Sydney Writers’ Festival’s Live & Local program is coming to more than 140 libraries, theatres and cultural venues, as they’re saying, “from Alice Springs to Albany, Queanbeyan to Kalgoorlie”.

Not that Canberra audiences miss out on a selected line-up of streamed events, it’s just that Queanbeyan has a more alliterative name.

In fact, Tuggeranong Arts Centre will host this tall-talk venture for two days, and Queanbeyan Library for three days. Each location will make a different selection of content.

Artistic director of the festival, Ann Mossop, says: “We know not everyone can make it to Sydney, but that shouldn’t mean missing out on extraordinary conversations.”

Among the homegrown talkers in the 2025 line-up of literary voices will be Helen Garner in conversation with David Leser, reflecting on football and the cycles of life in The Season, her first full-length book in a decade.

Then there’s Markus Zusak, author of international bestsellers The Book Thief and The Messenger, and Gina Chick, former winner of Alone Australia and author of her wilderness memoir, We Are the Stars.

A triple whammy will involve the famous Moriarty writer sisters, Liane (author of Here One Moment, Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers) Jaclyn (the Kingdom and Empires series) and Nicola (Every Last Suspect and The Fifth Letter).

On the more cosmopolitan front will be Irish author Colm Tóibín discussing his 2024 novel, Long Island, in which he surprised everyone by bringing back some familiar characters from his earlier novel Brooklyn.

Samantha Harvey, winner of the 2024 Booker Prize and the Hawthornden Prize for her novel Orbital, will tell how she watched a continuous live-stream of Earth from the International Space Station, where her novel is set.

American writers Torrey Peters and Rumaan Alam will present Queerstories.

Keeping us up to date, Peter Beinart, Barry Cassidy, Emma Shortis and Nick Bryant will comment on Donald Trump’s second term in a session called TrumpocalypseNow, while former French spy Jack Beaumont and historian Ben Macintyre give the inside info on real-life special-intelligence.

If the mix is too heady, there’s a sweet treat in Bakers’ Delight, a light-hearted talk with Australia’s pastry queens, Nadine Ingram, Natalie Paull and Kate Reid.

Sydney Writers’ Festival’s Live & Local. Tuggeranong Arts Centre, May 22-23, Queanbeyan Library, May 22-24. All booking details at swf.org.au