Your 2023 Stella Writers’ Festival Guide
Literary festival season is almost upon us, and there are plenty of opportunities to hear from Stella Prize-listed authors in events across the country. Join 2023 Stella Prize-listed authors and past winners for panel events, in-conversation chats, and even a meal or two!
Sorrento Writers Festival (27-30 April)
Head down the Mornington Peninsula to share Lunch at Montalto with Alexis Wright, winner of the 2018 Stella Prize. Wright will be in conversation with Daniel James, discussing her much-anticipated new novel, Praiseworthy.
Bendigo Writers Festival (4-7 May)
Be one of the first to hear from the 2023 Stella Prize winner as they join past winners Evelyn Araluen and Clare Wright, co-CEO Jaclyn Booton, and Stella ambassador Catherine Andrews at A Stella Event. The panel will discuss the past, present, and future of Stella, as well as broader questions around gender equality and women’s voices in Australian literature.
Elsewhere, 2022 Stella Prize winner Evelyn Araluen will be in conversation as part of the First Nations First panel, alongside 2018 shortlistee Claire G. Coleman. You can join 2023 shortlistee Louisa Lim for Golden Dragon Lunch, a conversation following a meal at the Golden Dragon museum’s Hawker restaurant, where Lim will discuss her shortlisted book Indelible City. Lim will also discuss the role of place in her writing at The Soul of a Place.
2014 Stella Prize winner Clare Wright hosts two events in Bendigo: she’ll be in conversation with Don Watson about his new book The Passion of Private White, and will host the closing night Festival Gala: Dream On.
Melbourne Writers Festival (4-7 May)
In Melbourne, this year’s Stella Prize-winning author will appear at The Stella Prize: Meet the Winner, in conversation with the 2023 Chair of Judges Alice Pung OAM. 2023 shortlistee Sarah Holland-Batt will discuss the state of poetry today in the Peter Steele Conversation: Poetry in Motion, alongside 2017 shortlistee Maxine Beneba Clarke.
Tracey Lien will discuss her 2023 Stella Prize longlisted novel All That’s Left Unsaid at Labours of Love, a conversation about family and duty, and 2017 Stella Prize winner Heather Rose will discuss her new memoir at The Line of Descent.
Brisbane Writers Festival (10-14 May)
In Brisbane, 2023 Stella Prize longlistee Grace Chan will be part of a conversation on Genre Writing and Diaspora. Fellow longlistee Fiona Kelly McGregor will discuss Sexuality and Gender on a panel with 2015 shortlistee Ellen van Neerven. McGregor will discuss the literary possibilities and limitations of Empathy, on a panel that also includes 2021 shortlistee Laura Jean McKay, and things will be NSFW at an after-hours event featuring 2018 shortlistees Claire G. Coleman and Kris Kneen.
Tracey Lien will appear across three events in Brisbane: discussing families at The Ties that Bind, in conversation about her 2023 Stella Prize longlisted novel at All That’s Left Unsaid: Tracey Lien, and exploring genre at Blockbuster Crime.
Last but in no way least, 2018 Stella Prize winner Alexis Wright will deliver the festival’s Closing Address.
Sydney Writers’ Festival (22-28 May)
At Sydney Writers’ Festival, the winner of the 2023 Stella Prize will appear In Conversation with 2023 Stella Prize judge Beejay Silcox.
Fiona Kelly McGregor will speak In Praise of Difficult Women with Stella founder Sophie Cunningham.
Benjamin Law shines the spotlight on Tracey Lien in Your Favourite’s Favourites: Tracey Lien. Lien will also appear in State of the Art discussing the future of fiction, and Untold Vietnamese Stories.
2023 Stella Prize longlistee Grace Chan will discuss her debut novel at Grace Chan: Every Version of You, and writing about what lies ahead at Future Fictions, with Beejay Silcox.
