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Our two-and-a-big day gathering of storytelling, writing, and ideas in beautiful Manly runs from Thursday 14 March to Saturday 16 March 2024.
More than 70 writers, academics, journalists, publishers, thinkers and creators will appear across more than 35 events in our venues in Manly and Brookvale.
Australians love a good yarn and to have a chat. It follows that we also love our literary events, of which there are many, and none more so than the biggest and most celebrated of the lot – the Sydney Writers’ Festival held in May each year.
So why Manly?
Some writers – some of whom put in literally decades of research into their book – do not always get an opportunity to talk about their work at literary festivals. That is especially the case from the bigger and more established writers’ festivals. There are also many writers on the Northern Beaches who similarly don’t get an opportunity to talk about their work. They include both fiction and non-fiction writers.
In addition, while many associate Manly with - and residents love the area because of - the beach and the “best commute in the world” (aka the Manly Ferry), Manly and the Northern Beaches has a creative life which is evidenced by the writers, musicians, galleries, theatres, and entertainment around.
So instead we asked: why not Manly?
Our hope is to make the Manly Writers’ Festival an annual gathering as a beacon for literary activities for the entire community.
We want to bring readers, writers, and thinkers together. We want to host discussions that energise, inform, and inspire; they may be issues you disagree with, but nonethless we see informed, respectful, and vigorous interchange as key to the type of community and society we want to nurture and cherish.
We trust you find the program for the inaugural Manly Writers’ Festival has something of interest for you, and that you look forward to being energised, informed and inspired.
Some of the Northern Beaches’ and Australia’s finest thinkers, writers, and journalists are coming to Manly…and they want to have a chat.
We hope you will join them!