Bendigo Writers Festival announces 2023 program

The Bendigo Writers Festival (BWF) has announced its program for the festival running from 4–7 May 2023 in Bendigo, Victoria.

Based at the 150-year-old Capital Theatre, the festival will feature authors including Tom Ballard, Melina Marchetta, Pip Williams, Peter Doherty, Sadam Abdusalam, Jess Ho, Ghassan Hage and Gabrielle Wang.

BWF director Rosemary Sorensen has partnered on the program with guest curator Clare Wright, historian and La Trobe professor of public engagement. La Trobe University will also present 17 events with speakers such as Megan Davis, Russell Marks, Kate Auty, Helen Garner, Joelle Gergis, Tom Keneally and Christos Tsiolkas.

Sorensen said,‘While much has changed in regional Victoria, Bendigo is now–more than ever–a perfect place for such an event with its creative community and engrained arts culture. It was a case of “right time, right place”, and that’s why we’ve themed this year’s festival with “Such Is Life”,’ said Rosemary.

The festival will include onscreen events hosted by Ulumbarra Theatre, including Nick Hornby live in conversation with Benjamin Law, and George Monbiot live with Natasha Mitchell. Special ‘word feast’ events will take place in Hawker Restaurant at the Golden Dragon Museum, the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion and the Mackenzie Quarters.

Bendigo Venues and Events Manager Julie Amos said, ‘The festival has continued to grow over 13 years with audiences flocking to Bendigo for a whole weekend of talks and conversations. We are so fortunate to have Rosemary and Clare at the programming helm, providing the event with a boost of energy and expertise.’

See the full program here.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Melbourne Writers Festival announced its festival dates would move to the same weekend as BWF.

Category: Local news