Byron Writers Festival is Australia’s favourite regional meeting place of storytelling and ideas
This year’s program invites contemplation of a life well-lived, with literature and art at its centre. It celebrates the act of creation, of writing and art making, community building, and the good, hard work of progress.
Tickets, tickets, get your tickets!
Create your perfect festival experience with a range of ticket options. The 3-Day Pass gives you full access to over 110 sessions from Friday to Sunday. The 1-Day Pass offers complete access to all sessions on your chosen day. Bring young readers along for the Kids Program on Sunday morning or extend your experience with the Feature and Satellite Events, separately ticketed sessions with special guests from the 2025 program. Get your tickets at www.byronwritersfestival.com
Meet your literary heroes
After each session in the main program, festivalgoers can take part in book signings with some of Australia’s most celebrated writers and international guests. The book signing is where the stories come to life again through personal chats and writer autographs. Don’t miss your opportunity to connect with the authors who’ve shaped your bookshelf and your thinking. Buy your books at the official onsite bookstore The Book Room and have them personally signed by your favourites.
A feast for your senses
From fresh, local eats to artisan coffee and cool afternoon sips, we’ve got your cravings covered. Wander the festival grounds and discover a vibrant mix of food stalls serving up everything from vegan delights to gluten-free goodness. Need a caffeine fix? Our coffee carts are ready to pour a warming brew – BYO keep cup. When the sessions wrap, the conversation doesn’t stop – head to our Festival Bar at the A&I Hall from 4pm on Friday and Saturday, and during Feature Events. Sip, mingle, and keep the good times going.
The Kids Program
Bring the kids for a day of fun, imagination, and inspiration at Byron Writers Festival’s beloved Kids Program! On Sunday 10 August, the Lilly Pilly marquee becomes a buzzing storytelling arena hosted by comedian Peter Helliar, featuring an exclusive appearance by Tony Armstrong, storytime with Anita Heiss, and live music from The Gumboots. Catch the magic of Spaghetti Circus stilt-walkers, make your own flower crowns, and dive into creativity at the StoryBoard space with free drop-in workshops for young writers and illustrators. If your kids love books and art, this is their dream day out!
Getting to the festival
PARKING at Bangalow Showground requires you to pre-purchase a $10 pass per day. The carpark opens at 7.30am and festival gates open at 8.00am each day. Vehicle entry is via Market St and pedestrian access via Station Lane, Bangalow. We encourage you to carpool with friends or hop on our free shuttle bus. www.byronwritersfestival.com/travel
FREE FESTIVAL SHUTTLE
Hop on the free festival shuttle running hourly from Friday 8 August to Sunday 10 August between Byron Bay Interchange (Butler St), Cavanbah Centre (Ewingsdale Rd), and the festival site. Buses leave the Interchange every hour from 7:30am, stop at Cavanbah Centre five minutes later, and return from the festival site with the last departure at 6pm. Free parking is available at Cavanbah Centre for shuttle riders.
Artistic Director’s
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Byron Writers Festival ’25. Join us for three days of conversation and performances with esteemed Australian and international writers who have gathered here in the Northern Rivers for Australia’s largest regional writers festival. This year’s festival program themed Passion and Purpose is an invitation to nurture your creativity and curiosity with the brightest minds in literature, art, media and politics.
note
Whether you are joining us for the first time or as a return guest, I look forward to sharing with you what makes this event the premier destination for creative types – from novelists, poets, journalists and musicians. Pick up the buzziest books from literary headliners and discover bold new voices, and immerse yourself in Byron Writers Festival ’25.
– Jessica Alice, Artistic Director
Get ready for these must-see events
Byron Writers Festival isn’t just a celebration of books. It’s a celebration of ideas, performance, and powerful storytelling. This year’s line-up features a suite of unmissable events guaranteed to entertain, provoke and inspire. Here are just a few highlights you’ll want to book now.
