Supporting the festival on AusArt Day

SAVE THE DATE for AusArt Day to join our new initiative and support us in our mission to raise our artist fees and make working as an emerging writer a viable option.

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The Emerging Writers’ Festival is delighted to be featured as part of Creative Australia’s first AusArt Day on 23 October 2025. A national giving day dedicated to supporting the arts sector across the continent, this AusArt Day is the best way for you to show your support for our festival’s ongoing work on the national stage.

Why support Emerging Writers’ Festival?

Founded in 2003, the Emerging Writers’ Festival remains the premier platform for new and developing creatives across the continent to develop, nurture and showcase their work alongside an ever-growing community of artists and supporters. Running programs nationally from our home in Melbourne, Victoria, EWF has nurtured prominent voices across the national literary scene for decades.

Our most recent festival ran in September 2025 with over 200 emerging writers featured at 70+ events online and in-person. The 2025 Emerging Writers’ Festival featured major literary partners including Readings, Hachette Australia, Affirm Press, IngramSpark, Faber Writing Academy and more. Additionally, this year’s festival provided national platforms for many local writing collectives and new literary projects, allowing the local scene to access the main stage of Australian literature.

As the literary scene evolves, we want to continue to support artists and help make working as a writer in Australia a viable option for the writers who are part of our festival now and into the future. Being part of Creative Australia’s AusArt Day is a major step for EWF towards being able to make working as a writer a more viable option for emerging creatives across the continent.

Why donate on AusArt Day?

With the money raised this AusArt Day, we are launching the new EWF Bookmarkers donor initiative to ensure that we are able to raise our artist fees moving forward. To ensure that we can make working as an emerging writer and author a more viable financial option, we are participating in AusArt Day and garnering donations as part of a new initiative to be announced soon…

Your support this AusArt Day means that we can continue our new EWF Bookmarkers initiative for many years to come. This will help us to ensure that emerging writers have a sustainable and liveable future in the Australian literary landscape; that you’re being paid what you are owed for your valuable work and contribution the continent’s bustling creative culture.

SAVE THE DATE for AusArt Day to join our new initiative and support us in our mission to raise our artist fees and make working as an emerging writer a viable option.