Brisbane Writers Festival kicks off

The 2014 Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF) kicks off today and runs until 7 September.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, more than 200 writers and illustrators will participate in this year’s festival, which is the second under the directorship of Kate Eltham.

Among the international guests are Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdadottir, South African author Lauren Beukes, US authors Karen Joy Fowler and Laini Taylor, Irish author Mark Mulholland and US author, publisher and philanthropist Dave Eggers.

Local writers appearing at the festival include Michael Robotham, John Birmingham, Lenny Bartulin, Favel Parret, Brooke Davis, Isobelle Carmody, Jackie French, David Malouf, Tony Birch and Clare Wright.

BWF announced in a statement that ‘due to unforeseen circumstances, sadly Malcolm Fraser has had to withdraw from the Seeking Asylum session’ on 6 September and will be replaced by academic and author Robert Manne. The event is nearly sold out.

A large number of events are already sold out and are listed on the website here. BWF has released a number of tickets to previously sold out events, including the ‘Well Played: State of Play’ session featuring ABC presenters Stephen ‘Bajo’ O’Donnell and Stephanie ‘Hex’ Bendixsen.

Festival-goers are being encouraged to tweet using the hashtag #bwf14 and upload pictures of themselves to Instagram with the hashtag #bwf14selfie.

Tags: bwf

Category: Local news