Eclectic Selection: What’s on this week is a taste of some of the events that can be found in the Byron Shire and beyond this coming week.

While Australia’s parliamentarians were frocking up for the Midwinter Ball last week, representatives of the nation’s authors, musicians and artists were in Canberra pleading for assurances that the government would not water down copyright laws, as part of a deal with giant tech firms to build $50bn worth of new data centres across the country.

A giant petrel found near Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, was confirmed positive on the weekend for H5 high pathogenicity (H5 bird flu) avian influenza in laboratory tests by the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness.

A program called The Welcome Experience, which aims to ensure essential workers who move to the Northern Rivers establish meaningful connections and navigate their new communities has been boosted with a new 'Local Connector' position.

Byron Writers Festival opens on Bundjalung Country on August 14 with a Calling to Country led by local Arakwal Bundjalung custodian, Delta Kay, and this year will feature the inaugural Rhoda Roberts Oration, honouring the late, beloved Rhoda Roberts AO.

Billed as the 'longest running event on the Australian surfing calendar', the Thermos Australian Longboard Titles will return for a third consecutive year to Tweed Coast beaches 24-30 July.