In conversation with Dr Peter Goldsworthy

This is a recorded webinar, originally held on Wednesday 04 March 2026. You can now access the full video recording, audio-only version, and written transcript through this course.

Welcome to the Academy MEE Webinar!

We’re honoured to present a special conversation with Dr Peter Goldsworthy – acclaimed author, poet, librettist, and long-serving general practitioner. In this Academy of Medical Education Entertainment webinar, “In Conversation with Dr Peter Goldsworthy”, we explore the unique intersection of medicine and the creative arts through the lens of a clinician whose literary achievements have shaped Australian cultural life.

From his early years working in alcohol and drug rehabilitation to a celebrated writing career spanning novels, poetry, opera, theatre, and memoir, Peter offers rare insight into balancing clinical practice with creative expression. With award-winning works including Maestro, Three Dog Night, and his recent memoir The Cancer Finishing School, this conversation reflects on storytelling, medicine, illness, identity, and the human condition – offering inspiration for health professionals seeking meaning both inside and beyond the consulting room.

ACADEMY MEE WEBINAR
Topic | In conversation with Dr Peter Goldsworthy
Guest speaker | Dr Peter Goldsworthy 
Date | Wednesday 4 March at 7.30pm – 8.30pm (AEDT) via Zoom

Meeting Host | Dr Tony Chu

To get access sign up via your membership or purchase a ticket to this webinar. You will be provided the Zoom Link within the course details within.

About Our Presenter:

Peter Goldsworthy grew up in various Australian country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin. After graduating in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1974, he worked for many years in alcohol and drug rehabilitation. Since then, he has divided his time equally between writing and general practice. He has won major literary awards across a range of genres: poetry, short story, the novel, in opera, and most recently in theatre. His memoir of childhood, His Stupid Boyhood  (Penguin Hamish Hamilton), was published in  2013.  His most recent book is the ‘cancer memoir’:  The Cancer Finishing School (2024, Penguin Viking).

His novels have sold over 400,000 copies in Australia alone, have been translated into many European and Asian languages; Three Dog Night, won the FAW Christina Stead Award’; in 2003 his first novel Maestro was voted by members of the Australian Society of Authors one of the Top 40 Australian books of all time. Maestro is now available in the Angus & Robertson Australian Classics series, and his 1995 novel Wish in the Text Classics series. His 1992 novel, Honk If You Are Jesus, was recently re-released as  part of the Australian Literary Heritage Untapped project. He wrote the libretti for the Richard Mills operas Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Batavia, the latter winning Mills and Goldsworthy the 2002 Robert Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work, and a Green Room Award for Special Creative Achievement. 

Maestro, Three Dog Night, Wish, Honk If You Are Jesus, and the short story The Kiss have been adapted for the stage. Honk won the 2006 Ruby Award for Best New Work. The short film of The Kiss, adapted and directed by Ashlee Page, won both the 2010 Dendy and AFI awards for best short feature, and an AFI award for Best Cinematography. It also won the Australian Teachers of Media Award for best short film.