This year, the opening weekend of the Melbourne Writers Festival 2012 belongs to The New Yorker, surely the best general interest magazine in the world today.

Over eight events, five of the magazine's luminaries, among them music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, investigative journalist David Grann (recently featured in our Sunday Reading section) and editorial director Henry Finder will talk through the trials, tribulations and rewards of working for this fabled journalistic institution.

While the event passes are now sold out, individual session tickets go on sale tomorrow, July 20. In an ideal world, we'd probably attend each and every one of them, but if we had to choose, here's the Smith shortlist:

An Evening with The New Yorker: Henry Finder, David Grann, Sasha Frere-Jones, cartoonist Roz Chast and art critic Peter Schjeldahl on stage together, giving us an unparalleled insight into the workings of The New Yorker.

On Obsession: David Grann, who regularly spends a year researching and writing his articles, talks with journalist James Button about the obsessive mind.

Sasha Frere-Jones and Robert Forster: The New Yorker's music critic chats with his Australian equivalent in the Monthly about music writing in the pop age.

The Melbourne Writers Festival 2012 runs from August 23 – September 2 and we have two double passes to any regular event of your choice (subject to availability) to give away. Send your name and address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to enter.