Helen Razer: Against Compassion, Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2015

For much of the 1990s, Helen Razer could be heard blabbing on the ABC's youth network, Triple J. While the national broadcaster still occasionally permits her to talk in exchange for money, she is now chiefly engaged in the work of writing on social and cultural matters. She works with Crikey, The Saturday Paperand a range of publications who permit her to say terrible things. Her fifth book, A Short History of Stupid,remains a best-seller and was recently shortlisted for the NSW State Library's inaugural Russell Prize.