Canberra Writers Festival 2018 program launched

17 July 2018 Books+Publishing

Canberra Writers Festival has announced the full line-up of guest speakers for its festival program, running from 23-26 August.

International guests appearing at the festival include Scottish author Irvine Welsh, Canadian journalist Gwynne Dyer, British writer Afua Hirsch, and British writer and academic Ed Husain.

Local guests include Matthew Reilly, Michael Robotham, Sarah Krasnostein, Chris Hammer, Sarah Bailey, Rachael Brown, Gabriel Stroud, Rosie Waterland, Morris Gleitzman, Ryan O’Neill, Rozanna Lilley, Kate van Hooft, Gideon Haigh, Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern and Phillipa McGuinness. Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce will appear in conversation with journalist Mark Kenny on opening night.

Canberra-based authors appearing at the festival include Ellen Broad, Jack Heath, Andrew Hutchison, Cat Sparks, Dan O’Malley, Karen Viggers and Roger Rooney, as well as poets John Foulcher, Melinda Smith, Lesley Lebkowicz and Geoff Page.

Highlights of the program include an opening night dinner with culinary icon Maggie Beer; a ‘Girls’ Night In’ closing night event, featuring Kathy Lette, Annabel Crabb, Nikki Gemmell, Bridie Jabour and Jean Kittson; and a panel discussion on the future of Indigenous recognition with Sana Nakata, Shireen Morris, Paul Daley, Melissa Lucashenko and Sandra Phillips.

The festival, which runs under the theme ‘power, politics and passion’, will be the second under former Australia Council CEO Jennifer Bott.

The Canberra Writers Festival was developed in partnership with the Melbourne Writers Festival, and has the support of a number of foundation partners, including the ACT government. For more information, and to view the full program, click here.

Category: Festivals Local news