International authors at BWF 2025

You may know Griffin Dunne from his starring role in Martin Scorsese’s 1985 cult classic After Hours. Or from his memorable turn as doomed backpacker Jack Goodman in 1981’s An American Werewolf in London. Or as the nephew of legendary writer Joan Didion and the director of an intimate documentary about her, 2017’s The Center Will Not Hold. Or as the son of Dominick Dunne, the famed investigative journalist who covered the OJ Simpson trial for Vanity Fair. One thing’s for sure: Griffin Dunne has a lot of stories to tell, and his incredible memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club, is both a star-studded tale of growing up in Tinseltown and a moving portrait of family love and loss.

If pop culture’s your game, Sophie Gilbert’s your girl. She’s a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a National Magazine Award winner and a staff writer at The Atlantic – and now, she’s bringing her whipsmart commentary on entertainment and feminism to BWF. Sophie’s latest book, Girl on Girl, surveys the cultural trends of the ‘90s and early noughties – from the punk energy of riot grrrl to the limp platitudes of girl power – and how they turned women against one another, ushering us all into a post-feminist world shaped by porn, misogyny and #girlboss capitalism.

Craving some culinary conversation? We’ve got the ultimate treat for you. UK-based Helen Goh is not only Yotam Ottolenghi’s pastry chef and lead product developer – she’s also a practising psychologist who understands the many ways baking brings us big feelings as well as big flavours. Her first solo cookbook, Baking and the Meaning of Life, is a delicious compendium of sweet and savoury recipes and a testament to the joy of breaking bread (and biscuits, and cakes, and cheese puffs…) with others.

Set your reading pulse racing with Callie Hart, the fastest selling romantasy author in Australia right now. UK-born and US-based, Callie shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list last year with her banter-filled blockbuster Quicksilver; now, addicted readers are desperately awaiting its steamy sequel, Brimstone. Crackling with chemistry and brooding with dark twists and turns, Callie’s books will keep you up all night – so don’t miss your chance to catch her at BWF before Brimstone sets the world aflame!

Think you already know about the seven wonders of the world? Think again. Award-winning British historian, author and broadcaster Bettany Hughes is here to unveil the secrets and surprises of antiquity’s most famous monuments. The first woman to present a history program on UK television, Hughes is now renowned for her ability to bring the past to life on the page and the screen. Her latest book, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, takes readers on a dazzling journey to investigate these incredible feats of human imagination and explore why they still captivate us today.

We live in difficult times – so it’s just as well award-winning US author and journalist Maggie Jackson is here to help us make sense of them. Her acclaimed essays and commentary have long offered prescient insights into social trends, and her 2018 book Distracted: Reclaiming Our Focus in a World of Lost Attention prompted global debate about the social consequences of living in an information age. Her latest release, Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure, makes a compelling case for the transformative power of uncertainty in a volatile world.

Money talks – and David McWilliams knows how to talk about money. This Irish economist, writer and co-host of the hit podcast The David McWilliams Show breaks down complex global economic and political challenges, from tech bros and tariffs to bankers and bailouts, with effortless wit and irreverence (and, of course, he does it all in a charming Irish brogue). In his latest book, Money: A Story of Humanity, McWilliams demystifies economics and explains how dough drives human behaviour. Your BWF experience will be all the richer for catching him in action.

If you love losing yourself in a Great American Novel, Eric Puchner should go straight to the top of your BWF dance card. A PEN/Faulkner Award finalist, California Book Award winner and Best American Stories contributor, Puchner is known for his finely wrought characters and tragicomic mastery of family dynamics. His latest novel, Dream State, is a gorgeously rich and generation-spanning exploration of familial and romantic love that plays out against the backdrop of a slowly warming Montana. Oh, and it’s also a 2025 Oprah’s Book Club pick. Run, don’t walk.

New Zealand-based epic fantasy scribe Helen Scheuerer is bringing her steamy enemies-to-lovers energy down under! Bestselling author of The Oremere Chronicles, The Curse of the Cyren Queen quartet and The Legends of Thezmarr, Scheuerer pairs feisty female characters with spicy sexual chemistry and action-packed plots. If you like your romantasy to have an extra-hot chilli rating, Scheuerer’s the one to watch this BWF.

If you’re a certain age, you’ll remember Ione Skye’s star-making turn in Cameron Crow’s cult classic rom-com Say Anything (the boombox scene: if you know, you know). At just sixteen, she went from high-school dropout to Gen X It Girl, soon becoming the indie darling of ‘90s cinema – but there’s so much more to her story. In her fantastically entertaining and tender coming-of-age memoir Say Anything, she shares the complexities and challenges of her unconventional life offscreen, from growing up in the shadow of her absent father – famous folk singer Donovan – to exploring her bisexuality in ‘90s LA and struggling with the trappings of fame.