In January of 2003, the Melbourne Emerging Writers’ Festival (Express Media’s newest program developed from their beloved Make it Up zine fair) took Australia’s literary community by storm. This earliest iteration of Emerging Writers’ Festival brought together sixty-eight of ‘the best Australian writers you haven’t heard of yet’ for two days jam packed with panels, readings, performances and workshops.

Twenty year’s worth of passion, growth and straight-up grit later, the Emerging Writers’ Festival (now an eleven-day extravaganza), continues to nurture the creativity and innovation of new Australian talent on the page, on the screen, behind the track changes and spreadsheets-all throughout Australia’s arts ecology.

As EWF closes out the end of financial year, and our 20th anniversary Festival, we are running a donation drive and asking for your support to help us continue on for another twenty years! Our goal is to have members of our community each donate $1 dollar for every EWF year ($20), as a show of support to not just the festival, but the emerging writers, arts workers and sector leaders EWF is dedicated to nurturing. Funds raised will help us with necessary costs for equipment hire/purchase and rising in-person venue costings for #EWF24!

While $20 dollars for 20 years is poetic, donations of any size are powerful, and we hope you will make a contribution to our donation drive. Whether you’re an emerging creative who wants to see EWF thrive, or an EWF alumnus who has seen the value of the festival since your early days, every amount is an enormous help. Each contribution helps us create a better festival and future for the voices of tomorrow.

EWF is a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity with deductible gift recipient (DGR) status – all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

DONATE HERE!

If you would like more information on how you can support the Emerging Writers’ Festival, please call Jes Layton (03) 9094 7877 or email Jes at [email protected].