Writer’s festival line-up beyond your wildest imagination

By Lesley Apps

This year’s Byron Writers Festival features an inspiring program of celebrated authors and thinkers including Grace Tame, Richard Fidler, Heather Rose, Tracey Spicer, Nakkiah Liu, Holly Ringland, and Myf Warhurst, along with a line-up of powerful new voices.

Grace Tame

Themed ‘Wild Imagination’, it will also be the first year the festival will be held at its new home in the hinterland town of Bangalow, with more than 120 writers and commentators set to appear over the three day event in August.

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Besides the Australian contingent, among international guests are Booker Prize long-listed debut novelist Gabriel Krauze (UK); investigative journalist Anke Richter (NZ); and Dr Robert Waldinger (USA), Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Zen Priest and one of the directors of the longest study of happiness in the world.

Richard Fidler

Fiction fans will be in their element with in-depth conversations featuring bestselling novelists Pip Williams (The Bookbinder Of Jericho), Kate Morton (Homecoming), Peggy Frew (Wildflowers), Holly Ringland (The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding), and Robbie Arnott (Limberlost) just a taste of what’s to come, while lovers of true-life stories will also be captivated by the stunning memoirs set to be explored live on stage with their authors.

Well known faces including activist, survivor-advocate Grace Tame — sharing her story and vision for a better future as captured in Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner; Myf Warhurst — unleashing stories from her joyous memoir Time of My Life; and Walkley Award-winning journalist Tracey Spicer providing much needed insight into Artificial Intelligence from her deeply researched, gripping investigation Man-Made: How The Bias Of The Past Is Being Built Into The Future.

Tracey Spicer

In one of the most exciting book releases for 2023, Miles Franklin winner Anna Funder will join the festival line up to discuss her genre breaking book, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life. Described as ‘simply, a masterpiece’ by Geraldine Brooks, the book is sure to set off some compelling conversations around the true contribution of women to literature.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear and perhaps pick the brains, of some of Australia’s finest contributors to social commentary and the literary scene.

All tickets to the Byron Writers Festival (11 -13 August 2023) are now on sale. For all ticketing and program information, click here.

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