parking zones. Contact Sydney Writers' Festival Box Office on 02 9256 4200 or email ticketing@swf.org.au for more information.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT & PARKING
Sydney Town Hall is located at 483 George Street, Sydney. This is a two minute walk from Town Hall Station. Catching public transport is strongly recommended as parking in the area is strictly limited. For more information on transport, visit swf.org.au or visit transportnsw.info.
CONTACT
Sydney Writers' Festival
For all event enquiries, contact the Sydney Writers' Festival on 02 9256 4200 or email ticketing@swf.org.au.
UNSW Centre for Ideas
For all other enquiries, contact the UNSW Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485 or email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au.
National Relay Service
The UNSW Centre for Ideas and Sydney Writers' Festival are happy to receive phone calls via the National Relay Service. TTY users, phone 133 677, then ask for the applicable organisations phone number (listed above). Speak and Listen users, phone 1300 555 727 then ask for applicable organisations phone number (listed above). Internet relay users, visit relayservice.gov.au, then ask for applicable organisations phone number (listed above).
Annabel Crabb
Annabel Crabb is a writer and presenter for the ABC. She's also a keen amateur podcaster and co-hosts the inexplicably popular Chat 10, Looks 3 podcast with her colleague Leigh Sales, who lends credibility to the exercise. Annabel has worked extensively in newspapers, radio and TV as a political journalist and won a Walkley Award for Stop At Nothing: The Life and Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull. She published a bestselling book about gender and work, The Wife Drought in 2014, and has published two cookbooks with childhood friend Wendy Sharpe, the latest of which is Special Guest. Her most recent Quarterly Essay is Men at Work.
David Marr
David Marr is a journalist and broadcaster who writes for The Guardian. He’s published a couple of biographies and a number of books about politics, censorship and immigration. Over the last 10 years he has written a number of Quarterly Essays. His latest is The White Queen: One Nation and the Politics of Race. He previously presented Media Watch and appears regularly on Insiders and The Drum. His most recent book is Killing for Country: A Family Story.
Rhys Nicholson
With an enormous passion for live performing, Rhys Nicholson’s work continues to receive awards and accolades around the world. As well as numerous televised stand up performances in Australia, the UK and Canada, they are a judge on Drag Race Down Under, a published author and very busy collager.
Justine Rogers
Dr Justine Rogers is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney, specialising in ethics, justice and new technologies. A lapsed stand-up, she found life without self-doubt oddly unsatisfying and is now co-writing a comedy-drama – proof that it's never too late to follow your dreams that you'll give up again.
Jennifer Wong
Jennifer Wong is a Chinese-Australian writer and comedian. As a wordplay-loving food enthusiast, she's the presenter of ABC's Chopsticks or Fork?, a six-part series about Chinese restaurants in regional Australia. Her first book, Chopsticks or Fork?, co-written with Lin Jie Kong, was published by Hardie Grant in late 2024. She writes a column for The Guardian called ‘Jennifer Wong's Class Act’.
Yumi Stynes
Yumi Stynes hosts a national radio show on the KiiS network, The 3pm Pickup, and has written a series of guidebooks, including Welcome to Consent, which was recently named one of the New York Public Library's top 50 books of 2021. In spite of her history of TV presenting, Yumi is now best known for Ladies, We Need to Talk, which has been a cult podcast since it first dropped in 2017, spawning its own book and numerous ‘book’ clubs where women get together and unpack what they've heard after each new episode. If she dies tomorrow, she'll be glad that she got to co-write the definitive guidebook on what to do when you get your period.
Matilda Boseley
Matilda Boseley is an award-winning social media reporter and presenter for Guardian Australia. She has spearheaded the publication's popular TikTok channel where she writes and hosts their short-form news explainers. Her work on the platform has won her a Quill Award for Innovation in Journalism and was nominated for a Walkley Award for the same category. Named Walkley Awards' 2019 Student Journalist of the Year. She regularly reports on issues affecting young people, women and mental health and her first book, The Year I Met My Brain, documents her experiences and discoveries after being diagnosed with ADHD at 23 and investigates the hidden prevalence and costs of ADHD among adults.