After last year’s Byron Writers Festival was washed out, it was time to put the thinking caps on and work out a new plan – in this climate-impacted world how do you put a festival on that minimises the risk of it happening again?
Byron Writers Festival has announced that they will be moving from Bangalow to the centre of Byron this year ‘creating a brand new festival precinct in the heart of town, using iconic Byron Bay venues,’ Byron Writers Festival Artistic Director Jessica Alice told The Echo.
‘It was always a goal of the original organisers to one day have the festival in the town. We’ve done a lot of planning about the ideal site for the festival, and this is just a really wonderful opportunity to bring the festival into the heart of the community, and that’s really what we’re so excited about with this move.’
Bringing the town alive
This year the festival will run from Friday, 14 to Sunday, 16 August, across three days, turning the town into a literary precinct bustling with writers, readers, big ideas, conversation and performance.
‘Our vision for that weekend is that the whole town is just alive with books and writing and the excitement that comes with the discussions of people really getting into culture and literary culture,’ said Alice.
‘We had to make changes after the devastating cancellation of the 2025 festival. In this region we understand the reality of climate change really acutely. Using iconic town venues allows Byron Writers Festival to be more sustainable, weather-resilient, accessible, and connected to local businesses and spaces including the world-famous Byron Bay foreshore. Literary lovers will be spoiled for choice.’
The Byron Writers Festival precinct will be two hubs, one on the foreshore and one in the heart of town, with venues including the Byron Community Centre (Byron Theatre and Wategos Room), Byron Bay Surf Club, the Beach Hotel, Haven, and others to be announced.
There will also be events at the Cavanbah Centre, and free programming for readers of all ages presented on the Byron foreshore. Book signings and author appearances will take place at the official festival bookshop, The Book Room, on Fletcher Street, which will form the main pedestrian thoroughfare.
While the main event will now be in Byron, Alice said they will still be hosting events throughout the year in Bangalow such as the upcoming ‘Kathy Lette in conversation with Nell Schofield’on 6 March.
Early bird tickets for 2026 Byron Writers Festival will go on sale in April.
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