Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival - big skies, open minds
Top: Markus Zusak, Noni Hazlehurst, Liane Moriarty, Dr Karl
Middle: Gina Chick, Yumi Stynes, Pip Williams, Tony Birch
Bottom: Shankari Chandran, Chris Hammer, Nardi Simpson, Sara M Saleh
We’re so excited to have announced the line up for the next Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival, which grows and grows every year.
Tickets are on sale now. Visit www.bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au
The 2024 Festival runs 1 - 3 November and includes more than 80 writers featured in 46 sessions, 14 workshops and 10 special events.
Obviously, as Varuna, we are passionate about featuring the best of Australia’s literary landscape, but we’re equally committed to celebrating the beautiful region where we work, so our Special Events program offers incredible opportunities to connect with authors against the stunning backdrop of the world-heritage listed Blue Mountains. You could be hearing from writers in the rainforest, listening to poets in the sky (aka a cablecar suspended over the Jamison Valley at Scenic World), or taking in spectacular starlit night skies with Blue Mountains Stargazing. We’re also offering a nature writing workshop with Viki Cramer in the gardens at Varuna!
For more indoorsy sorts (or night owls who think 7.30am is a ridiculous time for an event in the rainforest), you can cosy up at the historic Carrington Hotel for a few Bedtime Stories, evening salon events featuring a mixed line-up of poetry, comedy, storytelling and music. Who wouldn’t want Noni Hazlehurst or Nardi Simpson to read them a bedtime story before they hit the sack? On Sunday afternoon, we’ve got interactive Beers and Books sessions tackling knotty topics at Mountain Culture Brewery, a series of more casual events featuring Yumi Stynes and Dr Melissa Kang, and Rick Morton and Matilda Boseley.
This is the fourth iteration of the festival and the theme is Big Skies, Open Minds, inspired by what Creative Director Maeve Marsden loves about the Blue Mountains, and writing.
“When I first moved to the Blue Mountains, what struck me most was the sky – the sheer scale of it,” she says. “Just an hour or two from the city, the stars seemed brighter, the clouds bigger, the air more crisp. Living here, on beautiful Dharug and Gundungurra land, has afforded me a new approach to my creativity, space to think big and engage more thoughtfully with the world.”
“This is what reading and writing offer us, too. A sense of possibility, the capacity to consider different perspectives, and the opportunity to look at our surroundings with fresh eyes. My hope is that the 2024 Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival, and the incredible authors we’ve assembled, offer audiences the chance to expand their horizons and deepen their focus, just as I have been able to in this spectacular place.”
Tickets are on sale now.