It certainly is, and we can’t wait! 2022 Festival dates are 26 – 28 August. For more information including tickets sales and program announcements, please head to our Festival Homepage.

The new Festival site is located at North Byron Parklands, approximately 20min drive from Byron Bay, 25min drive from Gold Coast airport and 35min drive from Ballina-Byron Airport. On-site car parking will be available and shuttle buses will run between Byron Bay and the Festival.

The full program of events will be available online from mid-July. The program will include all festival sessions, satellite events and workshops. For program updates please subscribe to our e-newsletter.

You certainly do. Access to the Festival site is only available to Pass holders. A program of separately ticketed workshops and satellite events – some of them free –  runs in the lead-up to and throughout the main Festival weekend. Ticket prices vary and details are released when the full program is announced. Release dates for tickets can be found here. Please subscribe to our e-newsletter for writer announcements and ticket release updates.

Byron Writers Festival puts particular emphasis on celebrating Australian writers and storytellers, although many of these writers will be of international renown. You may find an international guest scattered among the line-up, but our philosophy ensures that Australian writing is of core significance in the program.

No! Byron Writers Festival is all about words and ideas, perfect for all readers, writers and thinkers. Most attend to listen to contemporary writers, engage with new ideas, meet other curious-minded people and fall in love with new books.

Byron Writers Festival is a 3-day celebration of storytelling, literature and big ideas covering everything from fiction, memoir, the environment, politics and social issues.

We have a purpose-built festival site on the beautiful grounds of North Byron Parklands, with five outdoor marquees filled with conversations, panels, readings, lectures and performances running concurrently. Most sessions are 45 min – 1 hour in length, and you can sit and listen for an entire session or wander between venues as the fancy takes you.

There’s coffee, food and market stalls as well as a splendid bookshop run by The Book Room Collective. Most authors will be in the book signing area after their sessions. On Festival Sunday, one marquee is turned over to children’s authors and the kids can have a special day meeting their favourites. In the evening, you can enjoy one of the satellite events around the region.

North Byron Parklands is a picturesque 660-acre cultural arts and music events venue, located at Yelgun in the north of Byron Shire, on the lands of the Minjungbal people. It features rolling green pastures, lush forest and coastal surrounds. Home to Australia’s much-loved Splendour in the Grass music Festival, the site is also used for smaller community festivals and events throughout the year. It is located approximately 20min drive north of Byron Bay, 25min drive from Gold Coast airport and 35min drive from Ballina-Byron Airport.

Yes, on-site car parking will be adjacent to the Festival and within easy walking distance of where the action takes place. Parking will be by donation.

Yes, a free shuttle service will run between Byron Bay CBD, Elements of Byron, and the Festival site. The shuttle bus will drop passengers off close to the Festival entrance gates.

After generously hosting Byron Writers Festival for many years, the site at Elements of Byron is no longer available.

Byron Writers Festival will continue to offer the same wonderful three-day experience as in previous years. Five outdoor marquees will be filled with conversations, panels, storytelling and ideas. There will be food, coffee and market stalls on site, as well as the festival bookshop.

The decision to move to late August was made to give time for site regeneration following Splendour in the Grass, which takes place in late July each year.

The safety and well-being of our guests and artists is a priority and to ensure a Covid-safe event we will be following all NSW Health advice current at the time of the event. Further information will be available on a ‘Stay Covid Safe’ webpage when tickets go on sale.

If the event is unable to proceed on the advertised date or location by Government order, Byron Writers Festival reserves the right to reschedule the Event, and offer a credit or exchange to the rescheduled date, or offer a refund request window of 28 days.

Byron Writers Festival has introduced updates to our ticketing policy giving people more flexibility in the case of illness or border closure:

• If you cannot attend Festival events due to testing positive to COVID-19 or having to isolate according to current NSW Health guidelines, please contact the Festival to arrange a ticket exchange or credit. If an exchange or credit cannot be facilitated a refund will be given.
• If you cannot attend the Festival due to travel and quarantine restrictions, or border closures, please contact the Festival, where possible, 7 days prior to the event to arrange a ticket exchange or credit – and if that can’t be facilitated a refund will be given.

Selected sessions from the main program and Kids Big Day Out are interpreted each day of the Festival. You can also go to the Information Tent and request AUSLAN interpreters on an as-needs basis. If you require an AUSLAN interpreter, please email [email protected].

Limited disabled parking is available and our parking volunteers will direct you accordingly. Please have your sticker on display.

Marquees and stages have wheelchair accessible allocated seating. Please make yourself known to the marquee supervisor and you will be ushered accordingly.

Byron Writers Festival is curated by the Artistic Director and programming committee, in wide consultation with publishers and industry bodies. Participation is by invitation only. The Programming Committee does not accept unsolicited submissions, and due to the large quantity of messages we receive, we are not always able to reply to individual pitches. The program gives a broad definition to the concept of writing and incorporates many genres.

Festival opportunities and competitions are listed on our website as they arise. We encourage people to subscribe to our e-newsletter for opportunity and competition announcements.

The Byron Writers Festival is organised by the six staff and a hands-on Committee, we are a not-for-profit member-based organisation. Employment opportunities within the office are rare, but will always be placed on the Festival website.

The Byron Writers Festival relies on its enthusiastic volunteer workforce, with approximately 160 volunteers being rostered before and during the event. More information about volunteering can be found here.

All 2020 and 2021 Festival vouchers will be transferred and valid for use at the 2022 Festival. Please email [email protected] to arrange this.

Tickets are emailed to you via our ticketing site, TryBooking. If you have purchased your ticket online or via the telephone, you should receive your tickets via email (note: mailed FROM TryBooking) as a PDF attachment. Be sure to check your junk mail for this email if you can’t find it. PLEASE PRINT YOUR PDF TICKET before you come to the Festival to facilitate ease of scanning at the entrance gates. Before you approach the Festival gates:

• Have your printed ticket with you, with your barcode visible for scanning, OR
• Have your ticket displayed on your mobile device.

Please go to the Festival box office where a staff member will assist you. DO NOT join the queue at the Festival gates.

If you have lost your Byron Writers Festival ticket, workshop, special event ticket or membership number, please click here: LOST TICKETS You will just need the email address you booked with. Your lost tickets will be sent from Trybooking, please check your junk email if you can’t find them.

Yes. Once we scan your ticket, you will receive your wristband. You must wear your wristband at all times while at the festival and you may be checked as you enter various venues.

Gates open at 8.30am daily.

There is no cloakroom at the Festival site. If you have baggage or suitcases, you will need to arrange your own safe storage.

Unfortunately, we do not offer phone-charging services. Please come fully charged up!

Lost property is located at the Festival Information Booth. All unclaimed items will be returned to the Festival office and will need to be picked up from there after the Festival weekend has concluded.

Byron Writers Festival is a plastic water bottle free event. Please BYO bottles for refills. There will be a water refill station on site, and Byron Writers Festival water bottles for sale at the Information and Merchandise tent.

Yes! A range of food stalls will be serving delicious local meals throughout each day of the Festival from our food marquee.

Printed programs are distributed in the Byron Shire Echo upon program announcement and will be available during festival weekend at the Festival entrance and Festival Information Tent. Please note our printed program is subject to last minute changes. An up-to-date daily program of sessions is available from our website. Keep a look out at the Festival site for signage and handouts advising of unavoidable last-minute program changes.

Yes.