The organisers of the 2025 Byron Writers Festival have announced the program for this year’s event, themed Passion & Purpose, featuring more than 160 extraordinary writers who will gather on Bundjalung Country to celebrate the richness of a life lived with stories.
The program features Esther Freud, John Vaillant, Michelle de Kretser, Don Watson, Gail Jones, Jackie Huggins, Barry Jones, Andrew Denton and Julian Kingma, Hannah Kent, Michael Robotham, Robert Dessaix, Hannah Ferguson, Richard Denniss, Anita Heiss, Peter Greste, Clare Wright, Thomas Mayo, Judith Brett, Shankari Chandran and Layne Beachley.
There is also Simon Holmes à Court, Melanie Cheng, Akhil Katyal, Markus Zusak, Tom Keneally, Zoë Foster Blake, Malcolm Knox, Jock Serong, Di Morrissey, Sally Rippin, Richard Scolyer, Kumi Taguchi, Kirli Saunders, Robbie Arnott, Jumaana Abdu, Gina Chick, Ita Mehrotra, Kerry O’Brien, Melanie Cheng, Tigest Girma, Vincent Fantauzzo and many more.
Special events – Helen Garner
There will be several special events at the festival, including Helen Garner in conversation with Kerry O’Brien for an exploration of life on and off the page. This is a festival highlight – see two masters of their craft in celebration of a writing life.
Ziggy Ramo
Beyond The Lines is a night of rhythm, rhyme and radical truth-telling as poetry and music collide in an exhilarating live event. Featuring powerhouse performer Ziggy Ramo, acclaimed Indian poet Akhil Katyal with Kirli Saunders, Sarah Temporal, and more. Big energy, bold voices and a celebration of language that sings and stings.
A Guardian game
Somerthing very fun will be the Guardian Australia’s Are You Game Show – Did you follow the latest literary scandal? Can you tell Dickens from AI? Play along as two teams led by TikTok queen Matilda Boseley and editor Lucy Clark battle it out, with writers Robbie Arnott, Tigest Girma, Thomas Mayo and Michael Robotham.
A cool Kids Program
There is also a really cool kids program to inspire the writers of the future. Hosted by comedian Peter Helliar, kids and grandkids will be entertained by writers including Tony Armstong and Anita Heiss, and dance along with The Gumboots. Look out for the Spaghetti Circus stiltwalkers.
There is also plenty to do for the grown uip with workshop and satellite events.
The Byron Writers Festival runs from August 8 to 10 at the Bangalow Showground, Bundjalung Country. Information and tickets can be found at: byronwritersfestival.com.
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