Hunter’s budding authors and book worms can look forward to this year’s Write Here Festival, where 30 local and visiting authors will share new reads, tips, tricks and tales across the three-day event.
Hosted at Lake Mac libraries between March 18 and March 20, the writing festival will include writing workshops, author talks and presentations.
Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser said the diversity of talent secured for the event was exciting.
“In just a few short years, Write Here has established itself as one of the best literary events in regional NSW,” she said.
“Not just for budding authors and illustrators, but for everyone who loves books and reading.”
This year’s festival includes an Afternoon of Crime and Thrillers at Warners Bay Theatre, featuring authors Chris Hammer, Barry Maitland and the Walkley Award-winning Jane Caro.
The ticketed admission includes in-conversation sessions with all three authors, as well as refreshments and snacks.
Meanwhile, fiction and memoir-writing workshops, author talks and a screening of Dead Poet’s Society at Rathmines Theatre are among the other highlights.
Nationally recognised author and illustrator Sami Bayly will be in attendance sharing her journey on how she got her first break in the publishing world.
The former University of Newcastle Bachelor of Natural History Illustration honours student said she received a call from a children’s book publisher in 2018 after entering a portrait of the Australian White Ibis into an art competition.
“In my third year of university, I was finding myself being inspired by the more unusual or ‘ugly’ animals in life, wanting to draw the stranger-looking creatures instead of the ‘beautiful’ or ‘cute’ ones,” Bayly said.
What followed was The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals, a compendium of 60 of the world’s most unusual animals, exploring their appearance, habitat, diet and conservation status.
The book’s incredibly detailed watercolour illustrations helped earn Bayly a plethora of awards, including the 2020 Children’s Indie Book of the Year, and paved the way for two further non-fiction publications.
Bayly’s books have been published in many different countries, including the UK, the US and Russia.
Bayly will provide an insight into her writing and illustrating techniques at Toronto Library on March 19 before hosting a children’s story-time and illustration session at Warners Bay Theatre the following day.
“I hope that kids and adults joining in with my sessions learn that nature is incredible, and there are endless amounts of facts to be learnt about it,” Bayly said.
“It’s so important that we instil a love of the planet in upcoming generations because right now, we need to take care of it more than ever.”
Bayly will also join fellow authors Sandie Docker, Chris Hammer, Fiona McArthur and Tobias Madden on the evening of March 19, offering a sneak peek into their new and unpublished works.
Bookings for each session at Write Here Festival are essential, and costs range from gold coin entry to $40 for some workshops.
Lake Macquarie City has advised that Dine and Discover vouchers can be utilised at the event.
More information on what’s on offer at the festival can be found on the Lake Mac Libraries website.
Maia O’Connor