Game on: Guardian Australia’s literary trivia showdown
Think you know your Dickens from your deepfakes? Then step into the hilarious world of Guardian Australia’s Are You Game Show . Hosted by Guardian culture editor Steph Harmon, this riotous battle of wits will see teams led by TikTok queen Matilda Boseley and features editor Lucy Clark go head-to-head in a game of literary trivia. Special guests Robbie Arnott, Tigest Girma, Thomas Mayo and Michael Robotham add literary clout to the madness. Expect laughs, fierce competition, and a whole lot of fun.
Saturday night highlight: Beyond the Lines
Get ready for a night of rhythm, rhyme and radical truth-telling. Beyond the Lines, happening Saturday 9 August at 7pm in the iconic A&I Hall in Bangalow, promises to be a festival
highlight. This electrifying live event blends poetry and music in a highenergy fusion of performance and politics, passion and power. Bring your friends, grab a drink from the bar, and feast on a Pocket Curry while you soak up the vibes. It’s bold, unforgettable, and absolutely not to be missed.
Grantlee Kieza in conversation
A special invitation: Dinner Party at the End of the World
In a moving new collaboration between Byron Writers Festival and NORPA, join us for Dinner Party at the End of the World, an evocative reading and discussion that draws on real stories from community members impacted by the devastating 2022 floods. Held Friday 8 August from 5pm–6:15pm at the A&I Hall, this free event is a powerful reminder of the role art can play in healing and connection. Bar and food available from 4.30pm (arrive early to grab a seat).
For lovers of biography and history, don’t miss acclaimed author Grantlee Kieza in conversation with Mick O’Regan. Delving into the fascinating lives of swimming star and silent film icon Annette Kellerman, as well as natural history pioneers John and Elizabeth Gould, this intimate session will reveal the human stories behind the headlines. Presented by Friends of Libraries Byron Shire, this event includes a delicious afternoon tea provided by the Bangalow CWA. Come for the conversation, stay for the scones.
• Whether you’re into high-stakes wordplay, lyrical performances or thought-provoking conversation, Byron Writers Festival 2025 has something for everyone. Explore the full program and book your tickets now at byronwritersfestival.com
Tigest Girma
Grantlee Kieza
Matilda Boseley
Lucy Clark
Friday highlights
Kick off the first day of the festival with a huge lineup of Australian and international writers. Join us for Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony with Arakwal custodian Delta Kay at 8.45am.
Delhi to Mumbai: Poems (5)
Akhil Katyal
Delve into the poetic works of celebrated Indian writer, translator and scholar Akhil Katyal, author of Like Blood on the Bitten Tongue: Delhi Poems, How Many Countries Does the Indus Cross, and co-editor of The World That Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from South Asia. His brilliant new poetry collection is The Last Time I Saw You. With Mary Therese Kurkalang.
9.15am A&I Hall
We Are the Stars (8)
Gina Chick
Get to know the real Gina Chick, inaugural winner of Alone Australia, and the story of her extraordinary, indomitable life in one of the most powerful, moving memoirs you will ever read, We Are the Stars. With Mel Bampton.
10.30am Hakea
My Sister and Other Lovers
(13)
Esther Freud
From the author of Hideous Kinky, comes a captivating novel about sisterhood, secrets, betrayal and love. Join British author Esther Freud for an intimate conversation about her new book, My Sister and Other Lovers, with ABC Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell.
11.30am Acacia
Corporate Cancel Culture (22)
Josh Bornstein
In Working for the Brand, award-winning lawyer Josh Bornstein explores how major corporations exercise repressive control over the lives of their employees, destroying free speech and threatening our democracy. With Julianne Schultz.
1.00pm Lilly Pilly
Fire Weather (25)
John Vaillant
Join American-Canadian Pulitzer Prize finalist John Vaillant to discuss his internationally bestselling Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World. Winner of the Baillie Gifford Non-Fiction Prize, Fire Weather is a page-turning account of a brutal urban wildfire, exploring our rapidly changing relationship with fire. With Royce Kurmelovs.
