Hot on the heels of 2024’s top shelf debut, the 2025 Manly Writer’s Festival goes into overdrive with 125 writers, academics, journalists, thinkers, and creators putting the quills on ice to jump off the page and onto the stage at more than 50 events for three days of engaging discussions, powerful storytelling, and creative inspiration. A true celebration of the power and joy of reading, writing and ideas. You wouldn’t read about it.
Brought to you once more by Festival Founder, (superhuman) Bonita Mersiades, and made possible with the support of The TAG Family Foundation, Fair Play Publishing, Northern Beaches Council, Gleebooks, Hennessy Coffee, Q Statoin Aide de MD, and Manly Observer, the 2025 Manly Writers’ Festival offers a vibrant program to spark curiosity and inspire change.
“We are thrilled to bring together such an incredible array of talent for this year’s festival,” says Bonita. “We hope the festival helps connect people and ignites meaningful conversations through reading and writing.”
The three-day event will indeed cover every storytelling possibility and contemporary hot topic, from social media and generative AI to memoirs and biographies to politics local, national, and global to spectacular, iconic, Australian aeronautical reputational decimation, to sport, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, crime fiction, romance and more, to a Schools Program empowering young minds with news literacy skills to separate fact from fiction, to a Copyright Masterclass to assist authors in safeguarding their creative journeys, and to a workshop in the wonder of a personal editor to transform good work into extraordinary, 28 to 30 March submits a voluminous tome of goodies from emerging, local, and celebrated authors.
Highlights of the Program include Friday 28 March’s romantic kickstart as Zena Shapter hosts “Long Live the Romance Novel”, in conversation with Amy Hutton, author of Haunted Hearts, and Ingrid J. Adams, author of Transcended. Opening night includes award-winning writer Blanche d’Alpuget’s book launch, as she unveils The Bunny Club in a special event at Manly Spirits Distillery, complete with themed cocktails and an antipasto platter.
There will be Author Talks with Heather Morris, Peter FitzSimons, Jane Caro, Debra Oswald and Lech Blaine. Trailblazing Discussions with Damian Collins OBE and Julie Inman-Grant explore the pressing issues of AI, social media, and online safety, while providing invaluable insights for parents and educators. And a Trailblazing Women event, hosted by Victoria Haskins, in conversation with authors Kerrie Davies, Sarah Gilbert and Josie McSkimming about the women who dared to be different.
What better way for a voracious reader to unwind on a Saturday night than tucking into a charity fundraising literary trivia night! Think you know your Austen from Orwell? Your Shakespeare from Shelley? Your Keneally from Carey? Put your literary knowledge to the test for a night of fun, facts, and fundraising to support the Northern Beaches Community Cancer Charity (NBCCC) at Manly Surf Life Saving Club.
Geraldine Doogue hosts a Conversation Circle on Navigating the Shifting Global Order with Geoff Raby, Dennis Glover, Don Watson and Damian Collins, sure to be thought-provoking and, fingers crossed, more uplifting than horrifying as implications of autocrats and shifting Eurasian powers are examined.
Finally, fly into the event’s swan song via a Sunday Session at Manly Golf Club, ensconced in your first-class seats at the Chairman’s Lounge for Alan Joyce’s favourite author, Joe Aston, one-on-one with Helen Vatsikopoulos, undertaking a deep dive into Australia’s cultural and corporate identity.
Head to manlywritersfestival.org.au for all details, the full program and to secure tickets. Join the conversation on social media using #ManlyWF25 and follow the Festival on BlueSky, Instagram @manlywritersfestival, Facebook @manlywritersfestival and LinkedIn @ManlyWriters