Writers Centre in festival mode!

It’s all happening behind-the-scenes right now, but we are super excited to give readers a sneak peek of what’s happening at not one, but two writers festivals we are presenting locally in May and June.

First up, on Sunday, 22 May, the SCWC and Merrigong Theatre will bring Sydney Writers’ Festival, Australia’s largest forum celebrating books and ideas, to the Music Lounge at Wollongong Town Hall. This day-long event includes a live stream of panels direct from the Sydney festival, plus in-person panels with local writers.

The Sydney Writers Festival is still under wraps, but we can announce some of our locally curated program. Come along to hear multi-award-winning horror authors, J. S. Breukelaar and Alan Baxter, talk about Alan’s latest book, The Fall, and Australian dark fiction in general. Tamryn Bennett from Red Room Poetry will be in conversation with two Illawarra poets, discussing writing, publishing and the state of Australian poetry.

We are also thrilled to announce that we are curating and presenting our own writers’ festival, the South Coast Writers Festival, in June. The festival will showcase the exceptional talents in our region and promote new Australian writing.

From Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th June, across venues including the Wollongong Town Hall, Library and Art Gallery, the festival will present a program of readings, conversations, panels and book launches, for adults and children. There’s a packed schedule of well-known and emerging writers over three days, including Jane Caro, Caroline Baum, Scott Ludlum, Robyn Williams, Jonica Newby, Vivian Pham, Zoe Ghani, James Elazzi, Catherine Rey, Hayley Scrivenor, Dinuka McKenzie, Helena Fox, Aunty Barbara Nicholson, Katherine Heyman, Christine Sykes, Claire Zorn, and Meredith Jaffe.

Also, look out for our new street library! With the assistance of a Wollongong City Council neighbourhood grant, we’ve been working with Thirroul Men’s Shed to have a street library built. It will be installed out the front of Coledale Hall soon.

Visit southcoastwriters.org