Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Williams to leave SWF after 2022 festival

Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) artistic director Michael Williams has announced that the upcoming festival, to be held 16–22 May, will be his last.

Williams was appointed to the role of interim artistic director in August 2020 and curated the 2021 SWF program.

‘I’ve loved Sydney Writers’ Festival—as an audience member, as a participant and as part of the team—for the better part of its 25-year history, and it was an absolute privilege to spend the past couple of years in the artistic director’s chair,’ said Williams. ‘To witness first-hand the organisation’s commitment to Sydney’s rich and diverse community of readers and writers and help steer it through the uncertainty of the global pandemic has been a blast.’

SWF 2021, which Williams said was ‘particularly tricky’ to program due to travel restrictions, was themed ‘Within Reach’. Under Williams’ curatorial leadership, the festival launched its inaugural Debutante Ball, which celebrated debut authors whose books were published during the pandemic. The festival’s opening event was also the first to feature a line-up composed of entirely First Nations writers.

Regarding Williams’ departure, SWF chair Mark Scott said: ‘The wealth of literary programming that Williams brought to this role is unsurpassed, and in this difficult financial and curatorial time for arts organisations, the board was heartened to have someone as impeccably qualified as Williams curating the program. He is one of the best connected people in the Australian literary world and we loved having him as artistic director.’

A formal recruitment process for a new artistic director will be announced shortly.

The program for SWF 2022 will be released on Thursday, 24 March.

 

Category: Local news