Using the Rushdie fatwa as a jumping-off point, Minchin will examine the role of storytelling, music and satire in growing a vibrant, free society, and how extremism – old and new, left and right, delivered via keyboard or knife – damages all of us.
Looking back at his career so far, he will put his own record on the stand: testing the consistency of his ideas across a lifetime of work and trying to be honest about where he fell short. Did the times he used his platform to agitate do more harm than good? Were the times he withdrew an effort to make space for other voices, or was he just avoiding pile-ons and protecting his brand?
Has he become a coward? Have we all?
And at what cost?
Join us on 21 August for the Opening Night of Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2026 at Carriageworks.
