Talkback: Too many writers’ festivals?
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Does Australia have too many writers’ festivals? Books+Publishing asked three publishers. While there are a lot of writers’ festivals, it’s not the number that’s the problem. What is problematic is...
18,000 attend Clunes Booktown Festival; Bligh, Grant among the bestsellers
Wednesday, 4 May 2016
Around 18,000 visitors attended the 10th annual Clunes Booktown Festival in Victoria, which ran 30 April to 1 May. The number of visitors was approximately the same as last year,...
Artists announced for inaugural Canberra Writers Festival
Thursday, 28 April 2016
The Canberra Writers Festival has announced a number of authors attending its inaugural event from 26-28 August. Among the guests are British philosopher A C Grayling, Stella Prize-winner Charlotte Wood,...
Melbourne Jewish Writers’ Festival 2016 program announced
Friday, 15 April 2016
The program for the 2016 Melbourne Jewish Writers’ Festival, which will run at the Lamm Library in Caulfield South from 21-23 May, has been announced. More than 70 guests will...
Stella Schools to hold ‘Girls Write Up’ festival
Thursday, 14 April 2016
The Stella Schools Program will hold a one-day ‘wordfest’ for teenagers in Melbourne and Sydney in June that ‘teaches empowerment through writing and sharing stories’. Events include workshops on radical...
‘Enthusiastic’ response to inaugural Rock & Roll Writers Festival
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
The inaugural Rock & Roll Writers Festival, which was held at The Brightside in Brisbane from 2-3 April, received ‘enthusiastic coverage and feedback’ from media and audiences, according to Fiona...
Byron Bay Writers Festival, Captain Honey partner for self-publishing marquee
Friday, 8 April 2016
The Byron Writers Festival has partnered with publisher Captain Honey for the festival’s Self-Published Marquee, which will run from 5-7 August. The marquee gives self-published authors an opportunity to showcase...
Readings to return as MWF festival bookseller
Thursday, 31 March 2016
Melbourne independent bookseller Readings will return as the Melbourne Writers Festival’s (MWF) official bookseller in 2016, replacing Dymocks, which has run the festival bookstore for the past few years. Managing...
Harlequin to host Rural Fiction Festival at Royal Easter Show
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
Harlequin will host a Rural Fiction Festival at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show from 25-26 March. Two of Harlequin’s bestselling rural fiction authors, Rachael Johns and Fiona McCallum, will participate in...
Clunes Booktown Festival 2016 program announced
Tuesday, 22 March 2016
The program for the 2016 Clunes Booktown Festival, to be held from 30 April to 1 May in Clunes, Victoria, has been announced. This year the festival celebrates its 10th...
Marlon James, Hanya Yanagihara to appear at 2016 Auckland Writers Festival
Thursday, 17 March 2016
Booker Prize-winning Jamaican-US novelist Marlon James, US novelist Hanya Yanagihara and US writer and activist Gloria Steinem are among the international authors appearing the 2016 Auckland Writers Festival, to be...
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2016 winners announced
Monday, 29 February 2016
The winners of the 2016 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature were announced at a ceremony on 27 February as part of Adelaide Writers’ Week. The winners in each category are:...
New Canberra Writers Festival announced
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
A new Canberra Writers Festival, to be held from 26-28 August 2016, has been announced. Organisers said in a statement that the festival has the support of ‘a number of...
Noted Festival 2016 program announced
Friday, 12 February 2016
The program for Canberra’s second Noted ‘experimental’ writing festival, running from 16-20 March, has been announced. The festival program includes a literary bar hop, multi-art collaborations, and online and live...
Inaugural Short Story Festival to be held in Perth in October
Thursday, 11 February 2016
The first Australian Short Story Festival will be held at the Centre for Stories and other inner-city venues in Perth from 21-23 October. The festival is organised by a committee...
Gadd awarded Mildura Writers Festival residency
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Writer Nick Gadd has been named the writer in residence at this year’s Mildura Writers Festival, which runs from 14-17 July. Gadd, a blogger, essayist and author of the novel...
New YA festival to fund author visits to schools, libraries
Friday, 29 January 2016
UK author Alexia Casale has established a YA festival and author touring program that aims to connect libraries and schools, reports the Guardian. The first YA Shot festival will be...
SWF to run ‘mini March festival’
Friday, 22 January 2016
The Sydney Writers Festival (SWF) is running events with four international authors in March. From 3-4 March the festival will host events with British novelist and journalist Simon Winchester, Scottish...
Perth Writers Festival to feature human libraries
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
The 2016 Perth Writers Festival is giving festival-goers the opportunity to borrow a ‘human book’, reports the ABC. The Human Library will run twice over the festival on the themes...
Blak & Bright Indigenous Literary festival program announced
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
The program for the inaugural Indigenous Literary Festival Blak & Bright has been announced. The festival, to be held in Melbourne from 18-21 February, features more than 60 Aboriginal and...
Inaugural Rock & Roll Writers Festival to be held in Brisbane in April
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
The inaugural Rock & Roll Writers Festival will be held at The Brightside in Brisbane on 2-3 April. The festival was founded by former band managers Leanne de Souza and...
Writers call for boycott of literary festivals that don’t pay speakers
Monday, 18 January 2016
In the UK, a numbers of writers have called for publishers and fellow authors to boycott festivals that don’t pay speakers’ fees, reports the Bookseller. The calls come after Society...
Pullman resigns as Oxford Literary Festival patron over refusal to pay authors
Friday, 15 January 2016
In the UK, author Philip Pullman has announced his resignation as Oxford Literary Festival patron over its refusal to pay speakers, reports the Bookseller. Pullman told the Bookseller it was...
Featherston to hold second Booktown event in May
Friday, 15 January 2016
Featherston, New Zealand, will hold its second major Booktown event from 20-22 May this year. The town held its first Booktown event in October last year as part of its...
Perth Writers Festival 2016 program released
Thursday, 14 January 2016
The full program for the 2016 Perth Writers Festival, which runs from 18-21 February, has been released. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, UK pop-philosopher Roman Krznaric will give the festival’s...
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2016 shortlists announced
Monday, 11 January 2016
The shortlists for the 2016 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Fiction The Anchoress (Robyn Cadwallader, Fourth Estate) A Million Windows...
Inaugural NZ LGBTIQ literary festival to be held in February
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
New Zealand author and Auckland Writers Festival co-founder Peter Wells has announced the inaugural LGBTIQ writers festival samesame but different will run from 12-14 February 2016 as part of the...
UK Society of Authors calls for higher festival fees
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
In the UK, the Society of Authors (SoA) has called on literary festivals to reconsider what they pay authors after survey results found most authors are being paid within the...
Inaugural Victorian Indigenous Literary Festival to launch in Melbourne
Thursday, 19 November 2015
A new writers’ festival dedicated to Indigenous writing will be held at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne from 19-21 February. Blak & Bright, the inaugural Victorian Indigenous Literary Festival, will...
New CEO, artistic director for Clunes Booktown Festival
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Creative Clunes has announced the appointment of a CEO and artistic director for the Victorian town’s 10th Booktown Festival, to be held from 30 April to 1 May. Richard Mackay-Scollay has...
