Newcastle Writers Festival: a feast of great literary food

The subject at hand: Newcastle Writers Festival.

Rosemarie Milsom is the founder and director of Newcastle Writers Festival. She's a force to be reckoned with, and Newcastle book readers could have no bigger advocate on the front line pulling in the best and the brightest authors to speak at the festival, which will enjoy its 11^th program this year, April 5-7.

The festival program was released at 9am on Friday.

Milsom's new partner in books, Amy Lovat, who became program manager for the Newcastle Writers Festival in August of 2023, equally shares a burning passion for books.

Lovat published her first novel, Mistakes and Other Lovers, through Pan Macmillan in 2023. She's a writer, an editor, and bookseller connected to the world of publishing.

To listen to Milsom and Lovat discuss what's going on in the world of books, and what they are bringing to the Newcastle festival this year, is like a session in the program itself.

"Unlike other festivals, we don't have a particular theme," Milsom says. "The big capital city festivals often have a particular theme. I think sometimes things come out as you look at what's happening in publishing. Really, it's a response to the quality of books that are out there. That's what we are responding to. It's getting better

"This year was an amazing year. These last 12 months have been an amazing year for publishing, especially women. They're knocking it out of the park.

"We don't just conjure up people, we're looking at what books are coming out, what theme can connect some writers together. There are certain elements they have in common.

"We just reflect the quality of publishing in Australia."

The festival this year includes authors Bryan Brown, Tony Birch, Shankari Chandran, Pia Miranda, Melanie Saward, Leigh Sales, Hedley Thomas and Charlotte Wood among 150 guest artists.

Leigh Sales, the long-time popular ABC journalist, will headline the opening night on Friday, April 5, at Newcastle City Hall, discussing her recent book Storytellers, about the art and craft of journalism in an increasingly divided world with host Indira Naidoo.

"We've never had her," Milsom says of Sales. "She is respected by men and women both. She's just so smart.

"It won't just be for media lovers. I think she's got really interesting perspectives about how we consume news and information as consumers, because now she's not on camera every night, its making her reflect differently about how she engages with the news cycle."

Other journalists in the program include Daniel Browning, Julia Baird, Antony Loewenstein, David Marr, Louise Milligan, and Hedley Thomas.

Popular identities who will also be speaking about their recent books include actors Bryan Brown and Pia Miranda, Midnight Oil musician Jim Moginie, Wendy Harmer (in Newcastle and Cessnock), Richard Glover, and Newcastle celebrity baker Reece Hignell.

First Nations writers who will appear include Graham Akhurst, Jane Harrison, Yvette Henry Holt, Melissa Lucashenko, Ellen van Neerven, Kirli Saunders, Melanie Saward, and Worimi elder Warren Taggart.

Literary stars include Tony Birch, Bernadette Brennan, Kate Grenville, Katharine Lumby, New Zealand writer Emily Perkins, Christos Tsiolkas, and Charlotte Wood.

Debut writers include Madeleine Gray, Andre Dao, Jessica Kirkness, and Jazz Money.

Literary fans are going to have to make some tough decisions: it will simply be impossible to get to every favourite event as there are as many nine events slotted at the same time over the course of Saturday and Sunday.

For instance, the opening time slot, 10am Saturday, features these choices:

# Illustrator Liz Anelli and author Pamela Freeman's launch of Seed to Sky, a nature storybook about life in the Daintree, at The Press Bookhouse;

# Musician Deborah Conway discusses her memoir, Book of Life, with Linda Marigliano, at the Conservatorium of Music;

# David Marr is in the Civic Playhouse discussing his non-fiction book, Killing for Country;

# Melissa Lukashenko is in conversation with Keri Glastonbury in NuSpace;

# Emily Perkins, Megan Rogers and Christos Tsiolkas discuss Coming of Age in Middle Age in NuSpace;

# Local authors Natalie Murray, Meg Gatland-Veness and Margaret McBride celebrate Newcastle with host Nick Wasiliev in NuSpace;

# Claire O'Rourke, Kirsten Bradley and Thanh Truong discuss Sustainable Living For a Kinder Future with host Dan Cox in NuSpace;

# Mirandi Riwoe is in conversation with Ashley Kalagian Blunt in Watt Space Gallery about Riwoe's book, Sunbirds;

# Journalists Daniel Browning, Antony Loewenstein and Louise Milligan are in discussion with host Kylie Morris in NuSpace.

