Ballarat Writers Festival is back
Join us at the Alexandria on Lydiard for the Ballarat Writers and Illustrators Festival, 2-3 September. The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Words and Pictures’.
Festival attendees are invited to submit the first page of their unpublished work for critique by representatives of three publishers of children’s and young adult books.
Author Maureen McCarthy is this year’s key speaker at the Festival dinner on Friday 2 September. Maureen’s novels for young adults have been shortlisted for numerous awards and include the In Between series, adapted from scripts Maureen co-wrote with Shane Brennan for SBS TV; Ganglands; Cross My Heart; Chain of Hearts; Flash Jack; and When You Wake and Find Me Gone. Her bestselling book Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude get a life was made into a highly successful four-part mini-series for ABC TV.
Maureen will also give the keynote address at the start of the Saturday program followed by a full day of panel discussions about the picture book market, writing for older children and young adults and current trends in the publishing industry.
Panelists include Penni Russon, Kirsty Murray, Michelle Macintosh, Chrissie Keighery, Steph Bowe, Tim Pegler, Gabrielle Williams, Karen Tayleur, Kim Kane, Nic Brasch, Christopher Milne, Dave Hackett, Simon Swingler, Ananda Braxton-Smith, Karen Healy, Carole Wilkinson, Ebony McKenna, Kate Constable, Leanne Hall, Corinne Fenton and editors and publishers Maryann Ballantyne (black dog books), Natasha Besliev (Hardie Grant Egmont), Hilary Rogers (Hardie Grant Egmont), Catherine McCredie (Penguin) and Alison Arnold (Text Publishing).
July Special: Book for the festival in July and save $60 off the full price.
Tickets are available via http://www.ballaratwriters.com/?page_id=2039
