“For women, then, poetry is not a luxury,” wrote Audre Lorde in 1977. “It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.”
Inherently political yet deeply personal, Sara M Saleh’s The Flirtation of Girls / Ghazal el-Banat interrogates and represents the complexity of Arab-Australian Muslim women’s identities as they negotiate a world full of music and family, grit and grief, love and loss.
Winner of the 2024 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing, Daniel Browning’s Close to the Subject chronicles his stellar career as a journalist, incorporating poetry, essay, memoir, art writing and conversations with the likes of the late Archie Roach, Doris Pilkington and Vernon Ah Kee.
With Song in the Grass, local prize-winning singer, songwriter and poet Kate Fagan delivers her most personal collection to date, an almanac of significant changes; in particular, new lives begun in the Blue Mountains during a transfiguring time of parenthood, against a backdrop of climate uncertainty.
These three poets are led in conversation by queer First Nations poet Jazz Money, whose latest collection, mark the dawn, is a celebration of community and gathering, while negotiating the legacies of the intersecting histories we inherit.
Please note that this venue is licensed and entry is for over 18’s only.
This venue is wheelchair accessible, but please visit our Accessibility page or email hello@bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au if you have any other accessibility requirements.
Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival will have Auslan interpreters available for the Festival and will schedule them into sessions on request. Please complete the Auslan request question at checkout.
Festival Ticket Information
To take full advantage of all the events on offer, we recommend purchasing a weekend or day pass. Subject to availability, a strictly limited number of single tickets may become available, see below.