Melbourne Writers Festival

The Melbourne Writers Festival is another cultural event catering to writers and readers. It includes a diverse schedule of educational programs, workshops, interactive sessions, and entertainment options for all participants.

Writers, bloggers, online publishers, political activists, and journalists are a few of the many who participated in this event.

Melbourne Writers Festival 2025 Dates & Program Events

Melbourne Writers Festival is back from 8-11 May 2025 with a cosmic combination of literary stars. In 2025, we welcome over 130 writers to Melbourne to take part in 68 events for one extraordinary week. 

Melbourne Writers Festival brings writers and readers together to be inspired, challenged and thrilled by an intelligent, rousing and diverse program of books and ideas. Since 1986, the organisation has entertained hundreds of thousands of readers as Australia’s boldest literary festival. Based in Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature, we provide the inspiration and framework for vital, timely conversations.

Melbourne Writers Festival champions open discourse and freedom of expression. We recognise the importance of diverse and divergent perspectives among our staff, artists, audiences, and the communities we serve. The Festival is led by its values of Excellence, Curiosity, Diversity and a Future-Focused mindset.

We platform writers and thinkers who explore complex ideas with open hearts and minds and are committed to reflecting the local and global diversity of the world in which we live. We ignite conversations that Melbourne tunes in to, addressing relevant and essential subjects and stories. Our programming values creative insight, intellectually rigorous dialogue and constructive debate.

We seek to create a festival where books, stories and ideas are discussed with nuance, compassion and mutual respect – where words have power.

While we advocate for free expression and self-determination, we also uphold a commitment to ensuring a safe and respectful environment in accordance with anti-discrimination and other Australian laws. MWF strictly prohibits any speech or behaviour that is discriminatory, illegal or racist on all MWF platforms, in-person and online. We expect all participants, including artists, staff, audiences, volunteers, partners, donors and funders, to adhere to this standard of respect.

We extend our thanks to the members of the MWF community who help us create a constructive, curious and empathetic festival environment.

There is so much happening during the festival, it’s impossible to mention it all here. Please check out the official website’s program for a full list of events, dates, times, ticket prices and venues.

Opening Night: Magical Thinking

Join us to open the 2025 Festival and celebrate the transformative power of storytelling.

Responding to this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival theme, Magical Thinking, hear from renowned novelist Rumaan Alam, 2024 Booker Prize-winner Samantha Harvey, beloved author Hannah Kent, and slam poetry champion Solli Raphael. Festival Guest Curators Daniel Browning and Nardi Simpson share their vision for this year’s program, followed by an exceptional musical performance by Nardi.

Plus, The Age presents its Book of the Year awards for fiction and nonfiction.

An unforgettable night of literary magic awaits.

Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland: Broken Brains

Writers, friends and co-authors Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland discuss brain health – the physical and the mental – through their intertwined experiences of illness, resilience and friendship in this raw, insightful and Melbourne-exclusive conversation on their new book, Broken Brains.

Writers, friends and co-authors Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland sit down with host Clare Bowditch for an honest, raw and deeply personal conversation about brain health – the physical and the mental – and their intertwined experiences of living with and supporting one another’s ‘broken brains’.

In their new book, Broken Brains, Jamila and Rosie share their parallel experiences of illness, weaving together their own personal stories with the wisdom of those who have been there before. A candid and compassionate exploration of what it means to be sick – or to love someone who is – offers comfort, solidarity, and the understanding that they both longed for at their lowest points.

With their signature warmth and humor, these two powerful and insightful women come together for a Melbourne-exclusive event to reflect on resilience, recovery, and friendship’s immense power in navigating the hardest moments.

We Sharpen Our Axes Against the Hardest Stone

Is adversity the key to making great art? Brook Garru Andrew, Nayuka Gorrie, and Bebe Oliver consider whether personal, political and social upheaval offer the necessary impetus to creating great works of art.

Is adversity the key to making great art? Must we sink to rock bottom to write the perfect break-up album or a life-changing guidebook to recovery? Can hostile political conditions be a fulcrum for progressive social change? Is conservatism the kryptonite we need to stoke the fire in our bellies?

In this special session, curated and hosted by MWF First Nations Curator Daniel Browning, writers and thinkers Brook Garru Andrew, Nayuka Gorrie, and Bebe Oliver will examine the intersections of art and adversity and consider whether personal, political, and social ruptures offer the necessary impetus to the creation of great works of art.

Anita Heiss in Conversation

Anita Heiss discusses her latest novel, Red Dust Running, her ongoing activism, and writing novels grounded in heart and humour.

Few contemporary authors are as adept as Anita Heiss at mastering every genre – from engaging children’s books to artful memoirs to sweeping historical fiction.

