Byron Writers Festival 2016
In the lead up to the Byron Bay Writers Festival this August 5–7, Echonetdaily is collecting articles, news and reviews of the authors and speakers that will be attending this year.
Byron Bay Writers Festival articles:
Yankee joker jeered at writers festival
At the Byron Writers Festival last week, American satirist P J O’Rourke was a star drawcard, but the more he spoke the less drawn the crowd got.
Former deputy PM, now author, hails writers fest
Tim Fischer AC, author of Maestro John Monash. As one of the 'artists' or more accurately 'authors' performing at five sessions at Byron Writers Festival 2016, I want to take this opportunity to salute all involved with the huge and successful logistical efforts with the festival 2016.
Writers-fest marquees ‘shredded’ by winds but the show goes on
The show goes on, wind, rain or shine, say organisers of the 20th Byron Writers Festival after two large marquees were shredded by strong winds on the eve of the event’s opening today.
Writing Blind – the story of Blind Tom, musician and slave
Jeffery Renard Allen interviewed by Mandy Nolan Jeffery Renard Allen’s novel Song of the Shank was inspired by the real-life story of genius musician and slave Blind Tom, who was the first African American to perform at the White House....
Byron Writers Festival 2016: Where Stories Take You…
Welcome to the 2016 Byron Writers Festival! This milestone year is our 20th anniversary with a stellar line-up of 150-plus writers and thinkers converging on Byron Bay for Australia’s largest regional writers’ festival. They will engage you in enlightening discussions throughout...
20 years of the nourishing Byron Writers Festival
John Howard had not long moved into Paul Keating’s bedroom at the Lodge when we started our Festival 20 years ago. September 11 had not happened and Elton John’s Candle in the Wind was top of the charts. The first...
Byron writers fest world class, yet built on volunteering
More than 200 volunteers descended onto the site of the Byron Writers Festival site at the weekend to prepare for the big annual three-day event which opens on Friday.
A wealth of workshops on offer
Next week Byron Writers Festival is running workshops covering everything from fiction, writing for children, adapting your work for screen and public speaking. We’ve highlighted just some below. Fiction Writing with Louise Doughty and Kathryn Heyman. International bestselling author Louise...
Stan Grant in conversation with David Leser at Byron Theatre
Stan Grant is the Indigenous affairs editor for The Guardian Australia. He is the winner of the 2015 Walkley award for coverage of Indigenous affairs. Stan Grant will be giving the Thea Astley Annual Address at Byron Writers Festival...
Hello, Beautiful! Hannie Rayson’s show at Byron Theatre
Based on her best-selling memoir, Hello, Beautiful! Hannie Rayson will be performing her brilliant one-woman show at Byron Theatre on Saturday August 6 as special Feature Event for Byron Writers Festival. Hello, Beautiful! is written and performed in the style...
Magda Szubanski in conversation with Hannie Rayson at NORPA
Magda Szubanski is one of Australia’s best known and most loved performers. She began her career in university revues, then appeared in a number of sketch comedy shows before creating the iconic character of Sharon Strzelecki in ABC TV’s...
Barbarian Days: rediscovering surfing’s primal thrill
Surfing only looks like a sport. To devotees, it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a mental and physical study, a passionate way of life. William Finnegan, first started surfing as a young boy in California and Hawaii. Barbarian...
Finnegan’s wake leads back to the secret garden
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan Review by Rusty Miller ‘Only a surfer knows the feeling’ is a major surf corporation’s one-liner. If there were ever a book I would recommend to someone who does not surf and wishes...
Chickens and stilt walkers drawing on life
Kids’ Big Day Out at the Byron Writers Festival Exploding chickens (not real ones), stilt walkers, drawings that come to life before your eyes and the chance to meet your favourite authors and illustrators – Kids’ Big Day Out at...
Is it impossible that Nanna could be a ninja?
The Impossible Quest: Escape From Wolfhaven Castle by Kate Forsyth, reviewed by Malaika (11 years), Brunswick Heads Public School Although this book may seem a little dull at first, it might reassure you to hear that it gets more and...
What we can learn from Leunig – and his ducks?
Michael Leunig’s commentary on political, cultural and emotional life spans more than forty years and has often explored the idea of an innocent and sacred personal world. His newspaper work appears regularly in The Age and The Sydney Morning...
Byron Writers Festival welcomes Angela Flournoy on her first visit to...
Angela Flournoy is one of the most talked-about debut novelists in the United States today. At just 30, she burst onto the international literary stage last year with her first novel The Turner House. It tells the story of...
Magda Szubanski – from the stage to the page
‘If you had met my father you would never, not for an instant, have thought he was an assassin.’ Heartbreaking, joyous, traumatic, intimate and revelatory – one of Australia’s most beloved performers recently revealed her story in her extraordinary memoir...
Cheryl Strayed from Wild to Brave Enough
Cheryl Strayed is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Torch, the New York Times bestselling memoir Wild, which was later made into a feature film starring Reese Witherspoon, a collection of essays Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love...
Literary debut for Richard Fidler with Ghost Empire
Festival guest Richard Fidler is known to many as the presenter of Conversations with Richard Fidler, an in-depth, up close and personal interview program broadcast across Australia on ABC Radio. He’s interviewed prime ministers, astronauts, writers and scientists, but...
Indian women describe their lives in new anthology
Walking Towards Ourselves is an anthology that explores the gender revolution taking place in India today through personal narratives and mini-memoirs written by India’s leading women writers. These are real, lived accounts from women, which go beyond the headlines....
Our Way Stories – local Indigenous elders to launch book at...
Our Indigenous elders are custodians of knowledge. This knowledge must be passed on from generation to generation. As a way to preserve these extraordinary histories, Arts Northern Rivers partnered with local Aboriginal woman Dale Roberts who worked alongside some...
Byron Writers Festival announces full line-up
Heading the roll-call for the 20th anniversary of Australia’s largest regional literary event is lauded American satirist and political commentator P.J. O’Rourke. Click through to see who else is coming.
Writers Fest adds two US authors to bill
Award-winning American novelist, poet and essayist Jeffery Renard Allen and debut novelist Angela Flournoy will join a growing international contingent for the 20th Byron Writers Festival.