Jack Charles has worn many hats throughout his life: actor, cat burglar, musician, heroin addict, and activist. But the title he’s most proud to claim is that of Aboriginal Elder. We are thrilled to welcome Uncle Jack to the 2019 Festival line-up. Read on for more about his story.
The results are in for the Byron Writers Festival annual Flash Your Fiction competition. With over 170 entries, the field was extremely competitive this year. Congratulations to the winner, Sharon Fraser, for her story titled 'Underwater Lily'. The first runner-up was Carmen Vallis for 'How Hard Could it Be?' and the second runner-up was Caroline Henning with 'The Note'. Congratulations also to the ten shortlisted authors, listed below. Each of the shortlisted stories will be printed and displayed at the Byron Writers Festival site on 2-4 August.
If you’re looking for new insights into some of the big issues pervading modern consciousness, look no further than Byron Writers Festival 2019. Read on for an overview of just some of the hot-topic sessions you won’t want to miss each day...
This week we meet the journalists, politicians and philosophers who will come together at Byron Writers Festival 2019 to unpack the challenging terrain of modern politics, free speech and the crisis of democracy that comes with it. Read on for our daily digest of must-see sessions.
There is plenty at this year’s Byron Writers Festival for readers to relish. Get your bedside book stack sorted with our day-by-day digest of literary delight.
Bruce Pascoe's book 'Dark Emu' argues for a reconsideration of the ‘hunter-gatherer’ tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. He discusses his research and writing with Katinka Smit.
Born into care after his mother was forced to give him up, rejected by his adoptive foster family and finally released to his own care at eighteen, Lemn Sissay is a living example of the healing power of poetry. Interview by Katinka Smit.
Selina Tusitala Marsh is a Pasifika poet-scholar and the current New Zealand Poet Laureate (2017-2019). As the 2016 Commonwealth Poet she wrote and performed a poem for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, while she recently hosted a poetry event with Barack Obama. She spoke with Katinka Smit at Byron Writers Festival 2018.
As editor of the new anthology, 'Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia', Anita Heiss has successfully brought together diverse voices, experiences and stories from across Australia. Katinka Smit met her at Byron Writers Festival 2018 for a conversation about this groundbreaking publishing project.
Our official wrap-up gallery tells the story of the 2018 Byron Writers Festival in pictures
Byron Writers Festival (3-5 Aug), wrapped up a hugely successful 22nd year with more than 140 writers and thinkers from across Australia and around the world converging on Byron Bay to share remarkable stories in the glorious sunshine. Read our full wrap-up report of session highlights here.
Ahead of the publication of her new picture book Archie and the Bear, local children's author Zanni Louise looks at how the best children's books allow room for interpretation, ensuring that young readers become engaged, absorbed and imaginative as they follow a multi-layered story.
How does a career in journalism affect a writer when they come to create fiction? Journalist-come-novelist Russell Eldridge offers his take on the question to northerly editor Barnaby Smith.
Byron Writers Festival's new initiative, the Members' Book Club, held its inaugural event on 16 March when Marele Day's Lambs of God was the subject of discussion. Attendee Louise Heywood reports on a lively evening of literary conversation.
In a stellar double-bill of pioneering contemporary authors, Byron Writers Festival presents Susan Faludi and Ivan Coyote at Byron Theatre on 31 May. Emily Brugman previews this special event.
Local author and Byron Writers Festival board member Jesse Blackadder shares the history of StoryBoard, after the unveiling of the magical bus which will bring a touring creative writing workshop to Northern Rivers kids.
Byron Writers Festival director, Edwina Jonson, visited India in January of this year as one of the delegates for the Australia Council India Exploratory 2017 Program, where she had the opportunity to immerse herself in India’s vibrant literary scene. She spoke to Emily Brugman about her experience.
Osamah Sami is a multilingual Melbourne-based writer and actor born in Iran to Iraqi parents. Sami's forte is comedy, with his memoir Good Muslim Boy winning the NSW Premier's Literary Award in 2016. He is also a screenwriter and poet. He spoke to Katinka Smit at Byron Writers Festival 2016.
Northerly editor Barnaby Smith takes us through his guide to some of the more noteworthy, and perhaps overlooked, examples of musicians turning their hand to fiction.
The winner of the inaugural Nancy Fairfax Artist-in-Residence for Established Writers was Henri 'Renoir' Rennie, who stayed for a week in the studio at Tweed Regional Gallery in Murwillumbah in early February to devote himself exclusively to focused writing time. Here, Henri reflects on a transportive week, during which progress was most certainly made.
