Opening Night: Finding Your Way

Join poet and critic Lucy Van for a workshop on ekphrasis as part of Blindside and Emerging Writers’ Festival 2025 ‘Texting Images’ writing program.

In 2025, the Emerging Writers’ Festival turns a new page.

Tune in for a special episode on 3CR, as three artists extract and examine the themes of traditional folk songs across time and space.

There’s another side to the web just waiting to be discovered. Let these four artists show you the way in this online suite of new writing, devoted to the thing we’re all mutually entangled in.

Despite what most food media leads us to believe, food writing doesn’t have to be formulaic.

Three writers absorbed by the inter-disciplinary, creatively respond to three unique seasons at Melbourne’s coolest film society: The Cinémathèque.

In these three special episodes of the Edits & Annotations podcast, hosts Tenille McDermott, Mia-Francesca Jones and Bethany Keats interview emerging writers from regional Queensland.

Need an extra set of eyes on your writing? Bring your short work-in-progress to the EWF Hub for a morning of supportive encouragement and feedback.

Then What?!, a series of children’s writing workshops, offers a chance for your little ones to become special storytellers. They’ll run, fly, giggle and shout as they tell stories together and go on wild adventures!

Join three writers as they explore the different approaches to starting a project. With insights on the rewards and pitfalls of planning versus improvisation, this discussion offers practical wisdom and fresh perspectives to help you get started, and keep going.

To mark the opening of EWF25, Guest Curator Coral Reeve will guide you along a contemporary Songline. Come witness an array of First Nations oral storytellers as they explore historical paths, right up into the present day.

Illuminate poetry hidden in plain sight in this Black Out poetry workshop with writer and artist August Moulang.

How can we critically illuminate our current cultural moment by unearthing “low brow” culture, such as reality TV, AI slop, TikTok trends, tabloid drama, YouTube conspiracies and internet detritus?

Explore how literary subcultures have countered political and capitalist narratives for years, and learn to flip those narratives through the East-Asian four-act narrative framework known as kishōtenketsu.

Learn how emerging writers, editors, and facilitators can advocate for themselves and each other to have sustainable and meaningful careers in the industry.

The sentence is the seed from which every narrative, character, and theme emerges. In this virtual workshop, Raeden Richardson will help you water that seed.

Join Overland to celebrate the winners of the 2025 Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers. Judges Mykaela Saunders and Nardi Simpson will introduce the winning writer and two runners-up, to be announced on the night.

What challenges do translators face in a country both far-flung and multicultural? In an age of digital connection, is Australia turning outward, or still looking in? Come and discover how language shapes what – and who – we read.

Textile Message presents seven stories about favoured and not-so-favoured clothes and textile pieces, woven with memory and emotion.

What does it mean to create literature that dares to be irreverent, playful, and alive? A sharp, cheeky dive into what Australian literature is, and what it refuses to be. 

Join Taungurung Elder Uncle Larry Walsh and his daughter Isobel Morphy-Walsh for a meander through the arts precinct of the city, pointing out sites that link to the cultural memory of Naarm.
Following the walk, Uncle Larry and Isobel will lead a writing workshop, taking inspiration from the history, memory and narrative that exists all around us. 

The National Writers’ Conference returns for a weekend of creative fire and professional insight, featuring publishing professionals, seasoned authors, and industry experts. For writers and artists at every juncture of their journey, enrich your craft, gain new perspective on the industry, and connect with fellow writers and publishing professionals.

Find out the must-haves for delivering a great pitch and the pitfalls to avoid. This session will provide the guidance of a publishing industry leader to help whip your pitch into perfect shape.

Join floral artist and lifelong hobby writer, Kayla Moon, for a cosy writing session on the art of sensory nostalgia, in the flower-filled sanctuary that is Xfloss’s Flowerclub.

Parenting gives you great material and hundreds of new experiences, but it leaves you with little to no time to write. Take back an hour for yourself as we explore how parents rely on community and culture to keep their writing alive.

Learn the art of life writing — drawing from memory, cultural identity, and personal history to tell stories that matter.

Three poets explore the fickle beast of inspiration across research, personal history, passion, and spontaneous insight, as well as the ‘slow burn’ of ideas that may take years to fully form.

This whimsical workshop will teach you how to use everyday objects and spaces as sources of inspiration in your writing. Think outside the box, let go of logic, and reconnect with your imagination.

Treat yourself to a collection of 2025’s newest debut works and settle in for an illuminating discussion as these first-time authors talk craft and experiences with traditional publishers. Bright, brooding, personal and political, hear this eclectic panel share their unique paths to publication.

