The 2026 Byron Writers Festival program puts women front and centre. Journalists, novelists, and an award-winning columnist bring an extraordinary breadth of stories to Bundjalung Country this August.
Acclaimed journalist and human rights activist Antoinette Lattouf joins the festival to discuss Women Who Win, her book celebrating the courage and conviction of women who defied expectations and shattered barriers. Lattouf’s own landmark legal victory sparked a global conversation on power, prejudice and the price of integrity in the press, making her one of the most compelling voices in Australian public life today.
Walkley Award-winning columnist and public education activist Jane Caro brings Rich Kid, Poor Kid, an unflinching examination of how decades of policy decisions have created a two-tiered education system in Australia – and what it will take to fix it.
Meg Mason, whose novel Sorrow and Bliss became a global phenomenon, returns with her new novel Sophie, Standing There, a tender and darkly funny exploration of heartbreak, isolation and the redemptive power of books. Few writers working today capture the interior experience of women’s lives with as much precision, wit and compassion.
Raised by five strong matriarchs, Brisbane-based high school English teacher turned award-winning novelist Sita Walker brings In a Common Hour, a sharply observed novel set inside a state high school in a single hour. Drawing on her two-decades of experience in the classroom, Walker deftly illuminates the antics at play after the fallout of a student prank.
Award-winning nonfiction writer and former political journalist Sonya Voumard shares Tremor, a deeply personal account of living with a little-known movement disorder. Voumard brings the same unflinching clarity to her own story that she has long applied to others.
Journalist, sustainability consultant and author Lucianne Tonti arrives with Good Witch, a manifesto that traces the legacy of witch hunts to the present day – presenting the argument that the devaluation of feminine knowledge and the degradation of the natural world are intertwined crises.
- Full program and tickets available at www.byronwritersfestival.com.
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