2.00pm Acacia
The Correspondent (28)
Peter Greste
When the first casualty of war is truth, journalists are increasingly at risk of becoming part of the battlefield. The Correspondent spotlights Peter Greste’s fight for press freedom since his imprisonment in Egypt, with a new chapter on Ukraine and Gaza. With Mark Isaacs.
2.15pm Lilly Pilly
lives transformed by... laundry.
On the outside we look like a regular commercial laundry, delivering high quality linen to the region’s best hotels and resorts. But on the inside (like all good books)... this is where the magic happens.
Beacon is a social enterprise that exists to create jobs for people with complex barriers to work.
These barriers come in many forms - whether it’s mental health challenges, addiction, disability, or an experience in the criminal justice system - we don’t judge. Instead, we focus on the individual’s potential, rather than their past - providing a second chance through employment.
Since early 2024, we’ve created 190 new jobs –70% of these are for people who’ve experienced barriers; we’ve supported 45 people back into mainstream employment or study; and, injected $4.6M in wages into the local economy.
Jobs-focused social enterprises, like Beacon, are rewriting the rules of what a workplace can be, combining commercial outcomes with deep social impact. Imagine if every community had one.
In the spirit of the Byron Writers Festival an employee penned a poem - it’s worth a read.
On Reading and Writing (35)
Michelle de Kretser, Gail Jones, Don Watson
Join celebrated Australian writers Michelle de Kretser (Theory & Practice), Gail Jones (The Name of the Sister) and Don Watson ( High Noon ) in discussion about their literary craft, process, and influences, and the transformative power of reading. With Chris Hanley.
3.30pm A&I Hall
The Power of Two* (111)
Lisa Messenger, Sarah Megginson Lisa Messenger and Sarah Megginson ( The Power of Two ) share their story of life-changing friendship, surrogacy and connection in a frank, vulnerable and humorous discussion with Mandy Nolan.
4.30pm Lilly Pilly
*Note: This session (111) appears in the print program on Sunday 10 August.
Akhil Katyal
Gina Chick
John Vaillant
Michelle de Kretser
Friday 08 August
The Vasudhara Fund Hakea Southern Cross University
9.00am - 10.00am (1) The First Friend 9.15am - 10.15 am (2) Ways We Communicate 8.30am - 10.00am (3) ABC North Coast Live Broadcast
10.15am - 11.15am (7) Mungo Panel: Press Freedom 10.30am - 11.30am (8) We Are the Stars 10.15am - 11.15am (9) Dusk
11.30am - 12.30pm (13) My Sister and Other Lovers 11.45am - 12.45pm (14) Dirrayawadha
11.30am - 12.30pm (15) Masters of Crime
12.45pm - 1.45pm (19) Memoir: My Story 1.00pm - 2.00pm (20) Political Fictions 12.45pm - 1.45pm (21) Things Will Calm Down Soon
2.00pm - 3.00pm (25) Fire Weather 2.15pm - 3.15pm (26) Secrets We Keep 2.00pm - 3.00pm (27) Broken Brains
3.15pm - 4.15pm (31) Always Home, Always Homesick
4.30pm - 5.30pm (37) People Power
3.30pm - 4.30pm (32) Settler Mythscapes 3.15pm - 4.15pm (33) Friendships
