Katoomba will be overflowing with ideas in the first weekend of November as the country's greatest minds and most exciting new talent make their way to the / (min cost $ 0 ) or signup to continue reading The 2024 program includes more than 80 authors featured in 46 sessions, 14 workshops and 10 special events. Held from November 1-3, festival headliners include author Markus Zusak, actor Noni Hazlehurst who has written her memoir, plus Liane Moriarty of and fame. They will be joined by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, first season winner Gina Chick, and award-winning stand-up comedian and crime author, Benjamin Stevenson.
Setting the festival apart is its special event program, offering one-of-a kind experiences set 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 cable car suspended over the Jamison Valley at Scenic World), or taking in spectacular starlit night skies with Blue Mountains Stargazing. Alternatively, 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.
On Sunday afternoon, audiences can kick back with their favourite author over a beer at Mountain Culture Brewery for Beers and Books, a series of more casual events. One of the hottest tickets in town is always the live broadcast of The 2024 Blue Mountains Writers' Festival is the fourth iteration of the festival, which is presented by Varuna the National Writers' House, Australia's foremost institution for literary development. The inaugural program for creative director, Maeve Marsden, who took up the role in late 2023, is themed Big Skies, Open Minds.
"When I first moved to the Blue Mountains, what struck me most was the sky - the sheer scale of it," she said. "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 both local and tourist audiences the chance to expand their horizons and deepen their focus, just as I have been able to in this spectacular place.
" Blue Mountains Writers' Festival encourages audiences to purchase a gold or silver weekend pass, offering access to 40-50 sessions across the program. Single tickets will go on sale, with the full program announcement on August 27. Markus Zusak is the international bestselling author of six novels, including The Book Thief, The Messenger and Bridge of Clay.
Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth) is his first book of non-fiction. A household name, our best-loved actor Noni Hazlehurst has graced our screens and theatres for over 40 years. In Dropping the Mask, Noni is finally telling her story.
And like Noni herself, this memoir will be far from ordinary. Liane Moriarty is the author of nine internationally bestselling novels including Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall. Her books have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
Her latest novel is Here One Moment. When NASA classified Karl as non-astronaut material in 1981, he walked straight into ABC Radio station Double J and offered to talk about the Space Shuttle launch. Since then, his media career has exploded.
Karl has written (so far) 47 books. His sciencey memoir, A Periodic Tale, will be published in September 2024. Gina Chick is a rewilding facilitator, adventurer, writer and speaker.
Gina was the fearless winner of Alone Australia's first season. We Are the Stars is Gina's debut memoir. Yumi Stynes is a highly esteemed broadcaster having fronted the podcast Ladies, We Need to Talk on the ABC for 7+ seasons, an interview series called SEEN on SBS, and a hugely popular food podcast called The Food Fix.
She is also the co-author of the Welcome To series of books guiding teens on subjects such as consent, getting your period and having sex. Pip Williams is the author of social research, essays, memoir and the odd poem, but she is best known for her companion novels, The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho. The Bookbinder of Jericho was published in 2023 and was the bestselling Australian novel for that year.
Tony Birch holds the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at Melbourne University. He is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry collections. His most recent book is the novel, Women and Children.
Shankari Chandran is an Australian Tamil lawyer and the author of Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens which won the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her latest book Safe Haven was published in May 2024. Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction author.
His first book Scrublands was an instant bestseller and winner of the UK Crime Writers Association's New Blood Dagger. His fifth book, The Tilt, was recently named as The London Times Crime Book of the Year for 2023. The Valley is his seventh crime fiction novel, scheduled for publication in October 2024.
Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay storyteller from the northwest freshwater plains of New South Wales. Her debut novel, Song of the Crocodile, won the 2017 Black&Write! Fellowship and the ALS Gold Medal, and was longlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her latest novel is The Belburd.
Sara M Saleh is a writer, human rights lawyer and daughter of Palestinian, Lebanese and Egyptian migrants. Based on Bidjigal land, she is co-editor of the groundbreaking 2019 anthology Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity. Her first novel Songs for the Dead and the Living, was shortlisted for the 2024 NSW Premier's Awards.
Sara made history as the first poet to win both the 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize and the 2020 Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and author. His first novel, Greenlight, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction, and his second novel, Either Side of Midnight, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Original Paperback.
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, his third novel, will soon be adapted into a major HBO TV series. Early-bird gold and silver passes went on sale on July 23 through the website . They are available until August 13 when special events and full-price tickets go on sale.
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