Join these accomplished writers as they share candid insights on staying resilient in the face of rejection, keeping creative momentum alive, and cultivating bravery and morale throughout the process.

Surrounded by living symbols of metamorphosis, writers share from their own cocoons — tender, raw, and reverent.

In this choice of material-focused workshops at Pink Ember Studio in Coburg, comics-maker Emilie Walsh will teach you to either design and make your own Viewmaster comics reels, or design and make your own custom Ex-libris stamp (includes carving, inking and printing). Book both workshops, or a single workshop.

Throw away the rulebook and join three multi-genre authors as they come together to discuss their work and writing process, offering valuable insight and fresh perspectives for those who want to try their hand at writing across genres.

Writing a novel can be a daunting task. Allow award winning author and editor Irma Gold to make it a little less intimidating. Learn about a novel’s structure and sequencing, and get started on a basic framework for your book.

Join Meridian Australis authors Harvey Weir and Andrew Renganathan Roberts for a discussion on the importance of speculative fiction in the canon of Australian literature.

Voiceworks celebrate the launch of their 135th issue, ‘Bend’ – the first overseen by new editor, Joel Keith. There’ll be readings from fabulous ‘Bend’ authors, copies and stickers for sale, back issues to peruse, and more.

Hear from writers who aren’t afraid to take on the crucial topics of politics, gender, mental health, as they emphasise the importance of lived experience, deep research and writerly courage.

From sporty stories or small towns filled with swoony singles and star-crossed dragon-riders, join two romance authors on for a workshop on why romance can be for every reader and writer.

These established authors retrace the steps through their careers, back to the very beginning, and examine their relationship to their writing practices now.

Hear these three multi-disciplinaries speak to this emotional rollercoaster: the constant balancing act of sustaining both art and everyday responsibilities. Uncover how to navigate the noise, and make meaningful time for one’s practice—even when life pulls in every direction.

Come celebrate the meeting of art and writing with a special afternoon of ekphrastic readings.

Discover the challenges, rewards, and creative freedom that come with bringing your own work into the world independently.

Australia is to have its own national Poet Laureate in 2025. Writers under 25 explore what this will mean, and who will this role serve?

To close out the NWC for another year, booksellers, publishers, editors and agents come together to discuss the literary landscape of 2025 and beyond…

Across romance, fantasy, poetry and more, settle in for an afternoon of immersive readings from these writers living in the inner west.

The Time to Write Paragraph Fellowship was established to support such writers through the commercial reality they face, enabling them to carve out more time to write.

Hear from Australian writers of South Asian origin as they share the experiences and challenges of publishing to critical acclaim in a majority Anglo-Saxon/white literary landscape.

From an AFL romcom to Naarm’s underbelly, discover how traditional tropes can redefine our literary expectations of queerness. In partnership with Melbourne Writers Festival.

In an evening part-workshop part-roundtable, emerging writer Chris Ames will explain how some principles of comedy can be used to tighten narrative structures, resolve discomfort, and improve all kinds of stories—from absurdist, high-concept short fiction to your sad novel about a marriage in disrepair.

Whether you’re deep in an existing project, trying to make a deadline, or starting something new, all are welcome to join for some early morning, communal writing time.

How do the bodies we are in shape the worlds that we write? What structures can be altered when we dream up new futures collectively?

Journey through the word-magic of the formidable Ursula Le Guin in a writing craft workshop facilitated by artist and writer Lucy Wylie.

Join this limited-capacity workshop as award-winning author and tutor Luke Horton helps get your novel’s opening chapter submission ready.

What does it mean to be an “emerging” artist at the beginning of your career—and how does that definition evolve over time?

Struggling with self-promotion as a writer? Join journalist and author Jenny Valentish for a practical, energising workshop designed to help you show up with confidence.

Discover exciting new writers at a special Emerging Writers’ Festival edition of The Next Big Thing.

Cure your Monday blues at this special EWF edition of Social Sanctuary, a weekly night of free gigs at NSC. This edition features a bunch of your fave local artists and a colourful array of up-and-coming spoken-word poets, songwriters and sound artists for you to discover.

An evening of creative performances that bind together the threads of art and language to interpret and celebrate culture.

There is an incalculable spirit within poetry that connects us to the world’s aliveness. Experiment with the shape, musicality, and essence a poem can possess.

In an age where critical reading is often sidelined, how can we reclaim reading as a collective praxis and an act of care? This workshop invites a coming together and engage in collective reading of an essay and non-fiction pieces on migration in so-called Australia.

