From devil horns to deep listening — Maxine Beneba Clark, Debra Dank, Damon Young on the power of communication

From finding the right language to connect to Country, making the world a more poetic place for kids, to a Vulcan salute between two lovers — communication makes the world go round. Three brilliantly creative communicators join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the 2025 Byron Writers Festival to consider ways we communicate and how we can do it better. With great communication comes deep connection, understanding, meaning and that wonderful feeling of being understood and understanding another. With bad communication comes deep misunderstanding, disconnection, confusion, and conflict. Speakers Dr Debra Dank Gudanji, Wakaja, Kalkadoon woman Enterprise Fellow, University of South Australia Author of Terraglossia (2025) and We Come With This Place (2022) Winner of four New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards in 2023, including Book of the Year. Maxine Beneba Clark Writer, poet, author and children's author of Afro-Caribbean descent Multi-award winning author of more than fifteen books including The Hate Race (2018), Foreign Soil (2017), Carrying the World, Stuff I'm Not Sorry For: 99 poems for young people (2025) and forthcoming in 2025 is Beautiful Changelings. Inaugural Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne Winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry Dr Damon Young Award-winning philosopher, author and children's author Author of thirteen books including On Getting Off: Sex and Philosophy (2020), The Art of Reading (2016), Philosophy in the Garden (2012), and Immortal Gestures: Journeys Into the Unspoken (2025) Our thanks to the 2025 Byron Writers Festival director Jessica Alice and team.