THE LAST SUPPER
With special guests Peter Singer, Hanno Sauer, Glenn Loury, Anke Richter, Jesse Bering, Melissa Chan – and more to follow. Who knows who you might be dining with …
So unforgettable it’s back. Popping up in the very heart of the Festival at Carriageworks, the Last Supper is where native ingredients collide with culinary classics — a shared feast built to loosen tongues and start trouble in the best possible way. Every course lands like the last argument you had: an explosion of flavour matched only by the conversation.
THE MENU: A TASTE, NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH:
caramelised. slow-roasted. fragrant. preserved. whipped. fried. drizzled. crisp. seasonal. candied. melting. crunch. amen.
All will be revealed at the table.
The drinks match the mood. Begin with an arrival cocktail from two of NSW’s finest — Karu Distillery and Lord Howe Island Distilling Co. — then settle in with Doom Juice: Australia’s most smashable, sustainable, natural wines, in Rouge, Weiss and Fizz, or a tasty brew from Hawke’s Brewing. Not drinking? You won’t be an afterthought: Heaps Normal brings the same craft and character to a full line-up of alcohol-free pours, so everyone at the table is holding something worth toasting.
This is the dinner where you bring the party — or at least the witty repartee — and whatever the revelation, you leave it at the table. You’ll get up close and personal with fellow Festival-tragics and some of our program’s biggest thinkers. This is your turn to talk — your fix of greenroom chat right in the middle of the action, where dinner-party stories and hot takes from our speakers spill out in ways they never would on stage.
This Last Supper won’t end in betrayal — just full stomachs, fizzing brains, and possibly a few new frenemies.
What to expect
- A pop-up feast in the middle of the Festival at Carriageworks
- An arrival cocktail from Karu Distillery & Lord Howe Island Distilling Co.
- A shared menu, created with Two Good Co, built on a love of community and the table
- Doom Juice — Australia’s finest natural wines (Rouge, Weiss and Fizz) — plus a full range of non-alcoholic options from Heaps Normal
- A gift from our stationery partner Rhodia, so you can keep track of every dangerous idea
- Dietary requirements catered for wherever we can. We’ll confirm these with you before the Supper
Jesse Bering [USA]
Jesse Bering is a science writer, research psychologist, and head of the Science Communication program at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He is the author of The Belief Instinct: Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? And Other Reflections on Being Human, Perv, and A Very Human Ending. His writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Discover, The Guardian, The New Republic, The New York Times, Playboy, Scientific American, The Telegraph, Slate, Vice, and other outlets. He currently writes a weekly column for the French magazine Le Point. His latest book is The Incredible Afterlives of Dr. Stevenson: One Scientist’s Epic Quest for Evidence of Reincarnation, Apparitions, Poltergeists, and Other Matters of the Soul.
Melissa Chan [HK/TWN/US]
Melissa Chan is an Emmy-nominated Hong Kong and Taiwanese American journalist based between Los Angeles and Berlin. Previously posted in China, she became the first journalist in over a decade to be expelled by authorities. She has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, and reported for VICE News and Al Jazeera. You Must Take Part in Revolution is her debut graphic novel.
Glenn Loury [USA]
Glenn C. Loury is Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences, Emeritus, at Brown University. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economics Association and a Member of the American Philosophical Society. He has published scholarly and public intellectual articles on racial inequality in the US. His most recent book, Self-Censorship (2025), expands upon his ideas on political correctness from the 1990s. He is the host of The Glenn Show, a widely viewed podcast, and has also written an acclaimed memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative.
Anke Richter [GER/NZL]
Anke Richter is an award-winning international journalist in Aotearoa New Zealand and the author of the bestseller Cult Trip: Inside the World of Coercion & Control (HarperCollins, 2022). Originally from Germany, Anke has worked as a foreign correspondent from the South Pacific for over two decades, contributed to documentaries and investigated high-control groups and spiritual movements around the world. She is the founder and director of Decult, a grassroots charity that held the first cult awareness conference in Australasia.
Hanno Sauer [NDL/GER]
Hanno Sauer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, specialising in ethics and political philosophy. His book The Invention of Good and Evil: A World History of Morality has been translated into 20 languages and was listed as one of the best books of 2024 by The New Yorker, The Economist, and others. His most recent book, Klasse: Die Entstehung von Oben und Unten (German) is about social class and status.
Peter Singer
Journalists have bestowed on Peter Singer the tag of “world’s most influential living philosopher” – an acknowledgement of the importance of his work on the development of effective altruism, and in triggering the modern animal rights movement. Singer was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946. From 1999-2024 he held the position of Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Life You Can Save and The Most Good You Can Do. His latest project is Profit for Good.
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country on which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
The views and opinions expressed by the Festival participants are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.