South Coast Writers Festival

The 2023 South Coast Writers Festival will be held 18-20 August. The main day of panels will take place on Saturday 19 August at The Music Lounge in Wollongong Town Hall. Other events in the program will include the SCWC + WAG Poetry Award at Wollongong Art Gallery, Film Club at Coledale Community Hall, and Enough Said Poetry Slam. The Festival's aim is to promote new Australian writing to Illawarra audiences and to showcase writers in our region. This year's festival will include readings, conversations, panels, and book launches. The Festival has employed genre experts to curate specifc panels, including Hayley Scrivenor on crime and Caroline Baum on biography. Last year's festival included Jane Caro, Caroline Baum, Scott Ludlum, Robyn Williams, Jonica Newby, Vivian Pham, Zoe Ghani, James Elazzi, Catherine Rey, Hayley Scrivenor, Gary Lonesborough, Dinuka McKenzie, Helena Fox, Aunty Barbara Nicholson, Katherine Heyman, Christine Sykes, Claire Zorn, Pamela Cook, and Meredith Jaffe. With over 550 attendees, the festival was a great success and this year will be even bigger. The South Coast Writers Festival is curated and run by the South Coast Writers Centre (SCWC): a membership-based, incorporated not-for-profit organisation fostering and promoting writers, whose operations are supported by Create NSW and Wollongong City Council. The festival is supported by funding from the Australia Council.