Adelaide Writers' Week
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Adelaide Writers' Week, known locally as Writers' Week or WW, is a large and mostly free
literary festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings ...
held annually in
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, the capital of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. Considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, it forms part of the
Adelaide Festival of Arts The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...
, where attendees meet, listen and discuss literature with
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...
and international writers in "Meet the Author" sessions, readings and lectures. It is held outdoors in the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden. Each Adelaide Writers' Week includes six days of free panel-sessions presented live in the gardens, later made available online via
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
. Selected sessions are shown live via videolink in some libraries. The programme also features a series of ticketed special events, both at Festival time and throughout the year, and there is a free "Kids' Weekend", at which children's authors present their work for a range of ages and other activities take place.


History

The first Adelaide Writers' Week was held in 1960 as part of the
Adelaide Festival of Arts The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...
, and both were held biennially in March until 2012. From 2012, along with the Festival, Writers' Week became an annual event, based on an election promise by Premier
Mike Rann Michael David Rann, , (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and Australian am ...
. It has grown bigger year by year.


Description

Writers' Week is a mostly free daytime week-long literary festival held mostly outdoors in the shady Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, north of Adelaide CBD. A few sessions have been held indoors in the evening, usually themed events with a panel of authors on stage. A major event, it is a part of the Adelaide Festival and run by a dedicated Writers' Week director. Occurring in March, it is often hot, so huge shady structures are erected over the two stages (East and West) and the audience. Plastic chairs, refreshments and rows of portaloos are provided, along with a large tent accommodating book sales. The programme is published in hardcopy and online before the event, which runs a session on both stages simultaneously throughout the day, with short breaks in between. Each Adelaide Writers’ Week includes six days of free panel sessions presented live in the gardens, later made available online via
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
. Selected sessions are shown live via videolink in some libraries. After each presentation, audience members are encouraged to ask questions, and lively debate sometimes ensues. The programme also features a series of ticketed special events, both at Festival time and throughout the year, and there is a free "Kids’ Weekend", at which children's authors present their work for a range of ages and other activities are held.


MUD Literary Prize

The
MUD Literary Prize The MUD Literary Prize is an Australian literary award awarded annually at Adelaide Writers' Week since 2018 to a debut literary novel. It is sponsored by a philanthropic organisation, the MUD Literary Club, which was founded in 2012. The org ...
has been awarded to an emerging talent for a debut novel at Writers' Week each year since 2018, and the MUD Literary Club, a
philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
organisation dedicated to Australian literature, also sponsors an established author as well as an emerging author at the event each year.


Directors

Directors of Writers' Week have included Rose Wight (for 17 years, 1993?–2012);
New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
-born Laura Kroetsch (2012–2018),
Jo Dyer Jo Dyer (born 1969) is an Australian theatre and film producer, and director of Adelaide Writers' Week from 2019 to 2022. She is known for the films ''Lucky Miles'' (2007) and '' Girl Asleep'' (2015). In 2021 she was involved in a legal case re ...
(2019–2021); and Melbourne publisher
Louise Adler Louise Adler (born 1954) is a prominent figure in Australian publishing, known for being CEO of Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) since 2003. Early life and education Louise Adler was born in Melbourne to Jacques and Ruth Adler, Jewish immi ...
(2022–2025).