4.45pm - 5.30pm (38) Celebrating Science
Saturday 10 August
Acacia The Vasudhara Fund
Hakea
Southern Cross University
9.15am - 10.15am (4) Black Convicts 9.15am - 10.15am (5) Delhi to Mumbai: Poems 9.00am - 10.00am (6) Inside Publishing
10.30am - 11.30am (10) Riversong 10.30am - 11.30am (11) Cherrywood 10.15am - 11.15am (12) On Walking
11.45am - 12.45pm (16) Tennis Smashed 11.45am - 12.45pm (17) Great Minds: Neurodiversity 11.30am - 12.30pm (18) Humans of Lismore
1.00pm - 2.00pm (22) Corporate Cancel Culture 1.00pm - 2.00pm (23) The Good Daughter 12.45pm - 1.45pm (24) Murder Mysteries
2.15pm - 3.15pm (28) The Correspondent 2.15pm - 3.15pm (29) Water: Our Life 2.00pm - 3.00pm (30) Mettle
3.30pm - 4.30pm (34) Writing Biography 3.30pm - 4.30pm (35) On Reading and Writing 3.15pm - 4.15pm (36) Fantasy Worlds
4.30pm - 5.30pm (39) Exposing the Food Industry Lilly Pilly Tasmanian Walking Company A&I Hall Australian Ethical Coolamon
4.45pm - 5.30pm (111) The Power of Two 5.00pm - 6.15pm (40) Dinner Party at the End of the World
Melaleuca
The Guardian
9.00am - 10.00am (41) Matriarchs 9.15am - 10.15am (42) Fragile Democracy 9.00am - 10.00am (43) Rapture
10.15am - 11.15am (47) Thea Astley Address: The Bark Petitions 10.30am - 11.30am (48) The Name of the Sister 10.15am - 11.15am (49) Brainstorm
CANCELLED
11.30am - 12.30pm (53) Theory & Practice 11.45am - 12.45pm (54) The Chairman’s Lounge 11.30am - 12.30pm (55) Wild Nature
12.45pm - 1.45pm (59) The Book Thief: 20 Years On 1.00pm - 2.00pm (60) Nuked 12.45pm - 1.45pm (61) Breaking the Waves
2.00pm - 3.00pm (65) Animals as Symbols 2.15pm - 3.15pm (66) Deep History 2.00pm - 3.00pm (67) Housing in Crisis
3.15pm - 4.15pm (71) Trump’d 3.30pm - 4.30pm (72) Radicalised: Extreme Boys 3.15pm - 4.15pm (73) Historical Fiction
4.30pm - 5.30pm (77) Chameleon 4.45pm - 5.30pm (78) Laugh Lines 4.30pm - 5.30pm (79) Food and Passion
Lilly Pilly Tasmanian Walking Company A&I Hall Australian Ethical Coolamon
9.15am - 10.15am (44) Literary Thrillers 9.15am - 10.15am (45) Women in Climate Policy 9.00am - 10.00am (46) Awake Academy 10.30am - 11.30am (50) The White Crow 10.30am - 11.30am (51) Uses for Obsession 10.15am - 11.15am (52) Future Poetic
11.45am - 12.45pm (56) The Voice: What’s Next? 11.45am - 12.45pm (57) Migration Stories 11.30am - 12.30pm (58) Topography of Trauma 1.00pm - 2.00pm (62) Indigenous Knowledges 1.00pm - 2.00pm (63) Who Gets to Be an Artist? 12.45pm - 1.45pm (64) Activist Art
2.15pm - 3.15pm (68) AI at Work 2.15pm - 3.15pm (69) The Power of Choice 2.00pm - 3.00pm (70) Poetry Walk
3.30pm - 4.30pm (74) Why Do Horses Run? 3.30pm - 4.30pm (75) Sex and Culture 3.15pm - 4.15pm (76) Diagnosis, Identity 4.45pm - 5.30pm (80) Translations
Sunday 11 August Lilly Pilly
Acacia The Vasudhara Fund Hakea Southern Cross University Melaleuca The Guardian
9.00am - 10.00am (81) Australian Election Analysis 9.15am - 10.15am (82) Writing South Asia 9.00am - 10.00am (83) A Bit on the Side
10.15am - 11.15am (87) Shifting Empires 10.30am - 11.30am (88) A Life in Literature 10.15am - 11.15am (89) Human?
