As the 2016 keynote speaker at the Brisbane Writers' Festival, Shriver gave a controversial speech about cultural appropriation. Shriver had previously been criticized for her depiction of Latino and African-American characters in her book "The Mandibles", which was described by one critic as racist and by another as politically misguided. In her Brisbane speech, Shriver contested these criticisms, saying writers ought to be entitled to write from any perspective, race, gender or background that they choose. The full text of her speech was published in the British newspaper "The Guardian".