Early Bird tickets
Early Bird tickets and first authors announced for ’25
Byron Writers Festival is delighted to announce the first nine artists joining us August 8-10 at Bangalow Showground.
The line-up includes British literary luminary Esther Freud (My Sister and Other Lovers); acclaimed writer and national treasure Helen Garner (The Season); beloved novelist-turned-memoirist Hannah Kent (Always Home, Always Homesick); award-winning storyteller Nardi Simpson (The Belburd); memoirist and Alone Australia winner Gina Chick (We Are the Stars); bestselling writer Markus Zusak (Three Wild Dogs); business journalist and commentator Joe Aston (The Chairman’s Lounge); Miles Franklin award-winning writer Michelle de Kretser (Theory & Practice); and author and advocate Thomas Mayo (Always Was, Always Will Be).
Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham–Campbell Prize for non-fiction. She was honoured with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature in 2019. And in 2023 she was awarded the ASA Medal for her outstanding contribution to Australian literature. Her works include Monkey Grip, The Children’s Bach, The First Stone, Joe Cinque’s Consolation, The Spare Room, This House of Grief and three volumes of her diaries. She lives in Melbourne.
Esther Freud is the author of nine previous novels, and her work has been translated into thirteen languages. Her first novel Hideous Kinky was made into a film starring Kate Winslet. After publishing her second book she was selected as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. Her other novels include The Sea House, Mr Mac and Me, and I Couldn’t Love You More. Freud’s first full length play, Stitchers, was produced in London in 2018 and her new book; My Sister and Other Lovers, will be published in July 2025.
Markus Zusak is the international bestselling author of six novels, including The Messenger, Bridge of Clay and The Book Thief – one of the most loved books of the twenty-first century and a New York Times bestseller for more than a decade. His work is translated into more than fifty languages, and has been awarded numerous honours around the world, ranging from literary prizes to bookseller and readers choice awards. His books have also been adapted into film, television and theatre. He was born in Sydney, and still lives there with his wife, two children, and the third wild dog in a once thriving household of animals. Three Wild Dogs (and the truth) is his first book of non-fiction.
Thomas Mayo is an Australian human rights advocate, a trade union official and an award-winning author. Books include Finding the Heart of The Nation, Dear Son, Finding The Heart, Freedom Day and The Voice to Parliament Handbook with Kerry O’Brien & Always Was, Always Will Be.
Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka. She lives in Warrane/Sydney on unceded Gadigal land. An honorary associate of the English Department at the University of Sydney, she has won several awards for her fiction. Theory & Practice is her seventh novel. Theory & Practice is long listed for the Stella Prize.
Gina Chick is a rewilding facilitator, adventurer, writer and speaker. She was one of ten participants of the first series of Alone Australia, made by iTV and screened on SBS in 2023. After 67 days of unforgettable moments of searing vulnerability, Gina was the last person standing, and the second woman to win an Alone solo challenge. Her determination, passion, and love of the natural world endeared her to more than 5.5 million people around Australia. Her first book, We Are the Stars, published by Simon & Schuster, is a bestselling memoir of love, connection and the glorious power of letting go.
Hannah Kent’s first novel, the multi award winning international bestseller, Burial Rites, was translated into over 30 languages and is being adapted for Film. Her second novel, The Good People was translated into 10 languages, nominated for numerous awards and is also being adapted for film. Devotion, her third novel, published in 2021, won Booktopia’s Favourite Australian Book, and was shortlisted for multiple industry awards. Her original feature film, Run Rabbit Run, was directed by Daina Reid and starred Sarah Snook.
Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay storyteller from New South Wales’ (NSW) northwest freshwater plains. As a member of Indigenous duo Stiff Gins, Nardi has travelled nationally and internationally for the past 22 years. She is also a founding member of Freshwater, an all-female vocal ensemble formed to revive the language and singing traditions of NSW river communities. Nardi’s debut novel, Song of the Crocodile, won the 2017 Black&Write! Fellowship and the ALS Gold Medal, and was longlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Literary Award. Nardi currently lives in Sydney and continues to be heavily involved in the teaching and sharing of culture in both her Sydney and Yuwaalaraay communities.
Joe Aston is one of Australia’s most influential commentators on business, finance and politics. For 12 years he struck fear into the hearts of the nation’s political and corporate leaders with his must-read column Rear Window in the Australian Financial Review. He interrogated some of the country’s biggest business stories including Rio Tinto’s Juukan Gorge scandal; CPA Australia and its Naked CEO Alex Malley; and the decline and fall of both Magellan Financial Group and Qantas. In 2023, Joe and his AFR colleagues won a Walkley Award for their coverage of the PwC tax leaks scandal. AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury says Aston ‘turned a gossip column into a form of journalism like never before seen in Australia, and arguably the world.’ Joe resigned from the AFR in October last year. He lives in Sydney.
