Dandenong Ranges Literary Festival

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Opening Night with Hannah Kent now sold out!

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The Opening Night of the Dandenong Ranges Literary Festival featuring guest speaker Hannah Kent is now sold out!

Tickets are still available to hear from a host of extraordinary writers throughout the main day and a wait list is now available for the opening night event in case spaces open up.

In the meantime, you also can join Hannah on Saturday, October 18 as she discusses life writing and memoirs as part of a panel moderated by award-winning journalist and author Sue Smethurst.

Hannah and Sue will be joined by Christine Newell and Carly Findlay at the Belgrave Hub at 1pm.

Writing for kids and young adults can be rewarding and challenging – how do you capture their attention?

Find out the techniques used by a diversity of writers, from journalist and author Paul Kennedy, fantasy writer Melanie Kanicky, best selling YA novelist Amy Doak, and children’s authors Caroline Stills, Elle McFadzean and Pauline Hosking.

Learn how to self-publish in a workshop with Hills local Kathie Thomas, create stories and characters in table top role playing games (TTRPG) with Gideon Adams and Jennifer-Rose Holloway, or attend one of the free picture book readings at the Belgrave Library.

There are many more sessions to join. See the full program here.

From thrilling stories and everyday drama to historic tales, memoirs, and yarns for young adults and children, the program is set around the theme A Sense of Place.

Thirty authors will take part in more than a dozen panel discussions and workshops, including Carly Findlay, Christian White, Shelley Burr, Amy Doak, Alli Parker, Emmy Webbers and Kimberley Allsopp.

Panel sessions:

  • Historical fiction: Past echoes, present voices
  • A sense of place: how landscape shapes our stories
  • Blurred lines: the art of life writing
  • People, places and the making of villains
  • Engaging the toughest literary audience: kids
  • More than fantasy: capturing the YA audience
  • Writing the climate change existential crisis
  • Everyday drama: making the ordinary extraordinary

Workshops:

  • Self-publishing
  • Storytelling + place setting in games

There will also be free events including readings for children at the Belgrave Library, writing sprints and a book swap through the Main Street of Belgrave.

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This article was first sent out to the Dandenong Ranges Literary Festival mailing list on the 29th of September.