Sorrento Writers Festival

Sorrento Writers Festival The Sorrento Writers Festival returns to the Mornington Peninsula for its fourth year.

From April 23-26, the festival will showcase a vast, diverse program that celebrates Australia's finest writers, academics and community leaders.

In today’s The Saturday Paper Barry Jones asks questions of Victoria’s Labor Government. The former State and Federal MP...
20/06/2026

In today’s The Saturday Paper Barry Jones asks questions of Victoria’s Labor Government. The former State and Federal MP and former federal Minister for Science (1983-1990) writes: “With a Victorian state election due in November, I am constantly asked to explain policy decisions or statements by Premier Jacinta Allan. I am acutely aware and embarrassed that I cannot understand, let alone explain or justify, policies or decisions I find baffling or abhorrent.” Barry is our Festival’s treasured friend, great sounding board, mentor and our annual Barry Jones Oration is named in his honor. If Barry is perplexed, what hope have we to make sense of the forthcoming Victorian election? We must add: there is something deeply affirming about a 93 year-old’s respect for transparency in government and his ongoing need to ask questions. To read Barry’s piece, visit https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/politics/2026/06/20/problem-victorian-labor-party

What stories do we tell ourselves about Australia?In this thought-provoking conversation, recorded live at Sorrento Writ...
17/06/2026

What stories do we tell ourselves about Australia?

In this thought-provoking conversation, recorded live at Sorrento Writers Festival back in April, historian Mark McKenna joins former Prime Minister and newly appointed Liberal Party President Tony Abbott, with moderator Sally Warhaft, to explore two very different interpretations of Australia’s past. Together, they examine questions of national identity, history, pride, shame and belonging.

Now available to listen wherever you find your podcasts (and also via the link in our bio). We’re grateful to Natasha Mitchell Journalist and her ABC Radio National team for working with us to continue the conversation. 🎧❤️

The time of year to cosy up with a cuppa and a great read is well and truly upon us, so we’re revisiting our bestsellers...
16/06/2026

The time of year to cosy up with a cuppa and a great read is well and truly upon us, so we’re revisiting our bestsellers from in case you’re needing a suggestion for your next great read 📚✨

Swipe for our top 10’s across fiction, non-fiction and children’s titles

Journalists Cheng Lei and Charlotte Grieve appeared together at April’s Sorrento Writers Festival to discuss their respe...
11/06/2026

Journalists Cheng Lei and Charlotte Grieve appeared together at April’s Sorrento Writers Festival to discuss their respective memoirs about personal and political accountability. Their conversation, titled “How My Story Became The Story” and hosted by Natasha Mitchell, explored the extreme personal toll of challenging powerful forces. We are delighted ABC’s Big Ideas program has chosen to put this session to air - part of the ABC’s Fest connection with us. We love working with and team. This work allows us to take important conversations to a national audience. You can explore the full discussion on the ABC Big Ideas Podcast or find it via the Apple Podcasts Big Ideas Feed

“It’s an ordinary Wednesday afternoon in Sydney, the first week of July, when two police officers dressed in plain cloth...
09/06/2026

“It’s an ordinary Wednesday afternoon in Sydney, the first week of July, when two police officers dressed in plain clothes knock at our front door.”

So begins Hannah Richell’s soon-to-be-released memoir about the death of her husband Matt after a surfing accident in 2014. The internationally-renowned UK-born novelist and mother of two small children turned to writing as a way of processing her grief. An Ocean and a Day, which will be launched in July, is the story of Hannah’s 10-year journey.

‘An Ocean and a Day’ is being hailed as a defining work on modern grief. It has drawn comparisons to Joan Didion’s seminal book ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’. Says journalist, author and podcaster Leigh Sales: “Hannah Richell writes beautifully about the fragility of life, it’s ability to devastate in an instant, but also the miraculous hope and joy that somehow still show up.”

“This Memoir had be transfixed from the very first page.” Says Hannah’s publisher Catherine Milne of Fourth Estate. “I read it in the privacy of a quiet, dark house in one marathon session, finishing it messy crying with tears streaming down my face.

“I love it for its vulnerability, the beauty of the writing, and its many gritty little peals of insight and hard-won wisdom.”

Sorrento Writers Festival, Gasworks and Avenue Bookstore are delighted to be hosting a special “in conversation” with Hannah Richell and Festival Director Corrie Perkin.