Among the expected hot ticket appearances:

Hedley Thomas, who created the popular Teachers Pet podcast and followed it up with a book of the same name (Saturday, 4.30pm at the Conservatorium of Music);

Yumi Stynes, author of Welcome to Sex, in a panel about Things We Don't Speak About: Sex, with Esme Louise James, Alecia Simmonds (Saturday, 3pm, Civic Playhouse);

Sally Hepworth, best-selling thriller writer, in conversation with Amy Lovat (Saturday, 11.30am, Conservatorium);

Richard Glover, who published his 17^th book, Best Wishes, in 2023, in conversation with Dan Cox (Sunday, 3pm, Conservatorium);

Julia Baird,in conversation with Cath Keenan, about her latest book, Bright Shining: how grace changes everything (Sunday, 1pm, Conservatorium);

A evening music event returns after its debut in 2023, on Saturday at the Conservatorium celebrating music, literature and the nature of inspiration. Featured performers include Elijah Moss, Piper Butcher, Deborah Conway, Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon, Dan Flegg and friends, Jim Moginie, Adam Newling, Nina Romeru and Sunbiirds.

Moginie, most well-known as guitarist for Midnight Oil, will be launching his memoir at the festival. The launch of The Silver River: A Memoir of a Family Lost, Made And Found on Sunday at 1.30pm at Watt Space Gallery.

Lovat has tapped into the growing appetite for romantic comedy writing with some specific offerings in the festival this year.

"Rom-com has absolutely blown it out of the park," Lovat says of the popularity for this genre. "Post-COVID people are really craving that light-hearted happy fiction. They walk into bookshop and ask for the uplifting literature. The uplift is the new trend happening. We've got a rom com panel will be big, that will attract readers who wouldn't normally go to book festival."

The Rise of Rom-Com features Clare Fletcher, Jonathon Shannon and Saman Shad with host Melanie Saward (Saturday, 11.30am, Civic Playhouse).

Lovat has also served up a new series, Things We Don't Speak About, with four sessions covering sex, death, class and mental illness.

"We saw topics coming about out in these books pushing into taboo areas," she says. "That's an exciting thing for me, too, to open the door on some of those tougher conversations."

Milsom and Lovat also realise a writers festival is the perfect place to discuss difficult subjects, because people are really listening.

"At a writers festival you won't get yelling and abuse," Milsom says. "I think that notion of having a respectful conversation about tough issues, that's what people are craving. We get bombarded with conversation about everything, but is it respectful, and does it allow everyone to have their say, does it go deeper than a Facebook post."

Wendy Harmer returns to the festival for the first time in nine years, in a special "in conversation" event at Performing Arts Culture Cessnock (Saturday, 6.30pm). Harmer will be discussing her 2023 book Lies My Mirror Told Me, a memoir, with Ashley Hay.

Milsom says, "She has not been here since year 2, a decade. She said on that night, 'writers festivals are the new churches'. I think she was so accurate."

Clementine Ford, always one to draw a crowd, features on Saturday at 3pm in the Conservatorium on the topic of her latest book, I Don't: The Case Against Marriage, hosted by Maeve Marsden.

Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran, will appear in conversation with Ailsa Piper on Saturday at 1.30pm, in NuSpace. Chandran won the 2023 Miles Franklin for Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens. She has a new book out, Safe Haven.

After a hectic year of planning, Lovat and Milsom can see the light as tickets went on sale on Friday. And they are excited to bring it together for book lovers far and wide.

Milsom recounted a recent night out with her family at a new Chinese restaurant in Newcastle.

"A woman kept staring at me. As she left, she stopped, and said, 'the festival is so important to me'. That's not the cult of Rosemarie. It's the festival and people feel very connected to it. And it's wonderful. Ultimately, it's a wonderful thing."