From the Director

Welcome to the 22^nd Byron Writers Festival program! It is a thrill to showcase this year’s line-up of 140 writers and thinkers who help shape our national conversation with their engaging stories and ideas.

This year the stories in our program will take us from the wilds of New Zealand to North Korea, Tuscany and back home to near-by Goonengerry. We traverse much territory including anxiety, crime, the Frontier Wars, the Anthropocene, science, comedy, immigration, the wellness industry and poetry. We explore music, whales, romance and debate whether reading can make you happier. Writers will nominate the books that changed them, and will explore how to shape life into story.

The Festival is an examination of how we live both on a personal level and as a society. It offers writers and patrons alike an opportunity to reflect our world back to each other in story. It examines everything from how we communicate, how we migrate, how we farm, how we cope with grief, how we process change – how we live now resonates throughout Festival sessions. The Festival offers us space and a place to enjoy ‘the art of listening’ and seeing where conversations and stories can take us.

We can’t wait to see your friendly faces, both familiar and new, at the 2018 Byron Writers Festival, Australia’s most popular regional literary festival.

Edwina Johnson, Director

2018 Guest Line-Up

Nicole Abadee, Michael Ableman, Alex Adsett, Míša Alexander, Ali Alizadeh, Manal al-Sharif, Anne Aly, Sarah Armstrong, Eddie Ayres, Sunil Badami, Tristan Bancks, Paul  Barclay, Caroline Baum, Tony Birch, Jesse Blackadder, Mark Brandi, Ellen Briggs, Ellen Broad, Phil Brown, Jane Camens, Steven Carroll, Kylie Chan, Jo Chandler, Anna Clark, Allan Clarke, Alan Close, Jessie Cole, Matthew Condon, Robin Cutler, Trent Dalton, Marele Day, Michelle de Kretser, Brigid Delaney, Richard Denniss, Shastra Deo, Ceridwen Dovey, Robert Drewe, Jarrah Dundler, Jill Eddington, Eskil Engdal, Gareth Evans, Bernard Fanning, Future D. Fidel, Richard Fidler, Elizabeth Finkel, Alan Finkel, Kitty Flanagan, Candice Fox, Phillip Frazer, Antony Funnell, Steven Gale, Joëlle Gergis, Carey Gillam, Moreno Giovannoni, Kári Gíslason, Peter Greste, Matt Haig, Clive Hamilton, Chris Hammer, Chris Hanley, Andrew Hansen, Jane Harper, Lynda Hawryluk, Ashley Hay, Anita Heiss, Ben Hobson, Jenny Hocking, Shep Huntly, Jane Hutcheon, Zacharey Jane, Micheline  Jenner, Rachael Johns, Lloyd Jones, Sarah Kanowski, Kon Karapanagiotidis, Delta Kay, Tom Keneally, Erin Knutt, Campbell Korff, Sarah Krasnostein, Laura Kroetsch, Jacqui Lambie, Miriam Lancewood, Emma & Tom Lane, Hyeonseo Lee, Bri Lee, Deborah Lee, Hans Lovejoy, Melissa Lucashenko, William MacNeil, Selina Tusitala Marsh , Charles Massy, Dervla McTiernan, Courtney Sina Meredith, Miles Merrill, Karen Middleton, Walter Mikac, Barney & Kada Miller, Louise Milligan, Christine Milne, Rosemarie Milsom, Tracey Moffatt, Liane Moriarty, Warren Mundine, Mandy Nolan, Kerry O’Brien, Jesse Oliver, Mick O’Regan, Oliver Phommavanh, Ailsa Piper, Tanya Plibersek, Victoria Purman, Jennifer Rayner, Henry Reynolds, Hannah Richell, David Ritter, Jessica Roberts, Tim Rogers, Kjetil Saeter, Bernhard Schlink, Nathan Scolaro, Sarah Sentilles, Adam Shoemaker, Lemn Sissay, Gregory Smith, Matt Stanton, Adam Suckling, Lian Tanner, Margaret Throsby, Gillian Triggs, Elise Valmorbida, Lisa Walker, Christine Wells, Debbie Whitmont, Kate Wild, Michael Williams, Sarah  Wilson, Josephine Wilson, Chris Womersley, Bernard Zuel.

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