Richard Flanagan: Heresies

Richard Flanagan 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 won the Commonwealth Prize for Gould’s Book of Fish and the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Question 7 was shortlisted for the Prix Femina étranger and the Prix du meilleur livre étranger as a novel, and won the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. He is the first and only author to have ever won both the Booker and the Baillie Gifford prizes.

Michael Ondaatje is Dean (Research) in Arts, Education and Law, and Professor of History, at Griffith University. Michael is a prize-winning researcher and teacher and a regular commentator on American history and politics in the media. He is a recipient of the Max Crawford Medal – ‘Australia’s most prestigious award for achievement and promise in the humanities.’ In 2026, the US Consulate General in Sydney formally recognised Michael for his ‘extraordinary and enduring contribution to fostering understanding of the United States and its history among Australian students and scholars’.