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 list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, the capital of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. 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 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 Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

. 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

, biennially in March. It is the longest-running dedicated writers' festival in Australia. The first event was organised by a committee headed by state librarian Hedley Brideson, in collaboration with the Fellowship of Australian Writers (SA). Initially intended as a forum for writers, the event soon became popular with the public, in particular when guests included famous writers such as Russian poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko in 1966, followed in the early 1970s by

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...

Edna O'Brien Josephine Edna O'Brien (15 December 1930 – 27 July 2024) was an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. O'Brien's works often revolve around the inner feelings of women and their problems relating to men and soc ...

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

, and

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

. In those years it was held at the State Library and

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, which proved too small to accommodate audiences, so in 1976 was moved to the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, alongside King William Road next to the Torrens Parade Ground. At this time, the event took place under one tent. The event soon grew, and publishers were drawn by the commercial opportunities. In 1986 a second tent was added to allow two sessions to run contemporaneously. 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 List of Australi ...

. It has grown bigger year by year. In 2014,

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

s and

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

s, represented by their authors and illustrators, were showcased in a dedicated one-day program. In some years, WW has been dedicated to a writer; these have included Colin Thiele, Thomas Shapcott, Margo Lanagan, Christopher Koch, Judith Wright, Jessica Anderson, A. D. Hope, and

Alexis Wright Alexis Wright (born 25 November 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian writer. She is best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel '' Carpentaria''. She was the first writer to win the Stella Prize twice, in 2018 for her "colle ...

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. It is considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, described by literary magazine '' Kill Your Darlings'' (founded by writers Hannah Kent and Rebecca Starford) as "Arguably Australia’s most exciting and influential writers' festival". In 2022, 180 writers presented sessions: 119 in-person and 25 virtually. A major event, it is a part of the Adelaide Festival and run by a dedicated Writers' Week director. Each Adelaide Writers' Week includes six days of free panel sessions presented live in the gardens. After each presentation, audience members are encouraged to ask questions, and lively debate sometimes ensues. Each day starts with "Breakfast with Papers" in the West Tent, at 8am. In 2024 this was hosted by

Tory Shepherd Tory Shepherd is an Australian opinion writer and journalist based in Adelaide, South Australia. a senior reporter for ''Guardian Australia''. She has worked for News Limited publications in the past. Early life and education Tory Shepherd grew ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and Jonathan Green of ABC Radio National. 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. In recent years, Saturday sessions in the Torrens Tent have been for younger children, while Sundays present books and authors for young adults. "Twilight Talks" are presented at 6:30 on some days for people who cannot get to the festival. For those who are unable to attend the event, all East Stage sessions are livestreamed in some libraries, community centres, schools, aged care communities, and retirement villages. In 2022, 111 locations were covered. From 2021, the "Curated Dozen" – 13 sessions – were made available to be livestreamed at home on a pay-what-you-can basis. In addition, since 2021, most of the presentations have later been made available online via

. In conjunction with Writers, Week, Writers SA hosts workshops for Adelaide writers, with visiting authors as special guests to help provide guidance. Media coverage and advertising of the event is widespread across major media outlets as well as social media, and was estimated to reach a cumulative audience of more than 116 million people in 2022. As well as being good entertainment for patrons, the festival has become an increasingly important marketing venue for publishers as well as authors. Representatives from major publishers around the world attend the event. Authors sign their books at scheduled times outside the Book Tent, where books by all attending authors are on sale. there are three stages: East, West, and North Stages (with shade cover for presenters and audience), as well as the Book Tent and the Torrens Tent. Beverages and food are on sale in a separate tent, and there is a block of many portaloos. Plastic chairs are provided for the audiences, and events are run at all stages throughout each day of the festival. The programme is published in hardcopy and online before the event Sponsorship of the event has varied through the years. In 1990, the major sponsors were the Literature Board of the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

and SGIC; in 2024, major partners were the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

, Adelaide Economic Development Agency,

City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council, is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia. It is legally defi ...

