The Williamstown Literary Festival is returning for another year to bring readers together for a weekend of literary celebrations.
President Hugh Jones said the festival aims to bring together readers, writers and book creatives of all sorts for a wide range of activities.
“We are aiming to have a big, wide breadth of sessions so that we can appeal to as many people as possible,” he said
Now in its 21st year, the annual celebration will host a range of activities through story-telling, author talks, panel discussions and writing workshops, all across two days.
For her second festival, program director Emily Westmoreland said she has included several specialist writing workshops and increased the number of children’s sessions among the usual trove of author talks and panel discussions.
“Willy Lit Fest is different from other Victorian literary festivals in that we acknowledge our unique seaside setting and create a program to celebrate that,” she said.
“The amazing Jawbone Reserve will feature in a session, as will the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers, the local botanic gardens for bird watching and forest therapy, and Willy beach itself for our now famous early morning swimming salon.”
Hoping to keep the festival as local as possible, Mr Jones said they have many local authors coming to speak.
“It was really important for us to have locally represented authors from the west come in,” he said.
“The beauty about the Willy Lit Fest is that its local, and it is one of the things that really guide us in the promotion of the program.”
More than 60 individual sessions will be held at the Williamstown Town Hall from June 14 to June 16.
Details:www.willylitfest.org.au/weekend-pass/
