Coming up on July 13 and 14, the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival is set to bring together all kinds of book lovers in Thirroul.
Dr Sarah Nicholson, director of the South Coast Writers Centre, says attendees will enjoy a change of scenery after last year’s festival, which was held in Wollongong.
"It's more integrated with the Thirroul cafe scene. You can wander out and have a nice coffee and come back," Sarah says.
Also new this year is the word "readers" in the event title, making the festival more inclusive and welcoming to a broader audience.
"Some people had expressed that they didn't feel welcomed by the idea of a writers festival if they weren't writers," Sarah says. "We wanted to make it clear that this is actually mostly a festival for readers."
The South Coast Readers and Writers Festival will feature a diverse range of genres, including crime, historical fiction, poetry and non-fiction journalism, with author talks and panel discussions over the festival weekend. The festival aims to connect the local literary community, with about 60 percent of featured writers being South Coast residents.
“A lot of the time people won't realise how many local writers we have, and some of them are debut writers, but some of them are really well-established award-winning writers," Sarah says.
“At the writer’s centre, we try to connect people and make spaces for people to come together in groups and support each other in writing by having mentoring programs and residences. And what we're trying to do with the festival is make these spaces to promote our local writers, so that people get to know them.”
Notable speakers include writer Bri Lee, whose debut novel The Work was released in April, and Antony Lowenstein, an investigative journalist who won the 2023 Walkley Book Award for his exposé The Palestine Laboratory.
“He is a really fantastic speaker,” Sarah said about Antony. “I'm really excited to have him coming. The topic that he's talking about is what’s happening in Palestine. It’s massively current and important to be discussing.”
The festival will host a session on modern fairy tales, featuring local debut novelist Kell Woods, whose book, After the Forest, is a modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel.
The event will also feature Parramatta author Yumna Kassab, the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature, who will discuss her book, Politica, on a War Fiction panel on Saturday 13th.
A showcase of women poets promises to be a festival highlight, with Kirli Saunders, Anne-Marie Te Whiu and Judi Morison leading Yarning Poetry at 10.20am on the Saturday.
Sarah is excited to welcome writer Catherine McKinnon, a University of Wollongong lecturer with a new book titled To Sing of War. "I've heard it's fantastic,” Sarah says.
“Her previous book, Storyland, was set down on the South Coast in three or four different time periods. One of them in the future and then with the first European explorers who found the South Coast."
The South Coast Readers and Writers Festival has partnered with several organisations to bring this event to life. These include the University of Wollongong's creative writing department; Red Room Poetry, who are helping with the poetry showcase; Collins Booksellers Thirroul; and Wollongong City Libraries. The festival has also received funding from Create NSW and volunteers will play an important part in making it an incredible weekend for local look lovers.
“Supporting literature is talking about the books you're reading and passing them along … and supporting it by getting it out there,” Sarah says.
“The best way to support writers is to come to their events and to buy their books and then to go out and talk about their work.”
Sarah says that locals looking to get involved in the book scene and support writers can join a number of book clubs in the area.
“Collins Booksellers have a book club at Coledale RSL called Pages and Pints, and Wild Women of Wollongong have a bunch of book clubs that they run. A bunch of the women from their group are coming to the festival as well,” Sarah says.
“Maybe for next year, we might have a book club that comes to the festival so that people can do some pre-reading or even post-reading. I think having a club connected to the festival would be great.”
For more information or to book tickets, visit the South Coast Writers Centre's website
