Williamstown Literary Festival

Williamstown Literary Festival 2012

Friday 4 May - Sunday 6 May

Williamstown Literary Festival is the West's oldest and biggest writers fest proudly supported by Victoria University and Hobsons Bay City Council.

Located in the stately surrounds of Williamstown Town Hall, the program features some of Australia's top writers and artists and covers everything from poetry in pubs to panels to keynote addresses as well as WLF's famous workshops. This year's festival takes place on the weekend of 4-6 May with a number of lead-up events.

Entries are now open for WLF's annual prize the Ada Cambridge Award for Poetry and Prose with entries open to all those who live or work in the western suburbs. This year's prizemoney for the prose section has been doubled to $1000. See below for details.

The 2011 Program

You can check out all of the exciting events included in last year's festival here or download a PDF of the full program here. If you want to peruse our 2011 guest list you will find it here. The 2012 program will be available in April on this website, and in locations throughout Williamstown.

Make a donation

Willy Lit Fest is listed on the Register of Cultural Organisations. Any cash donation made over $2 is tax deductible. If you want to support our festival click here to make a donation.

Our Writing Competitions

Entries are now being accepted for the Ada Cambridge prose and poetry prizes until 5pm Friday 2nd March 2012. The competitions are open to emerging and established writers from the West. Please click on the link for further information.

Love2Read in 2012

Did you know 2012 is the National Year of Reading? Along with Hobsons Bay Libraries our festival will be doing its bit to promote this year-long celebration of the greatest pleasure of all. Everyone can get involved in Love2Read. Williamstown's own Andy Griffiths and WLF regular is among 45 famous Australians appointed ambassadors of this excellent campaign. Other patrons who've appeared at previous WillyLitFests include William McInnes, Alison Lester and Hazel Edwards.

For more information, please call Hobsons Bay Libraries on 1300 HOB LIB (1300 462 542).

The Sun Bookshop - Willy Lit Fest's official bookseller

We are delighted to announce that the iconic Sun Bookshop is our official bookseller for the 2012 Williamstown Literary Festival.

The Sun Bookshop - located within the historic Art Deco treasure The Sun Theatre - is a local Yarraville haunt and a highlight for visitors to the West. The Bookshop regularly holds book launches and hosts a monthly book club as well as other literary events.

The Sun Bookshop will have a strong presence throughout the festival; stay tuned for festival discounts!

The Sun Bookshop and The Younger Sun are so excited to be part the Williamstown Literary Festival, the premier Literary festival in the west. The dedicated team at WLF always put together a rich and diverse programme, yet again. We look forward to seeing you there.

The Willy Lit Fest team is proud to have such a significant contributor to the community as its official bookseller.

Crime pays at Tavern

The Pirates Tavern at Seaworks at Williamstown's Docklands proved the perfect setting for writers talking crime of all sorts last week. Crime queen Kerry Greenwood joined Nick Gadd, Angus Curry and Carolyn Morwood for a lively session as part of the Big West's literature festival.

The event was held in association with Williamstown Literary Festival and was ably chaired by children's author and poet Claire Saxby, a regular at our festival.

Preparations are well under way for next year's event. Subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates. Don't forget entries for the Ada Cambridge writing prizes are now open with prizemoney for the biographical short story section doubled to $1000.

2011 WLF Anthology available for sale

This year the stories for the Ada Cambridge Prize and the poems for the Seagull Poetry Prize both appear in one exciting anthology. There are six short listed stories and ten poems including the winners of each competition.

Told with strong arresting voices, the biographical short stories immerse us in the experiences of those living in a cruel and indifferent world, soliciting deep empathy for the characters involved.

In the poems, the theme most often encountered is an engagement with the changing natural world, and the negotiation of the human place within it. Ideas and emotions are effectively conveyed by fresh language, and powerful imagery.