Sydney Writers' Festival acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which our events take place. We pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present.
Sydney Writers’ Festival brings together a broad and engaged community around the sharing of books, writing and ideas.
Since our first Festival in 1997, we have brought thousands of diverse writers and thinkers from Australia and around the globe together in Sydney. In the company of the world’s best novelists, poets, journalists, public intellectuals, economists, politicians, podcasters and scientists, we’ve discussed some of the most pressing issues of our times. We’ve celebrated prize-winning authors, long-awaited novels from writers at the height of their careers, and have introduced debut authors to eager and enthusiastic new audiences.
Readers and writers have exchanged thoughts and opinions, perspectives and philosophies, creating a powerful community based on radical dialogue and respectful debate. The drumbeat of questioning that thrums underneath the Festival is powerful and enlivens Australia’s democratic tradition.
Each year, more than 400 writers take part in over 300 conversations, debates, performances and panel discussions to audiences of more than 80,000. One-third of our events are free, and our Live & Local streaming program brings our Festival to life in regional libraries and community centres right across the country.
We are proud to create a Festival that through careful curation acts as a barometer of the world around us, and offers an invitation to hear new ideas, stories and voices.
Our programming speaks – urgently and clearly – to the world as it is today and showcases contemporary and diverse writers including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, this land’s first storytellers.
Through the power of imagination and magic of storytelling, our Family, Young Adult and Education programs help kids and teenagers better understand the world they live in. Our philanthropic Children’s Festival of Moving Stories reaches around 8,000 primary school children each year to foster a deeper engagement with books and reading.
The Festival plays a vital role in Australia’s literary landscape. It provides a highly visible platform for the work of local authors, encourages broad public engagement in books, and increases audiences for both Australian and international literature.
Our current Artistic Director is Ann Mossop.
The 2023 Festival will run from 22–28 May.
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Previous Festival guests
Previous international guests include Jennifer Egan, Fatima Bhutto, Andrew Sean Greer, Masha Gessen, Max Porter, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Eileen Myles, George Saunders, Susan Faludi, Alexander Chee, Paul Beatty, Rachel Kushner, Colson Whitehead, Anne Enright, Armando Iannucci, Roxane Gay, Min Jin Lee, Ian Rankin, Gloria Steinem, Julian Barnes, Simon Schama, Atul Gawande, Jonathan Franzen, Alan Cumming, Vince Gilligan, Alice Walker, Paul Muldoon, William Boyd, Ece Temelkuran, Susan Orlean, Meg Wolitzer, Antony Beevor, Eleanor Catton, A.M. Homes, Roddy Doyle, Claire Messud, James Wood, Jeanette Winterson, Neil Gaiman, Christopher Hitchens, Thomas Friedman, Yanis Varoufakis and many more.
Previous Australian guests include Hannah Kent, Liane Moriarty, John Safran, Richard Flanagan, Helen Garner, Anna Funder, Robert Dessaix, Kate Grenville, Alexis Wright, Tom Keneally, Kate McClymont, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Omar Musa and Ceridwen Dovey.
Artistic Director
Ann Mossop joined Sydney Writers' Festival in 2022.
Previous Artistic Directors
Michael Williams: 2020–2022
Michaela McGuire: 2017–2020
Jemma Birrell: 2013–2016
Chip Rolley: 2010–2012
Wendy Were: 2007–2009
Caro Llewellyn: 2003–2006
Meredith Curnow: 1999–2002
John Nieuwenhuizen: 1998