2024 Newcastle Writers Festival Starts Today - More than 700 will be in the audience for Leigh Sales opening night event

Leigh Sales. Image Credit: Daniel Boud.

The 2024 Newcastle Writers Festival officially begins today, April 5, with an opening night event at Newcastle City Hall featuring award-winning journalist Leigh Sales who will be interviewed by radio presenter and author Indira Naidoo about her new book Storytellers.

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Several events across the three-day program have already booked out, including those with actor-turned-bestselling writer Bryan Brown, journalists David Marr and Antony Loewenstein, and 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Shankari Chandram, as well as a history walk in the grounds of James Fletcher Hospital.

There are 95 free and ticketed sessions across the festival program, which includes 150 writers from throughout Australia. It will be the second year the festival will take over The University of Newcastle’s NUspace building, which provides greater accessibility, and there are also events being held in the Civic Playhouse, Conservatorium of Music, Watt Space Gallery, Wollotuka Institute, The Press Book House, Back to Back Galleries, and Performance Arts Culture Cessnock.

Founding director Rosemarie Milsom collaborated with new program manager Amy Lovat on this year’s program, the largest since the Covid disruption. “It’s been a gradual return to the scale of pre-Covid programming and I’m excited that we can now plan with greater certainty,” she said. “We are overwhelmed by the calibre of writers who will be in Newcastle and there really is something for everyone – crime, romance, history, First Nations astronomy, poetry, politics, sex, memoir, food, and mind-opening discussions about global issues.”

Professor Zee Upton, Acting Vice-Chancellor at the University of Newcastle, said the university was proud to continue its 11-year partnership with the festival. “Newcastle Writers Festival is an iconic event where the community can share knowledge, experiences and culture,” she said. “This year’s program offers an incredible lineup of writers and we’re delighted to welcome them to our campuses.

We are passionate about supporting the arts and culture sector and sharing our spaces with the community to allow more people to experience creativity and culture in our region.”

This weekend’s program includes award-winning writers such as Nam Le, Charlotte Wood, Christos Tsiolkas, Melissa Lucashenko, and Kate Grenville. The lineup also features New York Times bestseller Sally Hepworth, comedian Wendy Harmer, Teacher’s Pet journalist Hedley Thomas, feminist writer Clementine Ford, and a record number of debut authors, including Madeleine Gray, Nadine J Cohen, and Hannah Diviney. On Saturday night, Words and Music will bring together local and visiting musicians such as Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie, Adam Newling, Sunbiirds, and Piper Butcher as they transform the work of Australian writers into songs.

Among the Hunter region writers included in the program are Lake Macquarie poet Jean Kent, philosopher Russell Blackford, and 93-year-old debut writer Rosemary Lewis.

Download the program and book tickets at www.newcastle.writersfestival.org.au

There is no need to book for free sessions, which are offered on a ‘first in, first served’ basis.

To arrange interviews during the weekend please text Rosemarie Milsom 0403 041 588.