Featured writers by year

*2019 The event took place from 2–7 March. Australian authors included
Trent Dalton Trent Dalton is an Australian journalist and literary fiction author. Early life Trent Dalton grew up in a Housing Commission house in Bracken Ridge, a suburb on the northern outskirts of Brisbane. Journalism Dalton worked as a journalist f ...
(winner of the MUD Literary Prize),
Natasha Stott Despoja Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja AO (born 9 September 1969) is an Australian politician, diplomat, advocate and author. She is the founding Chair of the Board of Our Watch, the national foundation to prevent violence against women and their childr ...
,
Chloe Hooper Chloe Melisande Hooper (born 1973) is an Australian author. Her first novel, ''A Child’s Book of True Crime'' (2002), was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Literature and was a ''New York Times'' Notable Book. In 2005, she turned to rep ...
,
David Stratton David James Stratton (born 10 September 1939) is an English-Australian award-winning film critic, as both a journalist and interviewer, film historian and lecturer and television personality and producer. Life and career Born in Trowbridge, ...
,
Melissa Lucashenko Melissa Lucashenko is an Indigenous Australian writer of adult literary fiction and literary non-fiction, who has also written novels for teenagers. In 2013 at The Walkley Awards, she won the "Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) Award" for ...
,
Ben Quilty Ben Quilty (born 1973) is an Australian artist and social commentator, who has won a series of painting prizes: the 2014 Prudential Eye Award, 2011 Archibald Prize, and 2009 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. He has been described as one of Aus ...
,
Eddie Woo Edward Kent Woo is an Australian secondary school teacher and writer best known for his online mathematics lessons published on YouTube. In 2018, Woo was awarded the Australia's Local Hero Award. Early life Woo's ethnic Chinese parents migrat ...
, David Marr,
David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf AO (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Quee ...
,
Ceridwen Dovey Ceridwen Dovey (born 1980) is a South African and Australian social anthropologist and author. In 2009 she was named a 5 under 35 nominee by the National Book Foundation and in 2020 won The Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing. Early year ...
,
Sue Blacklock Sue or SUE may refer to: Music * Sue Records, an American record label * ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus * " Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie Places * Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits isla ...
,
Lyndall Ryan Lyndall Ryan, (born 1943) is an Australian academic and historian. She has held positions in Australian Studies and Women's Studies at Griffith University and Flinders University and was Foundation Professor of Australian Studies and Head of Sc ...
and
Jane Harper Jane Harper (born 1980) is a British–Australian author known for her crime novels '' The Dry'', ''Force of Nature'' and ''The Lost Man'', all set in rural Australia. Early life Born in Manchester in the UK, Harper moved to Australia with her ...
. International authors included
Ben Okri Ben Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-British poet and novelist.Ben Okri"
British Council, ...
, Kassem Eid,
Oyinkan Braithwaite Oyinkan Braithwaite (born 1988) is a Nigerian-British novelist and writer. She was born in Lagos and spent her childhood in both Nigeria and the UK. Life Braithwaite was born in Lagos in 1988. She spent most of her childhood in the UK after he ...
,
Carl Zimmer Carl Zimmer (born 1966) is a popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such as ''The Ne ...
,
Mohammed Hanif Mohammed Hanif (born November 1964) is a British Pakistani writer and journalist who writes a monthly opinion piece in ''The New York Times.'' Hanif is the author of the critically acclaimed book ''A Case of Exploding Mangoes'', which was long ...
, Nazanin Sahamizadeh,
Ndaba Mandela Ndaba Thembekile Zweliyajika Mandela (born 23 December 1982) is an author, mentor, spokesperson, entrepreneur, political consultant, and the grandson of Nelson Mandela. He was born in Soweto, South Africa. Mandela is currently the co-founder and ...
and
Marlene van Niekerk Marlene van Niekerk (born 10 November 1954) is a South African poet, writer, and academic. She is best known for her novels, the satirical tragicomedy ''Triomf'' (1994) and the Herzog-winning ''Agaat'' (2004), which explore themes including the ...
. JM Coetzee chaired the session with Van Niekerk. *2018 Adelaide Writers' Week in 2018 featured
Mem Fox Merrion Frances "Mem" Fox, AM (born Merrion Frances Partridge; 5 March 1946) is an Australian writer of children's books and an educationalist specialising in literacy. Fox has been semi-retired since 1996, but she still gives seminars and l ...
,
Clive Hamilton Clive Charles Hamilton AM FRSA (born 12 March 1953) is an Australian public intellectual and Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and the Vice-Chancellor's Chair in Public Ethics at Charles ...
,
Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the Univers ...
,
Eva Hornung Eva Sallis (also Eva HornungDog’s ...
, Amal Awad and Jackie French. *2017 Adelaide Writers' Week in 2017 featured Caroline Baum,
Paula Byrne Paula Jayne Byrne, Lady Bate, (born 2 August 1967), is a British biographer, novelist, and literary critic. Life Byrne has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Liverpool, where she also studied for her MA, having completed a BA ...
,
Richard Fidler Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
, Emily Maguire,
