Perth Festival announces new literature festival

Perth Festival has announced a new literary festival, which it plans to hold for the first time in spring 2026.

Organisers said the as yet unnamed festival will take place on the grounds of the University of Western Australia and across Perth, and will include speakers from Western Australia and ‘nations around the Indian Ocean rim’ in an event they said ‘promises to attract international writers, literary enthusiasts, academics, critical thinkers and audiences alike to Perth’s shores’.

Perth Festival currently includes the Perth Writers Weekend, which has most recently run in February in partnership with Writing WA, curated by the organisation’s CEO, William Yeoman. The new literary festival will be a dedicated event, held outside the annual Perth Festival summer program.

Perth Festival artistic director Anna Reece said: ‘The beauty of literature lies in its ability to transcend borders and connect us on a deeply human level. By creating a dedicated literature festival, we commit to elevating the voices of the Indian Ocean rim, but also to give our Western Australian writers a dedicated space where their voices can be heard, explored, and celebrated in the depth they deserve. It is a focused approach to ensure that literature isn’t just a part of a larger conversation but is the conversation.’

Yeoman said the planned literary festival ‘signals a profound commitment to, and investment in, Western Australia’s rich literary culture and the continuing legacy of our First Storytellers’. ‘Furthermore, to have our homegrown harmonies intertwine with the other sonorous voices and cultures of the Indian Ocean rim in such a joyous communal celebration can only result in stronger, more authentic and more imaginative regional relationships.’

Perth Festival said it plans to announce further details about the new event next year.

Category: Local news