The Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival will experience a change on a number of fronts next year, with the announcement last week of both a new location and a new festival director for the 2018 event.
It was revealed by Arts Margaret River that the next festival would be held at Voyager Estate, rather than the traditional home of the Margaret River Cultural Centre.
“With the 10th anniversary of the festival and the 40th anniversary of the vines at Voyager Estate, there’s even more reason to make this a truly unique festival like no other,” said current festival director Tanya Perdue.
“We have some fabulous authors in the pipeline from overseas, interstate and locally and will be finalising the program in the coming months,” she said.
With upgrades scheduled to start at the Cultural Centre in March, a new location was scouted and Voyager Estate managing director Alex Burt said the estate was looking forward to the “one off opportunity”.
“We have really enjoyed our association with the Readers and Writers Festival, so it is a tremendous pleasure to be able to host the 2018 event,” she said.
The three-day festival will feature up to 50 writers and presenters, attracting literary fans from around the State and Australia.
“The festival has such a great energy and the team puts together an amazing collection of writers every year,” Ms Burt said.
“We are thrilled that this one-off opportunity to host the 10th anniversary coincides with our own celebrations.”
Margaret River local Kerrie Yabsley will take over the reins of the Readers and Writers Festival from Ms Perdue in the new year.
“I believe that connecting people through Art, literature and live performance provides a great stage for individuals to be inspired and educated in creative ways,” Ms Yabsley said.
“I’m really excited about working for Arts Margaret River on such a high profile event for the region. Tanya has really gotten the ball rolling in elevating the profile of the Festival, which is now being seen as a calendar event in many literature circles throughout Australia.
“This year’s festival format will differ from previous years as the Cultural Centre will be under renovations during the Festival period, however the support of volunteers, community and sponsors should offer great continuity to the event that we have all come to mark in our diaries.”
The Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival will be held from 1-3 June 2018, with a Young Readers and Writers Festival to be held in the two weeks preceding at schools in the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River and the City of Busselton. For more visit www.mrrwfestival.com