Final Weekend Highlights
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...
Opening weekend highlights – Sunday
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...
Opening weekend highlights – Saturday
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...
Festival Verse: Anthony Petrucci sings Patrick Jones
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...
Festival Highlights: Richard Perry and Ross Gillett read poems of Change and Chance.
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...
Festival Spotlight: Elderhood, What Really Matters.
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. ...
Festival Spotlight: David Holmgren asks Can a Book Change the World?
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...
Festival Spotlight: Songwriters’ Circle featuring Paul Andrew Carey
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. ...
Festival Spotlight: The Rain Never Came by Lachlan Walter
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...
Festival Verse: People are Poems by Niel Vaughan
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...
Festival Spotlight: Sandi Wallace
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...
Festival Book Review: Farewell Dear People by Ross McMullin
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...

Words in Winter is an annual literary and arts festival held in August each year in the Hepburn Shire and surrounding districts.