Blue
Mountains
Writers’
Festival
94 speakers
56 events
15 workshops
3 days
1 unmatched location
Friday 31 OCT — Sunday 02 Nov
Nature
•
Ageing
•
Power
•
Protest
•
Kinship
•
Memory
•
Community
•
Oceans
•
Ghosts
•
Dreams
•
Nature • Ageing • Power • Protest • Kinship • Memory • Community • Oceans • Ghosts • Dreams •
Inspiring awe and wonder, the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival immerses readers and writers in an intimate festival of ideas and creativity.
Over three vibrant days, the program showcases Australia’s sharpest minds and most expansive thinkers, offering challenging, playful and exhilarating opportunities for connection.
Our 2025 theme – a path to wonder – invites audiences to engage with literature with an open mind and sense of possibility. To wonder is to approach the world with curiosity, to question without agenda, to allow for beauty, space and reflection, or to explore new ways of thinking and being in the world.
Festival Headliners
Christos Tsiolkas, Hannah Kent, Stan Grant, Kate Grenville, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Craig Silvey, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Bryan Brown, Drusilla Modjeska, Daniel Browning, Charlotte McConaghy, Sofie Laguna, Osher Günsberg, Jennifer Wong, Jumaana Abdu, Inga Simpson and more… Don’t miss your chance to hear from some of the most celebrated writers in the country.
Festival HIGHLIGHTS
From crime fiction to comedy, poetry to politics, memoir, science, sci-fi and more, our main program has something to challenge, move and inspire readers of all stripes. With more than 50 events to consider, we encourage you to curl up with a cuppa and read your way through every single one. To whet your appetite here are some of the sessions our team are particularly excited about…
weekend passes, day passes and SINGLE TICKETS on sale
Weekend passes
Day passes
single Tickets
WORKSHOPs
Scenic World Special Events
Writers in the Sky
Suspended far above the stunning Jamison Valley in the Scenic World Skyway, enjoy intimate conversations with some of Australia’s most adventurous and creative thinkers. Unique to the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival, Writers in the Sky offers lucky readers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect with their favourite authors in a truly thrilling way. Ticket includes a drink on arrival and canapés.
The Scenic World Skyway is wheelchair accessible.
Special Event: Saturday 1 November, 5:45pm; 6:30pm and 7:15pm
Read the Rainforest
Begin your exhilarating journey on the Scenic World Cableway before descending through eucalypts and ferns to the Rainforest Room, an open gazebo nestled among lush ferns and towering turpentines. Join writers Inga Simpson, Jessica White and Jane Rawson in conversation with Brain on Nature’s Sarah Allely, as they discuss the many ways they connect with the environment.
The Rainforest Room is not wheelchair accessible.
Special Event: Sunday 2 November, 7:30-9:30am
kids’ program
Katoomba Library plays host to an exceptional collection of children’s authors on Saturday 1 November, ready to inspire, amuse and captivate young and old (but mostly young). With interactive workshops, storytelling, poetry, craft activities and plenty of fun, our FREE Kids Program features Craig Silvey, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Sofie Laguna, Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, Tasma Walton, Bill Hope, Emilie Zoey Baker and more!
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 dialogue, prose, characterisation and generating new ideas, as well as poetry, crime fiction, nature writing, historical fiction, finding your voice, and even cooking, with Sean Wai Keung’s Dumpling Poetry. We have two free workshops presented by Arts Law, focusing on legal issues for writers, and a Pathways to Publication roundtable with five titans of the industry.
![FIND YOUR STORY, FIND YOUR VOICE WITH EMILY MAGUIRE [2nd Session]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62cfc117c34e394e0c36bdf0/1754549590363-BNIGGG0SXRYKNJS69F8Y/Workshop%3B+Emily.png)
