Michael Cunningham

Michael Cunningham is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Home at the End of the World, The Hours, Specimen Days and, most recently, By Nightfall. A master of lyrical, compassionate and powerful prose, Cunningham spoke with Malcolm Knox at the Wheeler Centre. Subjects addressed in Cunningham and Knox’s hour-long conversation include Cunningham’s ‘normal’ upbringing, his disciplined writing process, the cinematic adaptation of The Hours and whether he’d consider writing science fiction. He reflects on his encounter with Gail Dines on ABC TV’s Q&A program, and notes Australia’s balance between ‘a kind of gravitas and a good joke… that’s hard to find in a lot of places’. Also discussed are the 80s/90s AIDS epidemic (and his role as an activist) − Cunningham even shares his tips for slowing one’s arrest − and the question of what obligations gay artists have to reflect their sexuality in their work. Michael Cunningham appeared in Australia as a guest of the Wheeler Centre and the Sydney Writers' Festival.