, 9News,

, ECH, and '' The Advertiser'', with additional sponsorship by a number of commercial sponsors and cultural institutions.

Awards

MUD Literary Prize

The MUD Literary Prize 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.

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature

The biennial Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature were created by the

in 1986, and awarded during Writers' Week. The

State Library of South Australia The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research li ...

(SLSA) took over administration of the awards from Arts South Australia in 2020, and ran the event for two years, during which they were run at 4pm on the last day of Writers' Week. Library director Geoff Strempel felt that the awards should be uncoupled from the event in order to give them greater prominence, in line with interstate equivalents, and so rebranded the awards the South Australian Literaray Awards, with the inaugural event taking place in October 2024.

Directors

In the early years, the role of director of Writers' Week had various titles: in 1990, Angela Dawes was "Writers' Week Coordinator" and in 2008 Rose Wight was "executive producer". Directors of Writers' Week have included: * Angela Dawes (1980s-90s) * Rose Wight (1993?–2012, for 17 years) * Laura Kroetsch (2012–2018) * Jo Dyer (2019–2021) *

Louise Adler Louise Adler is an Australian publisher. She was CEO of Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) from 2003 until 2019, when she became editor-at-large at Hachette Australia. In March 2022 she took up a three-year appointment as director of Adela ...

(2022–2025)

Featured writers by year

2024

The 2024 event took place from 2-7 March. Featured writers included Julia Baird,

Christos Tsiolkas Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for '' The Slap'', which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and t ...

Patrick deWitt Patrick deWitt (born 1975) is a Canadian novelist and screenwriter. Born on Vancouver Island, deWitt lives in Portland, Oregon, and has acquired American citizenship. As of 2023, he has written five novels: ''Ablutions'' (2009), ''The Sisters Bro ...

, Robyn Davidson, Yanis Varoufakis, Nam Le,

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the New South Wales Labor Party, New South Wales branch of the A ...

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his historical fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler' ...

, Trent Dalton,

Richard Flanagan Richard Miller Flanagan (born 1961) is an Australian writer, who won the 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North (novel), The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for ''Question 7'', ...

, Evelyn Araluen, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Ellen van Neerven, and many others.

2020

The 2020 event took place from 29 February to 5 March. It featured

Chigozie Obioma Chigozie Obioma (1986) was born in Akure, Nigeria. He is the author of three novels The ''Fishermen'' (2015), An ''Orchestra of Minorities'' (2019) and ''The Road to the Country'' (2024). The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities were final ...

, Sanam Maher, Tara June Winch,

, John Boyne, Blanche d'Alpuget,

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian (Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalung) singer-songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach wa ...

, Jokha Alharthi, Anna Goldsworthy, Charlotte Wood, John Marsden, Megan Davis, Thomas Mayor, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Tim Costello, Tim Flannery, and many others.

2019

The event took place from 2–7 March. Australian authors included Trent Dalton (winner of the MUD Literary Prize), Natasha Stott Despoja, Chloe Hooper,

David Stratton David James Stratton (born 1939) is an English-Australian film critic and historian. He has also worked as a journalist, interviewer, educator, television personality, and producer. His career as a film critic, writer, and educator in Austral ...

, Melissa Lucashenko, Ben Quilty, Eddie Woo, David Marr,

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and Libretto, librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University ...

, Ceridwen Dovey, Sue Blacklock, Lyndall Ryan and Jane Harper. International authors included

Ben Okri Sir Ben Golden Emuobowho Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-born British poet and novelist.Ben Okri" ...

, Kassem Eid, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Carl Zimmer, Mohammed Hanif, Nazanin Sahamizadeh, Ndaba Mandela and Marlene van Niekerk.

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...

chaired the session with Van Niekerk.

2018

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2018 featured Mem Fox,

Clive Hamilton Clive Charles Hamilton Order of Australia, AM FRSA (born 12 March 1953) is an Australian public intellectual currently serving as Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and the Vice-Chancellor' ...

, Barbara Kingsolver, Eva Hornung, Amal Awad and Jackie French.

