In the dusty halls of a Walsh Bay warehouse - a base for the 2015 Sydney Writers' Festival - poet and lyricist Omar Musa practices his craft.
The Malaysian-Australian writer has released three hip-hop albums addressing themes like racism, masculinity, violence and materialism. But this year he's attending the festival for the first time as a novelist.
"It was a very difficult process, especially when you haven't done it before," he said.
"But I wanted to combine prose and poetry and colloquialisms like Australian slang, graffiti, hip-hop slang. Something brand new, something fresh and textured."
HIs novel, Here Come The Dogs, follows three men on the fringe of Australian society trying to make their mark. Mr Musa grew up in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, which he said has been a constant source of inspiration.
"I'm trying to get my head around this country, where race, class, gender are all rubbing up against one another, creating friction, and now fiction," he said.
From cartoons and chalk art to fiction and politics, the Sydney Writers' Festival boasts over 300 exhibitions, panel discussions and workshops.
Guests include Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid, who penned bestsellers "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and "How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia".
Both are fictional stories with real-life twists, prompting Mr Hamid to discuss at the festival the role fiction can play in a climate where news and information is so readily available.
Migration is one topic Mr Hamid has spoken extensively about.
He told SBS the refugee crisis unfolding in south-east Asia is the latest example of a "nostalgic" trend among world leaders.
"Politicians are telling us, 'Look, the glory days of the past, we can keep those'," he said.
"Whether that's telling you the glory days of the Islamic caliphate should be maintained or whether Australia be kept in the same ethnic configuration it has today, it's all nostalgic. Nostalgia doesn't get us anywhere."
Meanwhile, one of Britain's biggest writers has held a book signing for younger readers in Parramatta.
Anthony Horowitz's creations range from the young-adult fiction hero Alex Rider, to the critically acclaimed television show "Foyle's War".
He's also become the first sanctioned writer to pen the latest tales of Sherlock Holmes, but taking on the guise of Arthur Conan Doyle is not as daunting as it sounds.
"When I start writing a book on my own, I have a blank page," he said.
"I have to invent my characters, my world, whatever.
"Give me Conan Doyle, and already I've got 19th century London already brillaintly portrayed, two of the greatest characters in literature. So already I'm up and running."
He has since been invited to write the next James Bond book in the style of Ian Fleming.
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