Hunter readers and writers were pleased to see the return of the Newcastle Writer's Festival over the weekend.
It was the first time the three-day festival has been able to physically go ahead since 2019, as the pandemic saw the 2020 event held online, and last year's cancelled altogether.
Festival director Rosemarie Milsom was relieved to see the festival finally go ahead, given its long hiatus.
"I've been running a festival for three years, we just haven't been able to have a festival," Ms Milsom said.
"It's so extraordinary to finally be doing what we love doing, to have writers here from all around Australia, and to have audiences filling the venues and buying books."
This year's program boasted over 70 events with almost 120 writers, and saw over 5000 attendees across the three days.
The program included an hour-long interview, hosted by Ms Milsom, with Trent Dalton, author of bestselling books Love Stories and Boy Swallows Universe.
Ms Milsom said the talk centered on "love in all its forms", and coined "love" as the unofficial theme of the festival.
"We've all been impacted by COVID in some way. It has had a ripple effect across every aspect of our lives," she said.
"There was a lot of emotion among the audiences; I saw a few people cry in sessions and a lot of people got teary. I think there was a sense that we were all feeling quite vulnerable and sensitive after the last couple of years".
The unofficial theme was able to be fully realised in response to the festival's call for book donations for libraries and schools in Lismore.
They ended up with 200 boxes of books.
Ms Milsom is now calling on anyone who is able to help transport the donations, to get in contact with the Newcastle Writer's Festival team.
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| Image: Newcastle Writer's Festival website |
