Join our Text authors at Byron Writers Festival from 8-10 August this year.

Featuring Helen Garner, Melanie Cheng, Michelle de Kretser, Gail Jones, Robert Dessaix, Clare Wright, and Judith Brett. 

Reserve your tickets now! 

On Walking

From the nature ramble, overland pilgrimage, to a walk about the garden, walking inspires, stimulates, consoles and soothes us. Join environmental activist GeoffCousins, Miles Franklin Award-winning author Michelle de Kretser (Theory & Practice), with Festival founder Chris Hanley to celebrate and contemplate the joy of walking.

Bookings are essential.

Memoir: My Story

Literary superstars Robert Dessaix (Chameleon), Hannah Kent (Always Home, Always Homesick) and Markus Zusak (Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth)) reflect on the power of sharing their own personal stories. With Ashley Hay.

Bookings are essential.

Secrets We Keep

Join novelists Melanie Cheng (The Burrow), Esther Freud (My Sister and Other Lovers) and Cameron Stewart (Why Do Horses Run?) for a tender exploration of the secrets and silences within families, relationships, and ourselves. With Michael Williams.

Bookings are essential.

Settler Mythscapes

Join leading historians Jackie Huggins (Deep History: Country and Sovereignty) and Clare Wright (Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions) in conversation with Grace Lucas-Pennington for a discussion on their remarkable new books that change our concepts of time, nationhood, sovereignty and Country.

Bookings are essential.

On Readings & Writing

Join celebrated Australian writers Michelle de Kretser (Theory & Practice), Gail Jones (The Name of the Sister) and Don Watson (High Noon) in discussion about their literary craft, process and influences, and the transformative power of reading. With Chris Hanley.

Bookings are essential.

Writing Biography

Discover the lives of brilliant figures who shaped our art, politics, and environment, with Judith Brett (Fearless Beatrice Faust), Helen Ennis (Max Dupain) and Grantlee Kieza (Annette Kellerman and Mr & Mrs Gould). With Nell Schofield.

Bookings are essential.

In Conversation: with Kerry O'Brien

Join iconic Australian writer Helen Garner for an exploration of life on and offthe page in conversation with legendary journalist Kerry O’Brien.

With an oeuvre spanning fiction, ‘near- fiction’, and non-fiction, from personal diaries to courtrooms, Garner has now turned her insight, candour and wit to the footy field for her grandson’s games in The Season. Don’t miss this festival highlight to see two masters of their craft in celebration of a writing life.

Bookings are essential.

Thea Astley Address: The Bark Petitions

Naku Dharuk is the story of a founding document in Australian democracy, and a pulsating picture of the ancient and enduring culture of Australia’s first peoples. Join Clare Wright for the annual Thea Astley Address, and in conversation with Kerry O'Brien.

Bookings are essential.

The Season

It’s footy season in Melbourne, and Helen Garner is following her grandson’s under-16s team. The Season is a celebration of the nobility, grace and grit of team spirit, a reflection on the nature of masculinity, and a tribute to the game’s power to thrill us. Helen is joined in conversation by fellow writer Jock Serong.

Bookings are essential.