2017

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2017 featured Caroline Baum, Paula Byrne, Richard Fidler, Emily Maguire, Melina Marchetta and Alejandro Zambra.

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 biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

, Fiona McFarlane, Drusilla Modjeska,

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 (1972), Bloody Sunday and the Watergate S ...

and Charlotte Wood.

2015

The 2015 Adelaide Writers' Week featured international and Australian authors including

James Bradley James Bradley (September 1692 – 13 July 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 ...

Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's debut novel, first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her ...

, Sofie Laguna, Kate Llewellyn, Susan Mitchell and Nicholas Shakespeare.

2014

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2014 featured international best-sellers and emerging writers, including

, Andy Griffiths, Margaret Drabble, Elizabeth Gilbert, Alexander McCall Smith, and Marcus Chown.

2013

2013 was the first annual Adelaide Writers' Week. The most pronounced theme was that of war stories, and featured visiting artists that included Tom Holland, Kevin Powers, Tatjana Soli, and Madeleine Thien.

2012

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2012 took place 3–8 March, and saw a focus on younger readers, hosting the first Kid's Program, with children's laureate Boori Monty Pryor. The festival was dedicated to Margo Lanagan. An expanded non-fiction program was included, and writers included Javier Cercas,

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 Fiction, Orange Prize for ...

, Les Murray, and Alan Hollinghurst.

2010

Adelaide Writers' Week in 2010 took place from 28 February to 5 March, and featured a collection of established overseas and Australian writers, including

, Audrey Niffengger, William Dalrymple, and Robert Dessaix.

2008

2008's Writers' Week was held between 2 March and 7 March 2008 and was dedicated to Colin Thiele. It featured a number of prize-winning authors, including

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British 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 the ...

, Peter Carey,

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (February 3, 1947 – April 30, 2024) was an American writer, novelist, memoirist, poet, and filmmaker. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), ' ...

, Geraldine Brooks, and Tim Parks. Other notable authors included

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and feminist, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literature, she ...

, British historian Richard Holmes, Sri Lanka native Roma Tearne, and author Siri Hustvedt. Australian authors included poet and novelist

, Robyn Davidson, Kate Llewellyn, Melina Marchetta, and actor and novelist William McInnes.

2006

2006's Writers' Week focused on Dutch and Indian writing and was held between 5 March and 10 March 2006. Notable visiting authors included

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

winning author Michael Cunningham, crime novelists

Val McDermid Valarie McDermid (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and his collaborators in the police department. Her work is considered to be part of a sub-genre k ...

, Andrew Taylor and

Minette Walters Minette Caroline Mary Walters Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 26 September 1949) is an English 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 f ...

and Indian author

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...

. Australian authors included historian professor

Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey, (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. Blainey is noted for his authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including ''The Tyranny of ...

and Adelaidean Peter Goldsworthy.

2005

In 2005, visiting authors included Isabel Allende,

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

, Ruth Rendell 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, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...

2004

Authors included Ruth Rendell, Janette Turner Hospital,

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, Anne Enright, John Marsden and

1996

Writers' Week took place 3–8 March. Visiting authors included E. Annie Proulx,

, James Ellroy and

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...

. Australian authors included Rodney Hall, Tim Flannery, Glenda Adams, Lily Brett,

Marion Halligan Marion Mildred Halligan Order of Australia, AM (16 April 1940 – 19 February 2024) was an Australian writer and novelist. She authored twenty-three books, including fiction, short-fiction, and non-fiction. Her novel ''Lovers' Knots'' (1992) won ...

, 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 ...

1982

Writers' Week took place 7–13 March. Featured writers included Neil Armfield,

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,

, Peter Goldsworthy, David Hare, Jeri Kroll, Thomas Shapcott, Colin Thiele, Judith Wright and Fay Weldon.

References

External links

*
1978 programme

1984 programme

1992 programme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelaide Writers Week

Writers A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short stori ...

Literary festivals in Australia Festivals established in 1960 1960 establishments in Australia March