Manly Writers’ Festival
STORIES ACROSS MANLY
If you care about words, storytelling, ideas, the power and joy of reading and writing, community life and the public good, you’re in the right place.
This year, we bring together almost 90 writers, storytellers, thinkers, journalists, historians, and musicians who will explore how stories are created, how people endure, how power operates and can sometimes fail, and how individuals navigate and sometimes re-envisage the world around them.
Some of the line up…
- Poetry Salon – $30
- The Algorithmic Age: What AI is (and is not) doing to culture
- What stories can do that facts can’t
- The Human Sentence: Writers vs AI
- Beyond the hot flush: Rewriting midlife – $55
- Speaking the unspoken
- Power, Paranoia and Pleasure
The 2026 Festival will be held in venues across Manly. Each venue brings its own atmosphere, and together they create a festival that feels connected to everyday life in Manly – open, relaxed, (almost entirely) walkable, and easy to settle into. We hope you enjoy our stories across Manly.
- Henry G’s Wine Parlour
- Manly Art Gallery and Museum
- Manly Life Saving Club
- Manly Youth an Community Centre
- Qi Yoga Studio
- Sky Theatre
- The Manly Corso on Gilbert
- Manly Library Community Room
Special Event Venues:
- Hotel Steyne
- Manly Wharf Events
Schools Program
- Mackellar Girls’ High School
DATE(S): Thursday 19 – Sunday 22 March
