Join us to celebrate the launch of Ingrid Laguna's new middle grade fiction, Edie Tells a Lie.

Edie lives with her mum-it's just the two of them. Her best friend, Bowie, lives right next door, until Bowie moves to the country. Edie feels alone and forgotten, but she soon meets Aleki, and she's happy to have a new friend. Aleki has a big family with lots going on all the time. Edie wishes she had a big, interesting family too. So she invents a story-a lie.

Free, but bookings are essential.

Join celebrated author Helen Garner in conversation with literary critic and contributing writer at The New Yorker, Merve Emre, as they reflect on her fourth non-fiction book The Season.

The Season is an account of Garner's grandson's season playing football in the western suburbs of Melbourne and, at its heart, it's a meditation on love from a grandmother in her early eighties.

Garner's devotion to the under-16s team offers her a chance to connect with her youngest grandchild, Amby. To be close to him before he rushes headlong into manhood, to witness his triumphs and defeats, to fear for his safety in battle, to gasp and cheer for his team as it fights for a place in the finals.

She knows she won't live to see his life unfold. Amby is the last of Helen's three grandchildren, the youngest, and he will long survive her. The Season is a moving celebration of her grandson, of nobility, of the grit of team spirit; and acts a reflection of the nature of masculinity today.

Don't miss the chance to hear Garner and Emre unpack the experiences explored in hew newest work, and discuss The Season's place in the arc of her career.

The conversation will be followed by a Q&A.

Jana Wendt, the much-loved Gold Logie superstar of TV journalism for nearly three decades, feature writer and role model for young career women, has now turned her hand to fiction.

In ‘Bits and Pieces’, an artist talks about his long life: ‘Let me tell you, my friend, journalists ask some very stupid questions.’ In ‘Fame and Nothingness’, a once celebrated journalist calls into a talkback program about meeting Nelson Mandela. In ‘The Stamp of History’, Ada and Albert live through the dark days of Europe. In the opening story, Ludmilla is about to discover an entirely new side to her husband.

Wendt’s stories are polished and exuberant, rich with distinctive voices and precise details. Her characters grapple with fortune and misfortune, with memories of lives in interesting times. Couples are betrayed and redeemed. There are heart-stopping monologues and witty exchanges between friends and rivals. Tragedies alternate with enduring love.

In The Far Side of the Moon, Jana Wendt brings to life a brilliant parade of people, living in a world we instantly recognise.

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.