Melina Marchetta Carmelina Marchetta (born 25 March 1965) is an Australian writer and teacher. Marchetta is best known as the author of teen novels, '' Looking for Alibrandi'', ''Saving Francesca'' and '' On the Jellicoe Road''. She has twice been awarded the C ...
and
Alejandro Zambra Alejandro Andrés Zambra Infantas ( Santiago, Chile, b. September 24, 1975) is a Chilean poet, short story writer and novelist. He has been recognized for his talent as a young Latin American writer, chosen in 2007 as one of the " Bogotá39" (the ...
. *2016 Featured international and Australian authors at the 2016 Adelaide Writers' Week included
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
,
Fiona McFarlane Fiona McFarlane (born 1978) is an Australian author, best known for her book ''The Night Guest'' and her collection of short stories ''The High Places''. She is a recipient of the Voss Literary Prize, the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing a ...
,
Drusilla Modjeska Drusilla Modjeska (born 1946) is a contemporary Australian writer and editor. Life Modjeska was born in London and was raised in Hampshire. She spent several years in Papua New Guinea (where she was briefly a student at the University of Pa ...
,
Simon Winchester Simon Winchester (born 28 September 1944) is a British-American author and journalist. In his career at ''The Guardian'' newspaper, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. Winchester has ...
and
Charlotte Wood Charlotte Wood (born 1965) is an Australian novelist. ''The Australian'' newspaper described Wood as "one of our ustralia'smost original and provocative writers". Biography Wood was born in Cooma, New South Wales. She is the author of six ...
. *2015 The 2015 Adelaide Writers' Week featured international and Australian authors including
James Bradley James Bradley (1692–1762) was an English astronomer and priest who served as the third Astronomer Royal from 1742. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and the nutation of the ...
,
Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her as an origina ...
,
Sofie Laguna Sofie Laguna (born 1968) is an Australian writer. She was born in Sydney and studied law before deciding that being a lawyer was not for her. She has worked as an actor and is now a writer and playwright. She now lives in Melbourne. Awards * ...
,
Kate Llewellyn Kate Llewellyn (born 15 January 1936) is an Australian poet, author, diarist and travel writer. Biography Eldest of four children of Ron and Ivy Brinkworth (née Shemmald), Llewellyn was born Kathleen Jill Brinkworth in 1936 in Tumby Bay on Eyre ...
,
Susan Mitchell Susan Mitchell (born 1944) is an American poet, essayist and translator who wrote the poetry collections ''Rapture'' and ''Erotikon''. She is a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry. Life Mitchell grew up in New York City, New York ...
and
Nicholas Shakespeare Nicholas William Richmond Shakespeare FRSL (born 3 March 1957) is a British novelist and biographer, described by the ''Wall Street Journal'' as "one of the best English novelists of our time". Biography Born in Worcester, England to diplomat ...
. *2014 Adelaide Writers' Week in 2014 featured international best sellers and emerging writers including
Alexis Wright Alexis Wright (born 25 November 1950) is a Waanyi (Aboriginal Australian) writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel ''Carpentaria'' and the 2018 Stella Prize for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" T ...
, Andy Griffiths,
Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...
,
Elizabeth Gilbert Elizabeth Gilbert (born July 18, 1969) is an American journalist and author. She is best known for her 2006 memoir, ''Eat, Pray, Love'', which has sold over 12 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. The book was also mad ...
,
Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and ...
and
Marcus Chown Marcus Chown (born 1959) is a science writer, journalist and broadcaster, currently cosmology consultant for ''New Scientist'' magazine. Biography He graduated from the Queen Mary University of London in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in physics ...
. *2013 2013 was the first annual Adelaide Writers' Week. The most pronounced theme was that of war stories featuring visiting artists that included
Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
,
Kevin Powers Kevin Powers (born July 11, 1980) is an American fiction writer, poet, and Iraq War veteran. Biography Powers was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, the son of a factory worker and a postman, and enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of seve ...
, Tatjana Soli and
Madeleine Thien Madeleine Thien (; born 1974) is a Canadian short story writer and novelist. ''The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature'' has considered her work as reflecting the increasingly trans-cultural nature of Canadian literature, exploring art, expres ...
. *2012 Adelaide Writers' Week in 2012 saw a focus on younger readers hosting the first Kid's Program. A larger non-fiction program was included featuring artists
Javier Cercas Javier Cercas Mena (born 1962 in Ibahernando) is a Spanish writer and professor of Spanish literature at the University of Girona, Spain. He was born in Ibahernando, Cáceres, Spain. He is a frequent contributor to the Catalan edition of '' ...
,
Kate Grenville Catherine Elizabeth Grenville (born 1950) is an Australian author. She has published fifteen books, including fiction, non-fiction, biography, and books about the writing process. In 2001, she won the Orange Prize for '' The Idea of Perfection ...
, Les Murray and