11.30am - 12.30pm (91) Food and Belonging 11.45am - 12.45pm (92) The Season 11.30am - 12.30pm (93) Romantasy
12.45pm - 1.45pm (95) Barry Jones 1.00pm - 2.00pm (96) Lyrebird 12.45pm - 1.45pm (97) Stopping Family Violence
2.00pm - 3.00pm (101) Big, Brave Ideas 2.15pm - 3.15pm (102) Youth, Media and Politics 2.00pm - 3.00pm (103) Womanhood and Gender
3.15pm - 4.15pm (107) Humanities Under Attack 3.30pm - 4.30pm (108) Fighting for Reform 3.15pm - 4.15pm (109) Writing Love and Sex
Feature Events
Join us for these separately ticketed events
-
Tasmanian Walking Company A&I Hall Australian Ethical Coolamon
9.00am - 12.15pm (84) Kids Program
Host Peter Helliar
Word Travels, Tony Armstrong, Anita Heiss, Sarah Armstrong, The Gumboots 9.15am - 10.15am (85) Cultural Touchstones 9.00am - 11.50am (86) Kids Program Activities & Storytime
10.30am - 11.30am (90) Here Be Monsters 11.45am - 12.45pm (94) Messy: Navigating Relationships
Kirli Saunders, Judy Friedlander, Zanni Louise, Sarah Temporal, Jake A Minton
1.00pm - 2.00pm (98) Sunburnt: Self Publishing 1.00pm - 2.00pm (99) Green Solutions 12.45pm - 1.45pm (100) The Drop Off
2.15pm - 3.15pm (104) Queer Stories 2.15pm - 3.15pm (105) New Worlds: Genre 2.15pm - 3.15pm (106) Self Publishing Nuts and Bolts
4.30pm - 5.15pm (110) Shire Choir Festival Finale
Festival Map
Festival
Stages
Stages
Acacia
Acacia
Hakea
Melaleuca
Lilly
A&I
Saturday highlights
From debating US politics to exploring natural beauty on a poetry walk, Saturday’s line-up is jam-packed with thoughtprovoking discussions and passionate discourse.
Matriarchs (41)
Gina Chick, Esther Freud and Nardi Simpson
Join three powerful women storytellers for an exploration of mother figures, matrilineal lines, and the ways that women hold family narratives. With Nell Schofield.
9.00am Acacia
Women in Climate (45)
Joëlle Gergis, Mandy Nolan
Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by climate disasters and women leaders are driving change. Join us for a rigorous discussion about the most urgent issue of our time and the experience of women in the field. With Mel Bampton.
9:15am A&I Hall
Theory and Practice (53)
Michelle de Kretser
Michelle de Kretser’s Stella Prizewinning seventh novel Theory & Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain. Michelle is joined in conversation by Jill Eddington.
11:30am Acacia
One-time Writer’s Fest journo Ian Browne takes you beneath the epidermis of SE Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Darwin and the Northern Rivers of NSW.
Explore art, music, food; vulnerable societies clinging to hard-fought cultural sanctity. Laughter, sadness, bruises and stomach bugs.
This expedition into exotica will see you arrive home with a sense of belonging to this multifaceted world, as Ian Browne challenges your senses and your empathy, whether you are a battle-hardened traveler, or one who desires familiar comforts in a hotel by the sea.
The Book Thief: 20 Years On (59)
Markus Zusak
Twenty years ago, The Book Thief became an international bestseller and instant classic. Join Markus Zusak in conversation with David Leser to reflect on this significant milestone, his literary career, and why the book still resonates so strongly today.
12:45pm Acacia
The Power of Choice (69)
Andrew Denton, Julian Kingma
What constitutes a good death?
In The Power of Choice , awardwinning photographer Julian Kingma and voluntary assisted dying advocate Andrew Denton explore the stories of those on their final journey. Join them in conversation on the future of endof-life care with Virginia Trioli.
2:15 A&I Hall
BYRON WRITERS FESTIVAL LUNCH
August 8th August 9 th
Poetry Walk (70)
Akhil Katyal, Kirli Saunders, Anne-Marie Te Whiu
Explore the natural beauty and poetic pathways of the festival site in this walking tour featuring performances by acclaimed poets Akhil Katyal, Kirli Saunders, AnneMarie Te Whiu, and hosted by Laurie May.
2pm Coolamon
Trump’d (71)
Nick Bryant, Barry Jones, Emma Shortis, Don Watson
Get the analysis on Donald Trump’s second presidency with an all-star lineup of political commentators
Nick Bryant, Barry Jones, Emma Shortis and Don Watson. Is Australia’s relationship with the USA intact, and what can be done in the face of authoritarianism?
