Calling all bookworms, literature lovers and BookTok obsessives: the Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) line-up has just been unveiled. This year’s program reads like a list of the crème de la crème of the 2024 literary world, featuring New York Times best-selling authors, Pulitzer and Booker Prize standouts, festival first-timers and MWF exclusives.
The festival will spread big bookish energy across the city and surrounds via a week of workshops, talks, events and panels, running from May 6-12. This time around, the central theme of the program is 'Ghosts' – which invites attendees to ponder ghosts in the machine, ghostly characters, ghostwriters and stories that endure to haunt us.
Much-loved Tom Lake author Ann Patchett will venture Down Under from the US for the first time in ten years. She’ll join forces with Meg Mason (Sorrow and Bliss) to talk about their discarded (or almost discarded) manuscripts.
Japanese author turned global star Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s debut novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold sold more than a million copies, and now he’s on the way to Melbourne to discuss his ultra-popular works.
After winning the coveted Booker Prize last year, Irish novelist Paul Lynch will also be on deck to talk about Prophet Song, his tale of dystopian Dublin.
Plenty of stellar local writers will treat festivalgoers to their takes on their craft, including Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe, unflinching journalist David Marr and legendary novelist, essayist and playwright Christos Tsiolkas. Festival curators Mykaela Saunders and Ziggy Ramo have also put together five special events that promise to be curious, critical and hopeful.
MWF artistic director Michaela McGuire says this year’s program (which will be her last) is one she’s particularly happy about.
“After nine incredibly rewarding years programming writers festivals, I’ve never been more proud of a line-up than this one,” she says.
“Old and new favourites come together in smart and surprising combinations to discuss the ghosts of history, past mistakes, past selves and the stories that haunt them. I count myself as an extremely fortunate literary citizen of Melbourne to be in the finest possible company this May.”
There’s so much more to explore on the Melbourne Writers Festival line-up, so head to the website to view the full line-up or buy tickets.