Alan Hollinghurst Alan James Hollinghurst (born 26 May 1954) is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award, the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 2004 Booker Prize. Early life and education H ...
. *2010 Adelaide Writers' Week in 2010 featured a collection of established overseas and Australian writers including
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
, Audrey Niffengger,
William Dalrymple William Dalrymple may refer to: * William Dalrymple (1678–1744), Scottish Member of Parliament * William Dalrymple (moderator) (1723–1814), Scottish minister and religious writer * William Dalrymple (British Army officer) (1736–1807), Scott ...
and
Robert Dessaix Robert Dessaix (born 17 February 1944) is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist. Biography Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney and adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after which he was known as Robert Jones. Tom Jones, a ...
*2008 2008's Writers' Week was held between 2 March and 7 March 2008 and featured a number of prize-winning authors, including
Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...
, Peter Carey,
Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...
, Geraldine Brooks, and
Tim Parks Timothy Harold Parks (born 19 December 1954) is a British novelist, translator, author and professor of literature. Career He is the author of eighteen novels (notably ''Europa'', which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1997). His first ...
. Other notable authors included
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literatu ...
, British historian Richard Holmes,
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
native
Roma Tearne Roma Tearne (née Chrysostom; born 1954) is a Sri Lankan-born artist and writer living and working in England. Her debut novel, ''Mosquito'', was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa Book Awards first Novel prize (formerly the Whitbread Prize). Ear ...
, and
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
author
Siri Hustvedt Siri Hustvedt (born February 19, 1955) is an American novelist and essayist. Hustvedt is the author of a book of poetry, seven novels, two books of essays, and several works of non-fiction. Her books include ''The Blindfold'' (1992), ''The Ench ...
.
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...
authors included poet and novelist
David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf AO (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Quee ...
,
Robyn Davidson Robyn Davidson (born 6 September 1950) is an Australian writer best known for her 1980 book ''Tracks'', about her 2,700 km (1,700 miles) trek across the deserts of Western Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about ...
,
Tumby Bay Tumby Bay is a coastal town situated on the Spencer Gulf, on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, north of Port Lincoln. The town of Tumby Bay is the major population centre of the District Council of Tumby Bay, and the cen ...
native
Kate Llewellyn Kate Llewellyn (born 15 January 1936) is an Australian poet, author, diarist and travel writer. Biography Eldest of four children of Ron and Ivy Brinkworth (née Shemmald), Llewellyn was born Kathleen Jill Brinkworth in 1936 in Tumby Bay on Eyre ...
, Matt Rubinstein, '' Looking for Alibrandi'' author
Melina Marchetta Carmelina Marchetta (born 25 March 1965) is an Australian writer and teacher. Marchetta is best known as the author of teen novels, '' Looking for Alibrandi'', ''Saving Francesca'' and '' On the Jellicoe Road''. She has twice been awarded the C ...
, and actor and novelist
William McInnes Daryl William Mathew Gabriel McInnes (born 10 September 1963) is an Australian film and television actor and writer. He portrayed the role of Matt Tivolli in '' The Time of Our Lives''. He is best known for his roles as Senior Constable Nick S ...
. *2006 2006's Writers' Week focused on
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
and
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
writing and was held between 5 March and 10 March 2006. Notable visiting authors included
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winning author
Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...
, crime novelists
Val McDermid Valarie "Val" McDermid, (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir. Biography M ...
,
Andrew Taylor Andrew or Andy Taylor may refer to: Sport * Andrew Taylor (footballer, born 1986), English footballer * Andy Taylor (footballer, born 1986), English footballer * Andy Taylor (footballer, born 1988), English footballer * Andrew Taylor (Australian ...
and
Minette Walters Minette Caroline Mary Walters DL (born 26 September 1949) is an English crime writer. Life and work Walters was born in Bishop's Stortford in 1949 to Samuel Jebb and Colleen Jebb. As her father was a serving army officer, the first 10 yea ...
and Indian author
Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...
. Australian authors included historian professor
Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. He is noted for having written authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including '' The Tyranny ...
and Adelaidean
Peter Goldsworthy Peter David Goldsworthy AM (born 12 October 1951) is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won major awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti. Goldsworthy began his writing life as a poet, as described i ...
*2005 In 2005, visiting authors included
Isabel Allende Isabel Angélica Allende Llona (; born in Lima, 2 August 1942) is a Chilean writer. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the genre magical realism, is known for novels such as ''The House of the Spirits'' (''La casa de los espír ...
,
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
,
