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Events >

Upcoming events

April

Global Book Crawl 2026
(20–26 April)
Global Book Crawl 
(20–26 April)
Sorrento Writers Festival
(23–26 April)

May

International Literary Programmers Roundtable
(4–9 May)
Melbourne Writers Festival
(7–10 May)
ALIA National Conference
(11–14 May)
Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki
(12–17 May)
Sydney Writers' Festival
(17 May–24 March)
National Simultaneous Storytime
(27 May)
Words on the Waves Writers Festival
(27 May–1 June)
Island Readers & Writers Festival
(29 May–1 June)

June

Australian Booksellers Association Conference
(13–15 June)

July

International Publishers Congress 
(5–9 July)
Mildura Writers Festival
(16–19 July)
BookUp 
(22–23 July)
Apollo Bay WORDfest
(24–26 July)

August

Children’s Book Week
(22–28 August)

September

Blak & Bright
(3–6 September)

October

Frankfurt Book Fair 
(7–11 October)
Brisbane Writers Festival 
(8–11 October)

Events

Festivals

Conferences

View upcoming and past events

 

ALIA National Conference 2026 program announced

Rosehill NSW Wednesday, 8 April 2026
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) will hold its national conference on 11 to 14 May 2026 at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney. ALIA has decided not to have an...

Words on the Waves 2026 program announced

Wednesday, 1 April 2026
The program for the Words on the Waves Writers Festival, to run from 27 May to 1 June on the NSW Central Coast, has been announced. The festival’s opening address,...

Newcastle Writers Festival kicks off tomorrow

Newcastle Writers Festival Thursday, 26 March 2026
Newcastle Writers Festival (NWF) runs from 27 to 29 March, with an opening night event featuring London-based Australian author Kathy Lette, who will reflect on “her writing career, resilience, and...

ABA 2026 conference program announced

Thursday, 26 March 2026
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has released the program for its 2026 conference, to run from 13 to 15 June at in Canberra at the QT hotel (pictured). Sessions at...

BookUp conference and research day dates announced 

Wednesday, 25 March 2026
The 2026 BookUp publishing conference will run in Melbourne on 22 July, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced. Now in its sixth year, BookUp in 2026 “will focus on...

Local bookshop numbers double for 2026 “crawl” 

logo for Global Book Crawl Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Following the inaugural Global Book Crawl (GBC) in 2025, 140 Australian bookshops have signed up for this year’s event. In 2026, 12 separate book crawls will take place in Australia,...

Fitzroy Writers Festival 2026 program announced

Fitzroy Writers Festival logo. Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Yarra Libraries has released the program for this year’s Fitzroy Writers Festival, running on 18 April. To be held in inner Melbourne’s Fitzroy Town Hall, sessions are set to cover...

Apollo Bay WORDfest 2026 line-up announced

Apollo Bay WORDfest logo. Monday, 16 March 2026
The Apollo Bay WORDfest has released the program for its 2026 festival, to be held in the Victorian coastal town from Friday 24 July to Sunday 26 July. Authors scheduled...

Manly Writers’ Festival announces 2026 program 

Manly Writers' Festival logo. Thursday, 12 March 2026
The Manly Writers’ Festival has released its program, which will run from 19 to 22 March 2026, bringing together almost 90 writers, journalists, historians, thinkers and musicians, while examining “how...

Sydney Writers’ Festival program announced

Wednesday, 11 March 2026
The program for this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival, running from 17–24 May, has been announced. The festival is hosting 200+ in-person and live-streamed events featuring 39 international guests and over...

Sorrento Writers Festival program launched 

sorrento writers festival Monday, 2 March 2026
Described as “Victoria’s biggest literary event”, Sorrento Writers Festival has launched a 155-session program across 10 venues in the Victorian beachside towns of Sorrento and Portsea from 23 to 26...

Trans Book Festival program launched 

Monday, 2 March 2026
The full program has been launched for the second annual Trans Book Festival, which focuses on “uplifting and celebrating trans and gender diverse (TGD) literary excellence in all narrative forms.”...

CBCA announces 2026 book week theme

Cover of the CBCA 2026 yearly planner. With art by Briony Stewart. Tuesday, 17 February 2026
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced the theme of “Symphony of Stories” for this year’s Children’s Book Week, running 22 to 28 August. Author and illustrator Briony...

Hachette Australia announces “Belonging and Storytelling” event

Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Hachette Australia, Australian Publishers Association (APA), Media Diversity Australia (MDA) and Diversity Arts Australia (DARTS) have partnered to present “Belonging and Storytelling: Diversity in Publishing”. A dedicated space for First...

Sorrento Writers Festival announces full 2026 program

sorrento writers festival logo Monday, 9 February 2026
The Sorrento Writers Festival (SWF) has announced its 2026 festival program, running from 23 to 26 April 2026 in Sorrento, Victoria. This year's festival will feature over 180 speakers across...

Frankfurt Book Fair names new CEO 

Frankfurt Book Fair logo. Thursday, 29 January 2026
Joachim Kaufmann has been named the next president and CEO of the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse), effective September 2026, reported Publishers Weekly (PW). Kaufmann will take over after this...

Mildura Writers Festival director, board changes

The logo for the Mildura Writers Festival. Monday, 19 January 2026
The Mildura Writers Festival has announced the appointment of Finley Japp as the new festival director, replacing co-founder Donata Carazza who has been director for the past 5 years. Born...

Adelaide Writers’ Week cancelled 

Adelaide Writers' Week logo Wednesday, 14 January 2026
The outgoing Adelaide Festival board announced yesterday that Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) will not be held this year. The decision follows the withdrawal of more than 100 writers from the...

Adler resigns as Adelaide Writers’ Week director 

Adelaide Writers' Week logo Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Louise Adler, director of Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) since 2023, has resigned in response to the Adelaide Festival board’s decision to withdraw Randa Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to attend this year’s festival....

Ward apppointed GM of Byron Writers Festival 

Photo of Molly Ward Monday, 12 January 2026
Byron Writers Festival has named Molly Ward as its new general manager, commencing in mid-January. Ward has wide experience managing major festivals, large-scale cultural events, and placemaking initiatives. “Passionate about...

BookPeople invites booksellers to Midsumma Pride March

Friday, 12 December 2025
BookPeople, the Australian Booksellers Association, has invited booksellers, publishers and book industry friends to march alongside members of the association at Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne on 1 February 2026....

GenreCon 2026 announces new venue

Friday, 12 December 2025
The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has announced that next year’s GenreCon, the QWC’s annual conference for genre writers, will be held at Brisbane’s Thomas Dixon Centre. QWC said, “To meet...