This part-literary, part-scientific workshop brings scent into your writing space as an anchor and engages your reader’s senses as part of your craft.

Writing circles can feel like exclusive clubs—hard to crack and harder to belong. Let’s unite in dissecting the rat race of performative wine-and-cheese readings, curated bios, and the tension between art and capitalism.

Surfacing the stories our culture has internalised about “wellness”, alongside a call to radically rewrite what it means to be well.

Writer and photographer Melanie Skyers invites you to explore a series of guided writing exercises using photographs as prompts.

Be part of a candid conversation with local comic artists as they share insights into navigating the often opaque and competitive world of comics publishing. From agents and advances to career paths and creative autonomy, this roundtable explores both the personal and systemic challenges artists face.

Join Temwani Mazaba at EWF’s inaugural Book Club to settle in and chat about Half Truth by Nadia Mahjouri, chosen by you – the wonderful EWF community.

Join us at The Wheeler Centre for the launch of the Faber Writing Academy Anthology, featuring Melbourne’s Writing a Novel students alongside students from Writing True Stories and Writing Creative Nonfiction courses.

Calling all young YA enthusiasts —whether you prefer fantasy, romance, dystopia, or real-life drama, shape your voice and sharpen your skills in the YA genre.

Keen to plug into the 24-hour news cycle? Allow Em Readman to shed light on crafting timely, relevant, and high-quality opinion pieces on culture, politics and media that are often turned around in just 24–48 hours.

This enveloping literary salon explores the intricate tapestry of personal and collective identities through the art of storytelling. Plunge into the tenets of Bapedi poetry, and reflect on the narratives we craft for ourselves, along with those we inherit, all through poetic elements of sound and rhythm.

Everyone has to start somewhere.
This group of writers are willing to share their work from the past that makes them cringe!

Get into the fun, flirty (and sometimes horny) minds of famous writers, and delve into collage to create a bespoke letter for your own beloved (actual or imagined). <3

Ideas that could be great starting points for a short story so often remain in the first drafts folder.

In this workshop, author Katerina Gibson will help take your first draft from rough to polished.

The premier trans women playwrights of Melbourne discuss their craft, their joy, and what the future of trans storytelling and community looks like.

Tune in to Triple R to hear how these artists turn first impressions into creative expressions, examining what it means to develop intimate feelings into public work.

By inviting workshop participants to write against the attempted silencing of emerging writers, we will consider what it means to create in danger, under censorship, and the importance of free creative expression.

So, you’ve written a book. Great! But now what? Dive into the next chapter of your publishing journey with three debut authors from the Debut Crew 2025. Get the insider knowledge you need to prepare yourself for publishing.

RMIT’s non/fictionLab have teamed up with Speaking to Pictures & Pink Ember Studio to challenge 14 creators (Gutter Stars comics collective) to play with their comic practices and experiment with voice, performance and 3D forms. See and hear new work by visionary creators. 

As part of Red Room Poetry’s Youth Ambassadors program, this workshop is designed especially for poets under 25 who are looking to ground their creative practice in the stories and landscapes that surround them. 

Like it or not, AI is now part of our everyday lives. Join us for a fun reading session where writers roll up their sleeves and take on the battle.

Celebrate the launch of the inaugural Speculate Prize Anthology; a vibrant, collection of bold, boundary-pushing new writing from emerging Australian voices.

Plumb the depths of character in this intensive workshop with author Deborah Pike. Tinker with new techniques and create distinctive and convincing characters, who may just finish your story or book for you!

To celebrate the launch of their first issue, Loom Literary Journal presents a night of readings and musical performances.

Rediscover the playful joy of writing in this workshop, where you’ll draw on stage improvisation techniques to discover the voice, characters, plot points and dialogue of a story.

Be guided through creative group exercises, meditation & prompted writing to distill wounds into a medicinal elegy.

An in-demand masterclass that lifts the curtain on the industry operations of a book’s publication.

Led by Affirm Press’s top publishing professionals— from agents to editors, publicists to debut authors themsleves—this half-day event offers a rare inside look at how books are acquired, shaped, and championed. Gain practical knowledge about negotiations, editorial collaboration, marketing strategies, and building an author profile. An irresistible chance to explore every phase of a book’s release.

The library is not just a backdrop, but a co-creator. Explore practical strategies to integrate research into your writing process, uncover hidden resources, and engage in hands-on activities that bring your work to life.

Bid EWF goodbye for another year at our closing night literary market. Join us at twilight on the majestic grounds of the Abbotsford Convent and wander through stalls selling zines, books, and other handmade wares.