Who knows how many terrific ideas have wafted and dissolved after long literary lunches? This one didn’t – a shared idea took root, and after a lot of hard work the Northern Rivers Writers Centre, based in Lismore, was born and its first Byron Writers Festival took place in 1997.
After 30 years this festival is the longest-running, annual, regional writers’ festival in Australia.
‘The first year we did it, we had no idea what we were doing,’ Chris Hanley, OAM and founding chair of the Byron Writers Festival told The Echo. ‘For example, when we did the programming, we just invited the writers we liked.’
‘We sat down and said “who do we want?”,’ said founding member of the festival, Lynda Dean OAM with a laugh. ‘We wanted Helen Garner, Rob Drew, Rodney Hall, Dorothy Porter – all our favourite writers, and we invited them, and they all said yes.
‘Even more importantly, some big literary names, including David Malouf, agreed to put their names on the committee of the Byron Writers Festival. Now, I don’t think they ever had a meeting or made a decision. But that committee, that gave us the authority to invite the best writers in Australia at the time – and again they all said, yes.’
Getting the local businesses behind the festival was key and August was chosen so that it would bring people to the town at a time of year when things were quiet – in those days many businesses often closed down for several months over winter.
‘There were a lot of people who had moved to the region who really craved a little bit of culture, so we thought “let’s bring the culture here”. So we organised the first festival. It was held together with strings and sticky tape,’ said Chris.
Hunger for culture
‘It came out of a need for cultural events in the region. We recognised, after the first time we brought a writer here to do a literary dinner, that people wanted and needed this. There was a hunger to have cultural events happening here,’ said Lynda.
By the second year they had to hand around a hat to get the money together to run the festival. Lynda and Chris, and other local business owners, put their hands deep in their pockets to support the festival.
‘We would bail people up on the lighthouse walk. Cafe owners, the kebab shop owner, and other business owners in town. The Macquarie Bank was good to us, but it was all these little groups and volunteers who were the first sponsors of the festival,’ said Chris.
‘There were a lot of women in there who would buy a three-day ticket because they knew we needed the money to survive and then they’d volunteer to help run the festival anyway. When you go out and start something like the Byron Writers Festival that hasn’t existed before, if other people join up to your crazy idea and don’t blink then you know that maybe it’s not so crazy after all – maybe this thing’s got legs?
‘The Echo didn’t need it explained to them, they were right on board. The Echo helped us blow up our tyres, they were partners. We were all doing the same thing.
‘There would be no writers’ festival without The Echo, and the ABC, who supported us from the beginning. The Echo photographer Jeff Dawson has been to every event since we began.
‘It was the teasers in The Echo about who’s coming that always brought in, and still brings in, the local audience,’ said Lynda.
‘Yes, we get a lot of people come into the area for the festival, but our bread and butter is the local audience. That relationship became an even closer tie when The Echo began doing our program.
‘You can trace the Byron Writers Festival back to the roots of the Aquarius Festival. Because that brought so many people here with different ways of thinking. The main underlying thrust of that thinking is, if I want something to happen, if I want my world to have culture in it, it’s up to me to get off my backside and make it happen. And that’s been our philosophy.’
Like many things in the Northern Rivers and Byron Bay, right from the beginning the founders decided to do it differently from traditional writers’ festivals. Rather than traditional readings, the Byron Writers Festival is known for its panel discussions, creativity, and arts as well as its children’s programs.
‘We all had kids in the early years and no one to mind them so we needed the kids’ tent at the writers’ festival from the outset. We committed as a board to do the children’s programs from the word go,’ said Chris.
One of those children who has been going to the festival from the beginning, Courtney Miller, is now the chair of the Byron Writers Festival board and said it was seeing and listening to author Richard Woolcott at the festival that inspired her to study international relations.
‘The festival exposes you to different ideas or different paths of life in a way that is conceivable for young kids and young people,’ she told The Echo.
Writers at centre
‘I think that the origin point of the festival as a writers’ centre is really important,’ said Byron Writers Festival Artistic Director, Jessica Alice.
‘It has remained core to this festival, and probably is part of what creates the point of difference against other festivals. We still have that strong membership at our heart with a focus on literary craft that happens throughout the year through workshops, children’s programs, and fostering creativity and supporting the artists in the region, as well as putting on the big show.
‘Like The Echo, the Byron Writers Festival has a unique voice and is really connected to its community – and that is a really strong point of reference.’
This year they are bringing the festival to the streets of Byron Bay for the first time utilising the town’s iconic locations from the Byron Surf Club and Beach Hotel to the Byron Community Centre and the spaces in between.
‘It was always a goal for the original organisers to bring the festival to town and this is a wonderful opportunity to bring the festival into the heart of the community,’ said Jessica.
Byron Writers Festival runs 14–16 August, 2026. Early bird tickets for this year’s festival will go on sale in April.
In its 40th year, The Echo speaks with pivotal businesses and organisations that have helped shape the Northern Rivers over the past four decades.
Over that time, The Echo has worked side by side, and witnessed these organisations build a hub for our vibrant, unique culture, tourism, the arts, business services and production across the Byron Shire and beyond.
Check out some more of Jeff Dawson’s photos from the festival over the years:
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
