Festival thrilled to hit the books

MORE than 100 international, national and regional writers and creatives will share their stories with festival-goers at the inaugural Sunshine Coast International Readers and Writers Festival this weekend.
The three-day festival springs to life from 9 September at seven venues throughout Coolum Beach and will not only feature big-book authors but also poets, slam poets, comic book writers, original singer-songwriters and music, children’s picture writers, illustrators and publishers sharing their craft in presentations, panel discussions and workshops over three nights and two days.
The festival embraces the region’s rich Aboriginal heritage with Dreamtime stories, history talks and the Sunshine Coast’s first-ever Gubbi Gubbi language workshops.
The local acclaimed surfing culture is embraced with surfing history panels and discussions while the passionate care for the environment is demonstrated by panel presentations, a dune planting by Coolum and North Shore Coast Care, and information stalls by the Kabi Kabi Land Corp, Coolum and North Shore Coast Care, Surfrider Foundation Australia, Queensland Koala Crusaders and more.
The new SCIRWF festival provides an ongoing legacy for creatives on the Sunshine Coast and this year has sponsored four University of the Sunshine Coast creative writing students to not only present at our festival but also at Asia’s biggest writers festival, the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, in Bali, in October.
Next year the festival will set up bursaries and writing/mentoring retreats for emerging Indigenous writers.
For the festival’s full list of events visit www.sunshinecoastreadersandwritersfestival.com or contact festival founder and director Wendy O’Hanlon on 0435 877 617.