Monica Lewinsky is coming to Australia for her first ever speaking tour to headline Melbourne’s brand new festival of feminist ideas, Broadside.
Best known for having a White House sex scandal named after her (former US President Bill Clinton’s infamous #Monicagate), the anti-bullying activist and Vanity Fair writer will appear in conversation to discuss her experiences of online harassment culture.
“There’s no better person placed in our culture to discuss online bullying and harassment than Monica Lewinsky,” Broadside director Tam Zimet tells Guardian Australia.
“Her story has been co-opted and manipulated and used for personal and political gain for purposes that have nothing to do with her for two decades. And it’s taken this long for the culture to catch up. She has been talking about this for two decades and finally she’s in control of her narrative, and finally we all understand what that means.”
Hosted by Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre, the Broadside festival will happen will happen at Melbourne’s Town Hall on November 9th and 10th, featuring a boss lineup of more than 30 high-profile Aussie and international guests including Zadie Smith, Helen Garner, Mona Eltahawy, Ariel Levy, Courtney Barnett, Aileen Moreton-Robinson and more.
“We wanted to create a program that’s celebratory but also one with tricky and nuanced conversations,” Zimet says.
The programming will feature panels on contemporary political topics including feminism and capitalism, “decolonising” feminism, speaking up for one’s rights, and negotiating public space as a woman, with other speakers including pioneering Indigenous Australian feminist Aileen Moreton-Robinson, plus writers Fatima Bhutto, Ruby Hamad, Nayuka Gorrie and more.
Catch all the details below!
Meanwhile, those in Sydney can also catch Monica speaking at UNTHINKABLE, the latest series of talks from UNSW Centre for Ideas, happening across November 7-9, presented in partnership with Carriageworks.
Broadside 2019 Lineup
Monica Lewinsky
Zadie Smith
Jamila Rizvi
Courtney Barnett
Jia Tolentino
Nayuka Gorrie
Tressie McMillan Cottom
Curtis Sittenfeld
Raquel Willis
Helen Garner
Fatima Bhutto
Ruby Hamad
Michelle Law
Gala Vanting
Jax Jacki Brown
Aileen Moreton-Robinson
Aminatou Sow
Aretha Brown
Bhenji Ra
Caroline Martin
Claire Wright
Fran Kelly
Helen Garner
Intan Paramaditha
Jamila Rizvi
Jan Fran
Maria Tumarkin
Mehreen Faruqi
Mona Eltahawy
Nayuka Gorrie
Nicole Kalms
Nicole Lee
Patricia Cornelius
Santilla Chingaipe
Sarah Krasnostein
Sisonke Msimang
Sophie Black
Tressie McMillan Cottom
Broadside 2019
Saturday, 9th – Sunday, 10th November
Town Hall, Melbourne
Tickets: Official Website
