The final weekend of the festival started on Friday evening with a fascinating conversation between author Jay Carmichael and local favorite Lauren Matthews. Jay’s new book Ironbark, about growing up queer in rural Victoria raised some relevant themes for the youth in...

Sunday morning started early with a booked out Mushroom Cultivation masterclass with Milkwood Permaculture, followed by the U3A story circle next door at Hotel Frangos. Michael Webster then had us captivated by all sorts of fascinating facts on the publishing...

We are so grateful to everyone who braved the crazy weather on the weekend and joined us for a heartwarming, soul nourishing, intellect enhancing weekend. The festival kicked off with a beautiful Welcome to Country by Rebecca Phillips of Dja Dja Wurrung. Then Arnold...

This is a slow text mesostic poem by Patrick Jones. Anthony Petrucci sets many of Patrick's poems to his music. This is one of the songs he will be playing at his Words in Winter event. You'll have two chances to catch the calming soulful music of Anthony Petrucci at...

  why is it all so beautiful this fake dream this craziness why? -Ikkyu, 15th cent.   Just a taste of what you can expect from Poems of Change and Chance with Richard Perry and Ross Gillett in their session for Words in Winter this year. Don't miss this...

Di Percy, with a background in business and psychology and with long experience guiding company and personal transitions, gives us a brief overview of what we can expect from her session Elderhood: What really matters at Words in Winter this year.    ...

This is indeed a good question for a Writers Festival! If the book in question is from permaculture co-originator, David Holmgren the answer could well be ‘yes’. We are thrilled to have David as a major speaker at the festival this year. Not only is David globally...

  Paul Andrew Carey  shares some insights into his songwriting philosophy and the lyrics from one of his songs, Sun In My Eyes. He will be co-hosting an event on Saturday 25th August, along with fellow songwriters Sarah Carroll and Charles Jenkins.    ...

The Rain Never Came     In a thirsty, drought-stricken Australia, the country is well and truly sunburnt. As the Eastern states are evacuated to more appealing climates, a stubborn few resist the forced removal. They hide out in small country towns – where...

People are Poems If people are people & poems are poems then music & rhyme are no more than moans & groans & the Sphinx & pyramids heaps of stones If poems are people & people are poems you are the sprite under the astrodome searching chestnut...

Award winning local crime writer Sandi Wallace shares some insights on why she loves writing rural crime thrillers.     There is a saying ‘Write the book you want to read’, and that’s what I do. I write rural crime thrillers. They are contemporary—of our...

One of the real pleasures of Words in Winter is getting to hear those fascinating insights about a favourite book, directly from the author. In this series of posts, we will be introducing some of this year’s guest speakers, and reviewing one of their works. Hopefully...