Manly Writers' Festival

Home
Australia
Manly, NSW
Manly Writers' Festival

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

23/06/2026

"Claude ain't going to sit down with them, is he?" 🎙️

In our latest BackStory episode, Heather Morris explains why the stories behind her novels, the survivors she sat with, the faces she can't forget, are something no AI could ever write.

She's joined by AI researcher Cory Alpert for a lively, honest conversation about machines, creativity and the human heart, recorded live at the Manly Writers' Festival.

🎧 Have a listen: https://soundcloud.com/fairplaybooks/sets/manly-writers-festival

11/06/2026

The festival may be over. The conversations are not.

Since March, we've been steadily releasing podcasts from the 2026 Manly Writers' Festival, bringing some of the most thoughtful and engaging sessions to audiences well beyond Manly.

Recent episodes include:

🎧 Lives That Don't Follow the Script – Kumi Taguchi and Lucy Nelson on identity, womanhood, motherhood, grief and lives that don't always fit expectations.

🎧 Bring Back Yesterday – Bob Carr on love, loss and life after the death of his wife Helena.

🎧 Frontlines – Mike Amor and Kylie Moore-Gilbert on some of the world's most dangerous places.

🎧 The Diplomat – Bob Bowker, Ian Kemish and Lachlan Strahan, all former heads of mission, on Australia's place in a changing world.

🎧 Ruptured Lives, Resilient Voices – stories of resilience and rebuilding with Elana Benjamin, Joanne Fedler, Lee Kofman and Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

🎧 The World on Edge – examining the chaotic, shifting global order with Bob Carr, Peter Hartcher and Michael Pembroke.

🎧 Just Saying – Hugh Mackay on empathy, community and what holds us together.

You can listen to these and other sessions anytime via our channel on SoundCloud:

🎙 Listen to the Manly Writers' Festival podcast collection here: https://soundcloud.com/fairplaybooks/sets/manly-writers-festival

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Address

Manly, NSW
2095

Telephone

+61272294889

Website

http://www.manlywritersfestival.org.au/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Manly Writers' Festival posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your establishment to be the top-listed Arts & Entertainment in Manly?