Meet the Author – Marc Fennell

Next date: Wednesday, 09 September 2026 | 06:30 PM to 07:30 PM

An uproarious, illuminating trek through contested history, from the creator of the hit podcast and TV series.

In the days of the British Empire, things were taken that probably shouldn’t have been. So how come they’re still in museums, galleries and some much stranger places?

British museums are home to millions of fascinating objects. The trouble is, a whole bunch of them were stolen in wildly dodgy ways. A chance encounter with one of these items (a mechanical tiger/music box that mauls a soldier when you turn a handle) prompted journalist Marc Fennell to ask: ‘What is that? And how the hell did it get here?’

The answer was so gloriously weird that it sent Fennell on a globetrotting adventure, investigating the most audacious criminal enterprise in history – the British Empire.

With wit, empathy and unflinching honesty, Stuff the British Stole reveals the true stories behind remarkable objects in the world’s most celebrated museums. These artifacts tell the stories of power, resistance and survival that have shaped our modern world.

Part travelogue, part true crime, part reckoning with history, this is a book about how the hell we got here.

Marc Fennell is a Walkley-winning journalist and an AACTA-nominated filmmaker. He is the creator of the popular television series & podcast Stuff the British Stole for ABC Australia and CBC Canada. He is also seen each weeknight as the quizmaster of SBS TV’s iconic game show Mastermind.

He will be in-conversation with Michaela Kalowski. She is an interviewer, moderator & curator for writers and ideas festivals. Highlight interviews include Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Stan Grant, Tim Winton, & Rebecca Kuang.

She was curator of Big Weekend of Books, ABC RN’s annual on-air writers’ festival for five years.