With Julianne Schultz.
Food and Passion (79)
Nadine Ingram, Ben Shewry
From depictions in popular culture such as fictional television series
The Bear , we know careers in professional kitchens can be intense. Join baker extraordinaire Nadine Ingram and chef Ben Shewry for a discussion of their lives in food and the passion that fuels their drive. With Virginia Trioli.
4:30pm Melaleuca
lunch for $39, including house wine and beer, or non alcoholic beverage Also, check out WOODS café on Station St open daily 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM (kitchen closes at 2 PM).
Andrew Denton
Julian Kingma
Markus Zusak
Anne-Marie Te Whiu
THE ROLYS
Sunday highlights
Round out your festival with a big last day, featuring iconic writers, powerful conversations, and family fun.
Australian Election Analysis (81)
Jane Caro, Simon Holmes à Court, George Megalogenis
Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 federal election, get the political analysis with an independent twist from commentator and past candidate Jane Caro, Climate 200’s Simon Holmes à Court and Quarterly Essayist George Megalogenis. With Misha Ketchell.
9am Acacia
Cultural Touchstones (85)
Helen Ennis, Nikki Gemmell, Hasib Hourani
What are the books that shape our culture? Join biographer Helen Ennis (Max Dupain), novelist Nikki Gemmell (Wing) and poet Hasib Hourani (Rock Flight) to discuss the books that wield influence and form the new canon. With Suzy Freeman-Greene.
9.15am A&I Hall
Human? (89)
Ziggy Ramo
Human is the searing, thought-provoking analysis of Australian society, from Wik singer-songwriter Ziggy Ramo. Part memoir, part historical treatise, Human invites readers to confront the realities of colonisation and their own biases, dispelling the myths that this nation is built on. With Rhoda Roberts.
10:15am Melaleuca
The Season (92)
Helen Garner
It’s footy season in Melbourne, and Helen Garner is following her grandson’s under-16s team. The Season is a celebration of the nobility, grace and grit of team spirit, a reflection on the nature of masculinity, and a tribute to the game’s power to thrill us. With Jock Serong.
11.45am Hakea
Green Solutions (99)
Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Judy Friedlander, Saul Griffith, Kate Saunders
What will it take to heal our planet – and how can each of us play a meaningful role? Explore education, philanthropy, and community action in the fight against climate change and the practical things you can do to decarbonise, boost biodiversity, and green our world. With Courtney Miller. 1pm A&I Hall
Writing Love and Sex (109)
Stacey McEwan, Saman Shad, Robert Watkins
Australian BookTok star Stacey McEwan ( A Forbidden Alchemy) and Sex Lives of Married Women author Saman Shad talk about the do’s, don’ts and ‘don’t stop’ of writing about sex and love, why it’s important to write these stories and why we love to read them. With Robert Watkins. 3.15pm Melaleuca
Kids Program fun for all ages
Main Stage with host Peter Helliar
9am–12.15pm Lilly Pilly
9.00am Rhyme and rap with Word Travels’ poets Miles Merrill and Rachael Williams
9.30am Chase your dreams with Tony Armstrong
10.00am Solve crimes with Peter Helliar
10.30am Storytime with Anita Heiss
11.00am Create a story with Sarah Armstrong
11.30am Jesse Blackadder Prize Presentation 11.45am Dance with The Gumboots
Activities & Storytime
9.am–11:50am Coolamon
9.00am Storytime with Kirli Saunders
9.30am Bee a nature hero with Judy Friedlander
10.10am Flower crowns with Zanni Louise
10.50am Poetry with Sarah Temporal
11:20am Draw with Jake A Minton
Byron Writers Festival ’25
Friday 8 August – Sunday 10 August Bangalow Showground and A&I Hall, Market Street, Bangalow Gates open daily at 8am daily Parking and FREE shuttle bus from Byron Bay
www.byronwritersfestival.com
Simon Holmes à Court Ziggy Ramo
Hasib Hourani
Peter Helliar
Helen Garner