Manly Writers' Festival

Manly Writers' Festival Stories Across Manly. Beyond the Beach and the Ferry, a literary festival for readers, writers, and thinkers.

The world feels increasingly unstable. Alliances are shifting. Democracies are under pressure. And Australia is navigati...
28/05/2026

The world feels increasingly unstable. Alliances are shifting. Democracies are under pressure. And Australia is navigating an era few imagined even a decade ago.

At the Manly Writers’ Festival, The World on Edge brought together leading voices to unpack the forces reshaping global politics, from Trump and China to AUKUS, war and Australia’s place in an uncertain century.

Now the conversation is available as a podcast.

🎧 Listen now. https://soundcloud.com/fairplaybooks/manly-wf-2026-the-world-on

  on display (top left) at London’s  courtesy of a Festival visitor.  😀🌊🏄‍♂️💙
27/05/2026

on display (top left) at London’s courtesy of a Festival visitor. 😀🌊🏄‍♂️💙

22/05/2026

National Volunteer Week confession:

The Manly Writers’ Festival does not have a large office.

Or paid staff.

Or a mysterious back room where highly trained literary elves organise everything.

It is volunteers.

People who somehow turn spreadsheets into sessions, venues into conversations, and ambitious ideas into actual events.

People who carry boxes. Put up signs. Solve problems. Calm nerves. Find missing cables. Re-stack books. Welcome audiences.

And then come back and do it again next year.

The Manly Writers' Festival exists because a community agreed with the starting point that stories matter.

To everyone who has helped us build it: thank you. We hope to see you in 2027.

Former NSW Premier Bob Carr is used to speaking about politics, history and public life. This conversation is different....
21/05/2026

Former NSW Premier Bob Carr is used to speaking about politics, history and public life.

This conversation is different.

Recorded live at Manly Writers’ Festival in March, Bob reflects on 'Bring Back Yesterday' in conversation with the ABC's Sarah Di**le on his deeply personal account of love, grief, memory and life after the sudden loss of his wife, Helena.

Not a political conversation.A human one.

🎧 Listen now: https://soundcloud.com/fairplaybooks/manly-wf-2026-bring-back?in=fairplaybooks/sets/manly-writers-festival&si=8ffeb186aaa346bfbf602f980deba14d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Our latest podcast is out! Have a listen to Kylie Moore-Gilbert and Mike Amor in discussion with Mark Corcoran about bei...
15/05/2026

Our latest podcast is out! Have a listen to Kylie Moore-Gilbert and Mike Amor in discussion with Mark Corcoran about being on the Frontlines of international relations and geopolitics. A wonderful conversation with three great minds.

Find us on SoundCloud or via
https://soundcloud.com/fairplaybooks/manly-wf-2026-frontlines

ICYMI: we have some of the sessions from this year's Manly Writers' Festival now up-and-running as a podcast, starting w...
12/05/2026

ICYMI: we have some of the sessions from this year's Manly Writers' Festival now up-and-running as a podcast, starting with the marvellous Hugh Mackay in conversation with Helen Vatsikopoulos. Timely quote for today's federal budget!

Link here: https://soundcloud.com/fairplaybooks/mwf-26-hugh-mackay

What's it like to be on the frontline of global politics representing Australia? At  , Geraldine Doogue spoke with three...
07/04/2026

What's it like to be on the frontline of global politics representing Australia? At , Geraldine Doogue spoke with three former Ambassadors about just that: Ian Kemish, Bob Bowker, Lachlan Strahan. Here's an extract of their discussion, via the ABC's Global Roaming.

Link: https://buff.ly/RlhGMyi

We wanted to share this photo for two reasons. First, we present six of the word wizards at   - the poets - Cocoa Deep-A...
01/04/2026

We wanted to share this photo for two reasons.

First, we present six of the word wizards at - the poets - Cocoa Deep-Amek, Liz Deep-Jones, Yvette Henry Holt, Michele Seminar, Ruth Larner and Toby Davidson.

Second, the backdrop of the gorgeous Sky Theatre (formerly St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Hall), run by Manly Theatre Group.

We love our Manly Poetry Salon at Manly Writers' Festival! See you next year.

26/03/2026

Across our venues - from the waterfront to the gallery, the school to the wine bar, and the church hall to the surf club - the conversations at the 2026 Manly Writers' Festival were honest, provocative, funny and deeply human. That is what we come for, and that is what Manly delivered once again.

The Manly Writers' Festival returns in the third weekend in March, from 18–21 March 2027. We are already looking forward to it, and we hope you are too.

Thank you again for being part of the story.

We had a fabulous four days. We hope you did too. See you in 2027.
24/03/2026

We had a fabulous four days. We hope you did too. See you in 2027.

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