Sydney rules as Slow Horses author visits Down Under

"If Moscow rules meant watch your back, London rules meant cover your arse," spy novelist Mick Herron writes in Slow Horses.

Now, the famed author behind the Slough House series is about to familiarise himself with Sydney rules, as a headliner in the harbour city's 2026 writers' festival.

Artistic director Ann Mossop first invited the author in 2022, and with season seven of the Slow Horses television adaptation in production and the ninth Slough House book Clown Town released in 2025, the moment was finally right.

Other international names include fantasy writer and author of satire Yellowface RF Kuang, investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, and 2025 Booker Prize winner David Szalay.

The 2026 theme was Show Me the Truth, a look at truth and trust in the age of misinformation, disinformation and AI hallucination, said Mossop.

"There's this idea that anything you read, you don't know if you can trust it or where it comes from, so we thought it's really important to talk about that," she said.

Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern is also among the guests, while Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales discusses his book The Seven Rules of Trust.

The week-long festival in May includes more than 200 events with at least 250 authors, and there are some big Australian names too.

There's a celebration to mark 30 years since the publication of the Stephanie Alexander's seminal cookbook The Cook's Companion, and Trent Dalton returns to discuss his recent release Gravity Let Me Go.

The 2025 Miles Franklin Award winner Siang Lu also makes an appearance, as does 2026 Victorian Prize for Literature winner, poet Evelyn Araluen.

There are topical forums, with After Bondi inviting writers to reflect on grief and solidarity in the wake of the 2025 terrorist attack, while Jewish writers Lee Kofman, Jon Sopel and Michael Visontay discuss anti-Semitism in Holding Up the Mirror.

Brave Conversations: When Words Offend looks at how we can disagree better, with Antoinette Lattouf and Greg Sheridan among the guests.

Academic Randa Abdel-Fattah will appear at two events after she was booted from the line-up at Adelaide Writers' Week earlier in 2026, sparking a mass boycott that culminated in the event's cancellation.

In February, NSW Premier Chris Minns questioned Dr Abdel-Fattah's inclusion in another literary festival at Newcastle, but Mossop would not be drawn on whether the Sydney festival had faced pressure over its programming.

"The current political climate is quite intense in some ways, but a writers' festival is a space for different writers with different perspectives and opinions to come and talk about their work," she said.

The festival had record box office revenue in 2025, with more than 110,000 attendances - but it also relies on corporate sponsorships and philanthropic donations.

Mossop also declined to comment on whether these had been affected by festival programming.

"I'm confident that our supporters, sponsors, and donors understand that our programming is independent, that we really value their support, but ultimately we are creating a program that is based on excellent writing," she said.

The festival runs from May 17 to 24.