We hope you’ll join us on July 14 at 6pm-7pm for our next Sorrento On Tour event. Gasworks Creative Precinct is at 21 Graham Street, Albert Park. Tickets via https://sorrentowritersfestival.com.au/artfuel/tickets/704/sale

In November, 2024, Prof. Richard Scolyer’s new memoir ‘Brainstorm’ hit the bookshelves and was an immediate runaway succ...
08/06/2026

In November, 2024, Prof. Richard Scolyer’s new memoir ‘Brainstorm’ hit the bookshelves and was an immediate runaway success. Our invitation to Sydney-based Richard and his wife Katie to attend our 2025 Festival was in place. We wanted to celebrate the book and to introduce Richard to our wonderful Festival community. There were more health challenges in play for Richard the month prior to our April event. But he and Katie were keen to come to Sorrento and so we continued to keep in touch with his team. One of Richard’s panel sessions was to be a discussion about cancer from the perspectives of medicos and patients (in Richard’s case, he represented both sides of the health aisle). Enter Paula Fox, a Sorrento local and one of Australia’s most generous philanthropists, who was also scheduled to be on that panel - herself a cancer survivor and someone with another extraordinary story to tell. Paula understood the “bridge too far” barrier that too often prevents chemo patients from travelling away from home or trying to continue life’s missions. Paula quietly offered us the use of the Fox family helicopter to bring Richard and Katie directly from the airport to Sorrento in the shortest time, and return again two days later. We were thrilled Richard and Katie were able to join us and even more excited when Katie told us their amazing scenic flight across Port Phillip Bay would stay in their memories forever. Paula and her husband Lindsay (also pictured with Richard) made this journey possible, their understanding and their generosity reminds us that support of our Festival comes in many different shapes and sizes and we are forever grateful. ‘Brainstorm’ by Richard Scolyer later won the 2025 Australian Book Industry Award for Social Impact Book of the Year. We continue to recommend this compelling memoir. It is detailed, it is honest and it is uplifting - another great legacy of Richard Scolyer

Professor Richard Scolyer, respected medical researcher, cancer treatment advocate, 2024 joint Australian of the Year an...
07/06/2026

Professor Richard Scolyer, respected medical researcher, cancer treatment advocate, 2024 joint Australian of the Year and friend of Sorrento Writers Festival, has died at the age of 59. We send our community’s heartfelt sympathies and love to Richard’s family, wife, Dr. Katie Nicholl, and their three children: Emily, Matthew, and Lucy and his Jenny and Maurice. Our 2025 Festival was so fortunate to have Richard and Katie with us and Richard spoke at two sessions: one as part of a panel of fellow cancer fighters and researchers, and one beautiful “in conversation” with Dr Norman Swan. All of us who heard Richard speak and met him remain touched by his warmth and grace. Our country is poorer today for his loss ❤️

Paul Kelly, ‘The Australian’s’ editor-at-large and one of the nation’s most respected political commentators, will discu...
05/06/2026

Paul Kelly, ‘The Australian’s’ editor-at-large and one of the nation’s most respected political commentators, will discuss his new book ‘The Twilight of Exceptionalism’ and explore what the modern Liberal Party stands for - and how it can adapt to the challenges of the 21st century. We have two events with Paul planned for July: one in Sorrento (details to come) and one at Gasworks in Albert Park with . Paul will be in convo with journalist and ABC presenter Virginia Trioli. We look forward to launching this important and timely new book by Paul and hope you’ll join us at one of our gatherings To book: https://sorrentowritersfestival.com.au/swf_sot-event/in-conversation-paul-kelly/

Joy. Plenty of it. A good writers festival’ll do that 🩵 📚 Sorrento April 2026
04/06/2026

Joy. Plenty of it. A good writers festival’ll do that 🩵 📚 Sorrento April 2026

The conversations continue…As part of our partnership with ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas, three thought-provoking sessi...
02/06/2026

The conversations continue…

As part of our partnership with ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas, three thought-provoking sessions from Sorrento Writers Festival 2026 are now available to listen to wherever you get your podcasts.

From democracy and leadership to culture, ideas and the stories shaping our world, these conversations capture some of the insight, curiosity and respectful debate that made this year’s Festival so memorable.

A huge thank you to and the Big Ideas team for helping us share these important discussions with audiences far beyond the Festival weekend.

🎧 Listen now via the links in our bio.

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