South Coast Readers & Writers Festival 2025

The South Coast Readers & Writers Festival returns to Thirroul over the weekend of 5–6 July with a vibrant lineup of literary talent, from rising stars to international bestsellers. 

With headlining authors CHARLOTTE McCONAGHY (Wild Dark Shore), ISOBELLE CARMODY (Comes the Night), PIP WILLIAMS (The Bookbinder of Jericho), KATE FORSYTH (Psykhe), NIKKI GEMMELL (Wing), NARDI SIMPSON (the belburd), OMAR SAKR (The Nightmare Sequence), JESSIE TU (The Honeyeater), and AMY REMEIKIS (What’s the Big Idea?), plus many more festival guests to be announced. 

Join us at the festival for gripping conversations on cautionary tales from the past and speculative futures, the reclamation of lost histories and endangered languages, climate grief and the turbulence of current affairs, new mythologies, explorations of womanhood, and the business of publishing.

From soul-stirring poetry readings, captivating literary fiction, historical recreation, and young adult adventures to thought-provoking non-fiction, intimate memoirs, gripping biographies, and cutting-edge politics, this year’s South Coast Readers & Writers Festival promises an unforgettable program.

Dive into a celebration of writing, ideas, and voices that inspire, challenge, and connect us, in the picturesque village of Thirroul on the NSW South Coast.

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SATURDAY 5 JULY FEATURING NARDI SIMPSON, JESSIE TU, PIP WILLIAMS, ISOBELLE CARMODY, KATE FORSYTH, CHARLOTTE McCONAGHY & MORE

SUNDAY 6 JULY FEATURING AMY REMEIKIS, NIKKI GEMMELL, OMAR SAKR & MORE

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SUPER EARLY BIRD TICKETS ON SALE NOW

FULL PROGRAM RELEASE AND EARLY BIRD TICKETS ON SALE FROM MONDAY 5 MAY

GENERAL ADMISSION AND SINGLE SESSION TICKETS* ON SALE FROM MONDAY 9 JUNE

*subject to availability

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FIRST AUTHORS ANNOUNCED FOR 2025

CHARLOTTE McCONAGHY is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Once There Were Wolves, winner of the Indie Book Award for Fiction 2022; and the international bestseller Migrations, a TIME Magazine Best Book of the Year and the Amazon Best Fiction Book of the Year for 2020, translated into over twenty-five languages and adapted for film. Her forthcoming novel, Wild Dark Shore, will be released in March 2025.

ISOBELLE CARMODY is a multi-award-winning Australian author who has written over 40 novels and many short stories. She has illustrated eight books and her work has been translated into many languages. She recently completed a PhD at the University of Queensland, followed by 18 months of Postgraduate research. Her most recent work is Comes the Night, which has been shortlisted for the Indi Book Awards. She is currently working on Darkbane, the third in her Legendsong series, and a graphic novel called Saltsong. 

PIP WILLIAMS is best known for her companion novels,The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho. The Dictionary of Lost Words has been translated into more than thirty languages, won multiple awards, was chosen for the Reese Witherspoon book club and is a New York Times best seller. It has been optioned for screen and the stage play is currently touring Australia after sold out audiences in 2023/2024. Her latest book, The Bookbinder of Jericho, has all the power and emotion of the first. It too is an award winner and has been translated into multiple languages. 

KATE FORSYTH is an award-winning, bestselling author who has been called one of ‘the finest writers of this generation’. Her novels include Psykhe, a feminist reimagining of the ancient myth which foregrounds the woman at its heart; The Crimson Thread, set in Crete during World War II; and Bitter Greens, a retelling of Rapunzel which won the American Library Award for Best Historical Fiction. Children’s books include Kate Forsyth’s Long-Lost Fairy Tales, illustrated by Lorena Carrington. Kate has a BA in literature, a MA in creative writing & a Doctorate of Creative Arts, and runs writing and literary retreats in Australia, Greece and the UK.

NIKKI GEMMELL is known as one of Australia’s most provocative and honest writers. She’s the bestselling author of some twenty books, including Shiver, The Bride Stripped Bare and Wing, a searing examination of what it means to be female today, through the lens of an Australian high school. Nikki was born in Wollongong and is a proud alumnae of Keiraville Public School. Her books have been translated into 22 languages. 

NARDI SIMPSON is a Yuwaalaraay storyteller and performer living in Sydney. Training as a musician, Nardi began her artistic journey as a songwriter and performer with vocal duo Stiff Gins. Nardi was a winner of the 2018 Black & Write! Fellowship for a manuscript that would eventually become her first novel, Song of the Crocodile, published in 2020 by Hachette Australia. Song of the Crocodile won the 2021 ASAL Gold Medal and was long listed for the 2021 Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Awards. Nardi's second novel the belburd was published by Hachette in October 2024.

OMAR SAKR is the son of Arab and Turkish Muslim migrants. He is the author of four collections of poetry and a novel, Son of Sin (Affirm Press, 2022). In 2020, he became the first Arab-Australian to win the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry with his collection, The Lost Arabs. His most recent book, The Nightmare Sequence (UQP, 2025), is a collaboration with artist Safdar Ahmad responding to the genocide in Palestine. Royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to Palestinian charities. 

JESSIE TU is a journalist for Women’s Agenda and a book critic for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Her bestselling debut novel, A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing, won the 2021 Best Literary Fiction at the Australian Book Industry Awards. Her second novel is The Honeyeater. 

AMY REMEIKIS writes, talks and analyses Australian politics across Australia's media as the political analyst at the Australia Institute. Most recently at the Guardian, Amy is an author and political blogger and appears regularly on ABC programs and Network Ten's The Project. 

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The South Coast Readers & Writers Festival 2025 is brought to you by South Coast Writers Centre, with help from Create NSW, Wollongong City Council, and the University of Wollongong. Our festival bookseller is Collins Booksellers Thirroul.

For more information visit our website, southcoastwriters.org/festival, and subscribe to our newsletter.

SCWC members can access a discount code for tickets via the Discount Codes page on our website (member login required).