Manly Writers’ Festival 2024
The theme of the Manly Writers’ Festival 2024 is Connecting through Storytelling and aims to bring together readers, writers, and thinkers for discussion on big and small issues.
The festival’s founder and Northern Beaches writer and publisher, Bonita Mersiades, says the event aims to celebrate Manly’s cultural side.
“Manly is a destination point in Sydney that is best known for the beach and the ferry, but there is an active cultural component here with many high-profile and hidden gem authors and writers,” said Ms Mersiades.
“We especially want to give writers who are not-so-well known an opportunity to talk about their work, as well as discuss big and small issues of interest to the community.”
As well as Keneally’s body of work and McKenzie’s Crossing the Line, the festival will canvass books on issues as diverse as trust, kindness, grief, crime, history, politics, and sport.
The children’s program will include a reading from a book about courage and responsibility, while the schools’ program will include a workshop on tools to help the creative writing process. The festival will also include one-on-one conversations and panel discussions.
Other authors and speakers will be announced over coming months with the full program including venues to be published in early 2024.
All profits from the sale of tickets to the Manly Writers’ Festival will be shared between the Aboriginal-led Literacy for Life Foundation and local community cancer charity, Northern Beaches Community Cancer Charity.
The event will take place on 14th, 15th & 16th March 2024.
Interested readers are encouraged to keep up to date by registering at www.manlywritersfestival.com.au or by following the Manly Writers’ Festival on Twitter (@ManlyWriters), Instagram and Facebook (@manlywritersfestival).
Media release update 27th January 2024: More than 80 authors and 40 conversations at inaugural Manly Writers’ Festival.
The program for the inaugural Manly Writers’ Festival, to be held from 14-16 March, has been released with tickets on sale from today.
Featuring more than 80 authors, writers and session hosts across more than 40 conversations, the festival is an opportunity for readers and thinkers from the Northern Beaches and beyond to attend a literary festival that is intimate, accessible, and gives a platform to local and emerging authors, as well as high profile and established literary names.
The festival kicks-off in the evening of Thursday March 14th with the first of four special events, An Evening with Thomas Keneally AO, one of Australia’s most celebrated and credentialled authors, hosted by Hamish Macdonald at the Hotel Steyne. The evening will also feature some beautiful music led by Maximilian Holzner.
The festival also includes nine sessions for young people from school years 3 to 10 inclusive which starts with a Welcome to Country and features local authors Pip Harry and Zena Shapter, as well as Liz Deep-Jones, Ursula Dubosarsky, Carla Fitzgerald and Will Kostakis.
Gleebooks will be on-site for the Friday and Saturday, along with a festival barista.