I’m sure there are festivals for writers throughout the world but I’m only focussing on four of them today.
The one I’ve been trying to get to every year since I first heard of it is the Melbourne Writer’s Festival. Running from 21st August to the 31st August you’ve still got time to block your time out in your diary as they won’t release the programme until 18th July.
If you’re in Sydney you have very little time as it’s happening this month. The Sydney Writer’s Festival is on between the 17th and 25th May. You’ll need to get your skates on and hope the events you want to attend aren’t booked out.
Both of them are brilliant events and I drool every year wishing I could make at least one event. Once you’re on the mailing list you’ll hear about things much earlier than this. They generally put out a call for staff and volunteers a few months prior, it would be an awesome opportunity to expand your horizons.
While we’re talking about Sydney and Melbourne, you can also find the Sydney Jewish Writer’s Festival running on the 23rd and 24th August.
Melburnians can attend the Melbourne Jewish Writer’s Festival from the 31st May to the 2nd June.
I can’t see myself attending any of these events as I’m flat out in May, I might see what I can do about booking something in August for the Melbourne Writer’s Festival but I’m behind on things now and I don’t see how things will be any better in August.
If you know of any other writer’s festivals happening throughout Australia please comment below. Or, if you’ve managed to attend one of them I’d love to hear from you, maybe you could write an article for me.
Half a dozen or so years ago I attended my first Writers’ Festival – in Brisbane. I really enjoyed the first year and went back the next couple of years. My experiences have been a bit mixed and very much dependant on the sessions I’ve attended. It’s usually the ones I’m a bit #meh about which are the most enjoyable and the ones I look forward to are just book promo events.
Deb
That’s a bit of what I expect. I’m guessing that some of the sessions were better depending on who was at the microphone. Some authors can’t string two words together while speaking while others are quite entertaining.