Only a few weeks until the Kyogle Writers Festival kicks off.

Venues include the Richmond River Independent Stage, The Business Hive, the Roxy Gallery, the Laneway Community Space, the Kyogle Library, the Garden Stage, and the Occasional Studio. A mud map of venues will be available.

Authors attending include Melissa Lucashenko, Stuart Rees, Daniel Browning, Ellen van Neerven, Nardi Simpson, Scott Bevan, Laura Elvery, Jessie Cole, Lisa Walker, Kristina Olsson and many more.

Here are the local authors at the festival:

Jarrah Dundler lives in his hometown Kyogle. His debut novel Hey Brother is set in and around Kyogle and was shortlisted for the Vogel award. He is currently working on a second novel, also set close to home, with the support of a Kyogle Writers Festival Residency.

Paul Shields is a writer who lives just outside Kyogle. His work has appeared in Meanjin, Headland, WOB, Spike, Underground Voices, UrinalMag and elsewhere. His audio work has appeared on ABC Radio National, Hack and ABC Local Radio. He is on the management committee for the Kyogle Writers Festival and was the recipient of a 2019 Early Career Writers Grant from Writing NSW.

Linda Woodrow’s The Permaculture Home Garden was published by Penguin in 1996. It is still in print and has sold more than 30,000 copies. Her first novel, 470, was published in 2020 and has been nominated for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction.

Kyogle’s Odette Nettleton has been performing stand-up comedy for about 18 months. She has performed alongside Ellen Briggs and Ting Lim and has a weekly advice column in the Richmond River Independent. Odette was a contestant on Hard Quiz and will be bringing her Big Brass Mug to the festival.

Gwendolyn Gray is an artist and children’s author from Casino. She has written and illustrated four children’s books inspired by the daily antics of native waterfowl, particularly a black duck duckling on Horseshoe Lagoon where she lives. Gwendolyn donates all proceeds of her latest book to the Rotary Club of Casino to help those affected by the recent devastating fires.

Hayley Katzen lives at Ewingar and published her memoir Untethered last year. Her writing has won competitions, been published by ABC radio and Queerstories, and in Australian, American and Asian journals including Australian Book Review, Griffith Review, Southerly, Fourth Genre and Kenyon Review. Untethered is her debut memoir.

Andrew Johnston believes the story, or the telling of the story, is the foundation of ancient cultures – orally or pictorially – and the basis of cultural purpose where people find their place, obligations and relationships to this life and world. Andrew has been interested in Cultural Fire, the way this country was managed and cared for, for thousands of years. He is a director of the Bundjalung Jagun Firesticks Alliance. He conducts smoking ceremonies, is authorised for Welcome to Country, sits on the Gulibul council of elders and consults on cultural matters, especially cultural fire appraisal. He is a Bundjalung (mother’s side) and Worramai (father’s side) man.

Thor Phillips has been a professional musician for 14 years. He is an experienced sound engineer and producer, recording albums for several independent artists through his studio.

The Kyogle Writers Festival launch party is at the Roxy Gallery on Friday, May 14 from 5.30–8.30pm and is a free event.

Kyogle Writers Festival is a three-day event on May 14–16.

Find out more at kyoglewritersfestival.com

This article appeared in the Richmond River Independent, 21 April 2021.