» Byron Writers Festival announces 2022 program!The Booktopian

Byron Writers Festival (Aug 26-28) have announced their 2022 program and it is amazing! We asked Byron Writers Festival’s new Artistic Director Zoe Pollock to take us through some must-see panels, conversations and events at the festival this year.

The theme this year is ‘Radical Hope’ with a line-up that features more than 140 writers, thinkers and storytellers including Trent Dalton, Hannah Kent, Ben Quilty, Bruce Pascoe, Evelyn Araluen, Steve Toltz, Charlotte Wood, Julia Baird, Costa Georgiadis, Damon Gameau, Emily Bitto, Nikki Gemmell, Bryan Brown, Robert Drewe and many more.

It’s easy to see why Byron Writers Festival is one of Australia’s favourite regional events, famous for its relaxed coastal vibe and stunning locations with more than 30 panels, conversations and events to choose from each day. It’s the perfect getaway for book-lovers.

Byron Writers Festival is set up a bit like a music festival, with five marquees that you can move between as you please, featuring panel discussions and conversations.

Friday 26 August

Panel: Soul Food: Writing as a Tool for Survival

Friday 26 August, 9am

Festival grounds – North Byron Parklands

The act of writing is for many a balm for the soul. Two gifted writers, Nikki Gemmel (Dissolve) and Micheline Lee (We’ve Got This) share how writing has helped them to survive.

Panel: Epiphany: Seeing the World Anew

Friday 26 August, 11:30am

Festival grounds – North Byron Parklands

Yves Rees (All About Yves), Krystal De Napoli (First Knowledges: Astronomy: Sky Country) and Christine Jackman (Turning Down The Noise) discuss a turning point in their lives that made them see the world new.

Conversation: Here Goes Nothing with Steve Toltz

Friday 26 August, 12:45pm

Festival grounds – North Byron Parklands

Award-winning novelist Steve Toltz sits down with Jennifer Byrne to talk about his latest novel, Here Goes Nothing. Narrated with the ironic hindsight afforded by life beyond the mortal plane, Here Goes Nothing is a razor-sharp, hilariously entertaining, insightful and moving meditation on our 21st-century world, and the intricate relationship between love and death.

Feature Event: Spin

Friday 26 August, 7pm

Byron Theatre

Charles Firth and James Schloeffel (The Chaser and Shovel Annual) are joining forces to provide a masterclass in the ancient art of lying. From political messaging to corporate deception, they’ll show you how to bullsh*t your way through the trickiest situations life can throw at you.

Saturday 27 August

Panel: Soul Food: The Companionship of Gardens

Saturday 27 August, 4:15pm

Festival grounds – North Byron Parklands

Gardening can be a source of great joy and wellbeing. Costa Georgiadis (Costa’s World), Matthew Evans (Soil) and Indira Naidoo (The Space Between the Stars) discuss how the making of gardens brings them happiness.

Panel: Love And Other Stories

Saturday 27 August

Love is a central inspiration for much art. Trent Dalton (Love Stories) and Hannah Kent (Devotion) and Nigel Featherstone (My Heart is a Little Wild Thing) explore how love inspired their latest works.

Conversation: 7 ½ with Christos Tsiolkas

Saturday 27 August, 11:30am

Festival Grounds – North Byron Parklands

Art is not only about rage and justice and politics. It is also about pleasure and joy; it is also about beauty…In a time of rage and confusion, I wanted to write about beauty.’ Christos Tsiolkas (Seven and a Half) in conversation with Jennifer Byrne.

Event: Radical Hope

Saturday 27 August, 7:30pm

Byron Theatre

How can we approach our current moment with radical hope? Five leading thinkers will consider how we can look unflinchingly at our cultural and environmental situation, while finding a new way to imagine our future. With A.C. Grayling (For the Good of The World), Damon Gameau (2040: A Handbook for the Regeneration), Anne-Marie Te Whiu (Solid Air), Mia Thom and Thando Sibanda and a special musical performance by Nidala Barker.

Sunday 28 August

Panel: Learning from Country

Sunday 28 August, 10:15am

Festival Grounds – North Byron Parklands

How can we learn from country to heal the impacts of climate change? In this important discussion three First Nations thinkers, Bruce Pascoe (Country: Future Fire, Future Farming), Karli Noon (First Knowledges: Astronomy – Sky Country) and Leweena Williams CEO of the Tweed Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council

share their thoughts and knowledge on how we can read the landscape to understand and address what is happening to our earth.

Conversation: Stars and Phosphorescence

Sunday 28 August, 3:15pm

Festival Grounds – North Byron Parklands

Julia Baird (Phosphorescence) and Indira Naidoo (The Space Between the Stars) discuss wonder, processing grief and the power of nature in this uplifting conversation on how to deal with life’s hardest moments and live with grace.

Kids Big Day Out

Sunday 28 August, 9am – 12pm

Kids get up to all sorts of fun and mischief with their favourite authors and illustrators.

Bronwyn and Ella Bancroft (Sun and Moon), Kate Foster (The Bravest Word), Corey Tutt (The First Scientists), Isobelle Carmody (The Velvet City), Sarah Armstrong (Big Magic), Tristan Bancks (Cop and Robber).

Event: Bundjalung Nghari – Indigenise

Sunday 28 August, 7:30pm

Brunswick Picture House

Four Bundjalung writers, Steven Oliver (Black Comedy), Daniel Browning, Kylie Caldwell and Ella Noah Bancroft, explore the healing and resurgence of being back home on country. We are still here, with the same voice and language of our ancestors, Bundjalung Nghari – Indigenise enables a new amplification of the continued truth telling in the 21st century.

Buy a 1 or 3-Day pass to get access to all sessions happening in the main festival program for your chosen day(s).

Listen to our podcast on the writers festival, where we chat with Zoe Pollock and Hannah Kent on the 2022 festival!