Her latest novel, Red Dust Running, is a swoony romantic comedy with a touch of social justice and politics. It tells the classic opposites-attract tale of a cultured city girl who falls for an outback cowboy.

In this wide-ranging conversation with host Shelley Ware, Heiss discusses her craft, her role as Publisher at Large with Bundyi, a First Nations publishing imprint, her ongoing activism and advocacy work, and writing novels grounded in heart, humour and resilience.

The Writer as Witness

Hasib Hourani, Amy McQuire, and Micaela Sahhar explore writing through essays, memoirs, and poetry as an act of witnessing, challenging institutions, reclaiming narratives, and shaping identity.

What does it mean for a writer to bear witness? How do writers reject or subvert the constraints of traditional structures and institutions, such as media and academia, to depict the stories of their families, communities, and themselves with autonomy and integrity?

Authors Hasib Hourani (Rock Flight), Amy McQuire (Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media), and Micaela Sahhar (Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family) consider these questions through the lens of their recent books of essays, memoirs, and poetry. Together, they’ll discuss unconventional narrative forms’ power as a self-definition tool.

Sarah Wilson: Living Fully in an Age of Crisis

Sarah Wilson discusses finding meaning, beauty, and humanity amid global crises with host Carody Culver. Drawing on years of interviews with leading thinkers, she offers a hopeful guide to living fully in challenging times.

How do we live meaningfully in an era of unprecedented social, political and environmental collapse?

Author, activist and podcaster Sarah Wilson grapples with how to hold on to our humanity – and even find beauty – amid the chaos of our times. Having spent the past four years interviewing leading global thinkers on crisis and transformation, Wilson is a brave, nuanced and ultimately hopeful guide for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the state of the world.

Join Wilson and host Carody Culver as they discuss living fully in an age of collapse and how to meet the moment with love, resilience and hunger for meaning.

Jimmy Barnes: Highways and Byways

Spend an afternoon with beloved star and maverick Jimmy Barnes as he celebrates heritage, family, friends, music and the adventure of a grand life with host Brian Nankervis.

Join award-winning author and musician Jimmy Barnes as he recounts the twists and turns of his larger-than-life adventures live on stage. With his trademark candour, humour, and distinctive voice, Barnes shares anecdotes, lessons, and cracking good yarns: from unearthing shattering family secrets in Glasgow to encountering charismatic and not-so-endearing superstars to confronting his own mortality.

Featuring humorous tangents, wild characters, and the occasional tall tale, don’t miss the opportunity to spend an afternoon with the beloved star and maverick as he celebrates heritage, family, friends, music and the adventure of a grand life with host Brian Nankervis.

Rumaan Alam: Entitlement

Bestselling author Rumaan Alam (Leave the World Behind) talks about his latest novel, Entitlement, a simmering exploration of money, morality and the compromises we’re willing to make. In conversation with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols.

Rumaan Alam’s latest novel, Entitlement, follows a 33-year-old Black woman named Brooke Orr, who lands a job as a program manager at 83-year-old white billionaire Asher Jaffee’s charitable foundation and quickly becomes his protégé.

What follows is a searing portrait of need and worth, race and privilege, and the seductive, corrupting lure of extreme wealth. Alam sits down with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols to discuss class, desire, and what happens when we are driven by want rather than need.

Hannah Kent: Always Home, Always Homesick

One of Australia’s bestselling literary novelists, Hannah Kent, presents her debut work of nonfiction—a tender, diaristic love letter to her muse, Iceland.

Hannah Kent has won legions of fans with works like Burial Rights, The Good People, and Devotion. Now, she presents her debut work of nonfiction—a tender, diaristic love letter to her muse, Iceland.

Always Home, Always Homesick is both a memoir of Kent’s experiences of living in Iceland and a wider consideration of how literature forms the heart of the nation’s culture and identity.

Speaking with ABC Radio National’s Richard Fidler, Kent explores distance and belonging, writing place and the self, and how Iceland has shaped the person she is today.

Culture Club Podcast: Live with Chloe Elisabeth Wilson

Join media-slashies Jasmine Wallis and Maggie Zhou for a live recording of their podcast Culture Club as they dive into the dark side of the beauty industry with special guest Chloe Elisabeth Wilson (Rytual).

The podcaster duo sits down with Wilson to chat about her debut novel, Rytual. It is a darkly funny examination of the beauty industry that raises juicy questions about youth, identity, beauty, and desire, as well as the cult-like nature of modern-day wellness culture.

Don’t miss your opportunity to join Culture Club live as they delve deep into the glossy world of the beauty industry and unearth its dark side.

Drinks will be available to purchase from The Moat pop-up bar on the night.