Blue
Mountains
Writers
Festival
Craft
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Connection
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Joy
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Grief
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Rage
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Legacy
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Possibility
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Family
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Reflection
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Friendship
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Redemption
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Wonder
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Craft • Connection • Joy • Grief • Rage • Legacy • Possibility • Family • Reflection • Friendship • Redemption • Wonder •
the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival immerses readers and writers in an intimate festival of ideas and creativity.
Inspired by landscape and culture, the Festival brings the community together to read, connect and consider new ways of thinking and being in our ever-changing world.
Festival LINEUP
Pip Williams
Bruce Pascoe
Melissa Lucashenko
Waleed Aly
Bob Brown
Benjamin Law
Larissa Behrendt
Bob Carr
Chris Hammer
Josh Silver
Fiona Kelly McGregor
Micaela Sahhar
Jane Caro
AMY REMEIKIS
Zoe Terakes
Toni Jordan
and more…
Early bird passes on sale: 11 August
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Day passes on sale: 25 August
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Program release & single tickets on sale: 1 September
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Early bird passes on sale: 11 August • Day passes on sale: 25 August • Program release & single tickets on sale: 1 September •
Early-bird weekend passes
on sale now
Platinum Weekend Pass
Friday - Sunday
Gold Weekend Pass
FRIDAY - SUNDAY
Silver Weekend Pass
SATURDAY - SUNDAY
important dates
Workshop program
& day passes on sale
25 August
Full program announcement
& single tickets on sale
1 September
Platinum and gold passes include a ticket to opening NIGHT
opening NIGHT
Four incredible writers share their response to the Festival theme - Echoes & Edges.
Storytelling is found in the shapes of our landscapes, in the words and voices of those who are long gone. When looking to the future, how will our stories of now echo? What imprints will we leave behind?
In turbulent times, we walk on a precipice of right or wrong, resistance or compromise, individualism or community. How does literature balance us as we walk these edges? How do the edges define us?
Hosted by Festival Director Maeve Marsden, the evening features celebrated writers Pip Williams, Larissa Behrendt, Micaela Sahhar, Michael Winkler and Marie Elena Ellis.
Each reading will be followed by a breathtaking musical interpretation by cabaret icon Victoria Falconer.
Special Event: Friday 30 October, 6:00-7:30pm
Platinum passes include tickets to two megalong valley special events
megalong valley Special Events
The Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival returns to the Megalong Valley with two exclusive events in The Old Stables at Lot 101.
Just 25 minutes from Katoomba down a beautiful winding road, the Megalong Valley is a rural paradise known for spectacular scenery, towering eucalypts and temperate rainforest, as well as sustainable tourism, fine food and wine.
Supported by Megalong Valley Tea Rooms and Lot 101
THE BOOK SHOWDOWN with BENJAMIN LAW featuring Mirandi Riwoe and Brooke Davis
As Tolstoy once said, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Happily, this means there are endless iterations of dysfunctional families in literature to appall and delight us. If you love reading about chaotic families too, join host Benjamin Law and special guests Mirandi Riwoe and Brooke Davis for a special edition of The Book Showdown, as they discuss and dissect Zadie Smith’s secret-spilling masterpiece On Beauty and Winnie Dunn’s fiercely hilarious and heartbreaking debut Dirt Poor Islanders. Expect hectic opinions, controversial takes and a bonus book trivia quiz for all assembled.
Special Event: Friday 31 October, 11:00am-12:00pm
BRUCE PASCOE in conversation
with Grace Lucas-Pennington
Aboriginal farmer and award-winning writer Bruce Pascoe is joined by Bundjalung writer, editor and mentor Grace Lucas-Pennington for an insightful and expansive discussion focused on Dark Emu, Big Sky and his broader body of work.
Reconsidering the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession, his writing offers deep insight into our history, and possible pathways to a better future, science and philosophy tempered by holistic knowledge.
Special Event: Friday 31 October, 2:00-3:00pm
Platinum and Gold Passes include a ticket to one Scenic World event
Scenic World Special Events
Skyway Cabaret
Join host Victoria Falconer for a concert like no other, as she improvises a soundtrack to accompany readings by some of the Festival’s most exciting talent. Suspended far above the stunning Jamison Valley, the Skyway Cabaret offers audiences a new way to experience poetry about Country and connection, and to reflect upon topics such as history, art, love, grief, curiosity, and even outer space.
With her violin, accordion and banjo in tow, Victoria will be joined in three separate sessions with authors and poets including Jordan Prosser, Jock Serong, Maria van Neerven, Andy Jackson, Claire Thomas and Yumna Kassab.
Tickets include a drink on arrival and canapés.
The Scenic World Skyway is wheelchair accessible.
Special Event: Saturday 31 October 5:45pm, 6:30pm and 7:15pm
Inspired by Nature
Take an early-morning heart-stopping ride on the world’s steepest railway, then wander to the rainforest room where you may find yourself inspired by nature to think of stories in new and surprising ways.
In verse novel Department of the Vanishing, Johanna Bell imagines a time of mass extinction and asks, can we live in a world without birdsong? In Liars, Cheats and Copycats, James O’Hanlon reveals the science behind camouflage, mimicry and masquerade. And, for his celebrated novel Arborescence, Rhett Davis offers readers a three-word pitch: People Becoming Trees.
These three very different but equally curious writers will be led in conversation by science journalist Bianca Nogrady.
The Rainforest Room is not wheelchair accessible.
Special Event: Sunday 1 November, 7:30am-9:30am
Workshop Program
Expand your creative practice with our workshop program…
With a slew of awards between them, this year's Festival workshop facilitators offer aspiring writers a wealth of experience for all career stages. Workshops include intensives on character arcs, pulse and structure, narrative drive, the essentials of plot and feedback, as well as poetry, historical fiction, nature writing, horror as metaphor, family history and writing the weird.
The workshop program will be announced 25 August
