MWF releases 2026 program and ventures into the suburbs
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) has released its program for 2026, featuring more than 150 artists participating in readings, panels and workshops from 7 to 10 May.
This year marks MWF’s 40th anniversary. United by the theme Visions & Revisions, the program will explore “ideas that matter: the futures we imagine, the stories we carry, and the revisions – personal and collective – that define us”, said the announcement. The festival will also feature sessions in the suburbs, with events at local libraries in Doncaster, Hawthorn, Kooyong, Melton and Moonee Valley.
Opening night on 6 May will feature original readings and performances responding to the festival theme by Omar Musa, Don Watson, Ariana Reines and Sophia Brous, plus the announcement of the Age Book of the Year Awards. Tony Birch will deliver the closing night address.
Among MWF’s international guests will be Jacinda Ardern, RF Kuang, Yann Martel, David Szalay, Nikita Gill, Genki Kawamura, Susan Choi, Michael Pedersen, Mieko Kawakami, Maria Reva, Tareq Baconi, Ariana Reines, David Moscrop, Alicia Elliott, Chelsea Vowe, Jesse Wente and Chris Tse.
The festival’s local guests include Sean Kelly, Amy Remeikis, Don Watson, Barrie Cassidy, Antoinette Lattouf, Evelyn Araluen, Tasma Walton, Stephanie Alexander, Jasmin McGaughey, Bebe Oliver, Mykaela Saunders, Dervla McTiernan, Benjamin Stevenson, Madison Griffiths, Kayla Jade, Dee Salmin, Kate Larsen, Bri Lee, Romy Ash, Jaclyn Crupi, Antoun Issa, Amy Remeikis, Ray Norris, Tanya Hill , Robyn Annear, Robert Forster, Lally Katz, Ariana Reines, Em Rusciano, Akii Ngo, Ann Nguyễn, Arty Owens, Laura Pettenuzzo, BS Windon, Judi Morrison, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Toni Jordan, Michael Winkler and Tigest Girma.
“In curating the 2026 program,” said the announcement, “MWF director Veronica Sullivan is joined by local First Nations Curators Evelyn Araluen, Anita Heiss and Daniel James, who each bring their own distinct creative vision to the festival line-up.”
For the festival’s annual John Button Oration, UNSW professor of artificial intelligence Toby Walsh will consider “what went wrong in the AI race, the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, and the world it is actively shaping”. MWF also presents the world premiere of Life Lines, a new song cycle created by New York-Australian artist, vocalist and composer Sophia Brous, drawn from the late writing of celebrated Australian poet Dorothy Porter. A special session on Australia’s first Treaty with First Peoples will bring together key figures in the Victorian Treaty’s creation.
Category: Festivals Local news
