"In response to the Chief Medical Officer's recommendation regarding non-essential public events, the 2020 Newcastle Writers Festival will not be going ahead in three weeks," festival director Rosemarie Milsom said on Friday afternoon.

"The health and safety of our writers, audiences and volunteers have been always our priority and we have been closely monitoring the quickly evolving situation regarding COVID-19," she said.

The event, in its eighth year, attracts almost 9000 visitors to 100 events featuring leading literary figures from Australia and abroad.

It was scheduled to run April 3, 4 and 5 at various venues in downtown Newcastle, including Newcastle City Hall, Civic Theatre, The Press Book House, Watt Space Gallery and the Conservatorium of Music.

This year's event was scheduled to include Archie Roach, who the major guest on the opening night, April 3, as well as Helen Garner, Michael Robotham, Behrouz Boochani (via Skype), Graeme Base, Clare Bowditch, Tim Costello, Blanche d'Alpuget, Adele Ferguson, Damon Gameau, Ash Grunwald, Xanthe Mallet, John Marsden, Kate McClymont, Mary Moody, Ailsa Piper, Sally Rugg, Margaret Simons, David Sinclair, Lucy Treloar, Virginia Trioli, Cathy Wilcox and Stephanie Wood, and many more.

"I'm personally devastated by this as I know how hard people have worked until this point," Milsom said. "I also feel for the writers and the impact that the cancellation of festivals and other public events will have on them. The festival board is meeting on Saturday and we will have a more detailed response after that. "

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