Ruth Rendell Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, (; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.The Oxford Companion ...
and
Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work exp ...
. *2004 Authors included
Ruth Rendell Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, (; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.The Oxford Companion ...
,
Janette Turner Hospital Janette Turner Hospital (née Turner) (born 1942) is an Australian-born novelist and short story writer who has lived most of her adult life in Canada or the United States, principally Boston (Massachusetts), Kingston (Ontario) and Columbia (South ...
,
Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.Don Watson Don Watson (born 1949) is an Australian author, screenwriter, former political adviser, and speechwriter. Early life Watson was born in 1949 at Warragul in the Gippsland region of Victoria, and grew up on a farm in nearby Korumburra. Academia ...
,
Anne Enright Anne Teresa Enright (born 11 October 1962) is an Irish writer. She has published seven novels, many short stories and a non-fiction work called ''Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood'', about the birth of her two children. Her writing explo ...
, John Marsden and JM Coetzee. *1996 Writers' Week took place 3–8 March. Visiting authors included
E. Annie Proulx E is the fifth letter of the Latin alphabet. E or e may also refer to: Commerce and transportation * €, the symbol for the euro, the European Union's standard currency unit * ℮, the estimated sign, an EU symbol indicating that the weigh ...
, JM Coetzee,
James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, sta ...
and
Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series ''The Young Ones (TV s ...
. Australian authors included Rodney Hall,
Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, Conservation biology, conservationist, Exploration, explorer, author, Science communication, science communicator, activist and p ...
,
Glenda Adams Glenda Emilie Adams (née Felton; 30 December 1939 – 11 July 2007) was an Australian novelist and short story writer, probably best known as the winner of the 1987 Miles Franklin Award for ''Dancing on Coral''. She was a teacher of creative w ...
,
Lily Brett Lily Brett (born Lilijahne Brajtsztajn 5 September 1946, Feldafing displaced persons camp, Bavaria, Germany) is an Australian novelist, essayist and poet. She lived in North Carlton and then Elwood/Caulfield (suburbs of Melbourne) from 1948 to ...
,
Kate Grenville Catherine Elizabeth Grenville (born 1950) is an Australian author. She has published fifteen books, including fiction, non-fiction, biography, and books about the writing process. In 2001, she won the Orange Prize for '' The Idea of Perfection ...
, Marion Halligan, Gail Jones, singer Paul Kelly, and
Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles ...
. *1982 Writers' Week took place 7–13 March. Featured writers included
Neil Armfield Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armf ...
,
Thea Astley Thea Beatrice May Astley (25 August 1925 – 17 August 2004) was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin ...
,
Blanche d'Alpuget Josephine Blanche d'Alpuget (born 3 January 1944) is an Australian writer and the second wife of Bob Hawke, the longest-serving Labor Prime Minister of Australia. Background and early career D'Alpuget is the only child of Josephine Curgenven a ...
,
Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her as an origina ...
,
Peter Goldsworthy Peter David Goldsworthy AM (born 12 October 1951) is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won major awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti. Goldsworthy began his writing life as a poet, as described i ...
,
David Hare David Hare may refer to: *David Hare (philanthropist) (1775–1842), Scottish philanthropist *David Hare (artist) (1917–1992), American sculptor and photographer *David Hare (playwright) (born 1947), English playwright and theatre and film direc ...
, Jeri Kroll,
Thomas Shapcott Thomas William Shapcott (born 21 March 1935) is an Australian poet, novelist, playwright, editor, librettist, short story writer and teacher. Biography Thomas William Shapcott was born in Ipswich, Queensland, and attended the Ipswich Grammar ...
,
Colin Thiele Colin Milton Thiele AC (; 16 November 1920 – 4 September 2006) was an Australian author and educator. He was renowned for his award-winning children's fiction, most notably the novels '' Storm Boy'', ''Blue Fin'', the ''Sun on the Stubble'' s ...
,
Judith Wright Judith Arundell Wright (31 May 191525 June 2000) was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award. Biography Judith Wright was born in Armidale, New Sou ...
and
Fay Weldon Fay Weldon CBE, FRSL (born Franklin Birkinshaw; 22 September 1931 – 4 January 2023) was an English author, essayist and playwright. Over the course of her 55-year writing career, she published 31 novels, including ''Puffball'' (1980), '' The ...
.


See also

*
South Australian Living Artists Festival The South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA, or SALA Festival) is a statewide, open-access visual arts festival which takes place during August in South Australia. SALA features a range of approximately 600 venues including galleries and ...
*
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia, announced during Adelaide Writers' Week, as part of the Adelaide Festival. The awards i ...


References


Further reading

* (full text)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelaide Writers Week
Writers A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, plays ...
Literary festivals in Australia Festivals established in 1960 1960 establishments in Australia March events