Sydney Writers’ Festival Has Unveiled Its Massive 2026 Program
Image: Sydney Writers' Festival program 2026. Supplied
If you love books and being in big rooms to hear people talk about books then you’re in luck, because the Sydney Writers’ Festival has just dropped it’s huge 2026 program, with the week long celebration of reading and writing featuring 39 international guests and over 220 Australian writers.
Running from 17-24 May, the festival will include conversations around fiction, non-fiction, poetry, politics, memoir, journalism and children’s literature, and will feature their popular opening and closing night celebrations. Their will also be over over 55 free events around Sydney for audiences to enjoy.
International headliners include one of the world’s most prominent contemporary fantasy writers, R.F Kuang (Katabasis, 2025), Mick Herron (Clown Town, 2025), Patrick Radden Keefe (London Falling, 2026), David Szalay (Flesh, 2025), and 2025 Booker Prize winner. Susan Choi (Flashlight, 2025). Former prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern (A Different Kind of Power, 2025) will talk about her path to global leadership in her deeply personal memoir.
Some of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary novelists lead the 2026 program. Trent Dalton (Gravity Let Me Go, 2025) returns with his highly anticipated new novel. Booker Prize-shortlisted author Steve Toltz (A Rising of the Lights, 2026) discusses arts and culture in the age of AI. Stella Prize winner Heather Rose (A Great Act of Love, 2025) shares her latest tale of enduring love. Siang Lu (Ghost Cities, 2024) shares his 2025 Miles Franklin Award winner.
The festival isn’t shying away from controversy either, featuring Palestinian-Australian academic and author Randa Abdel-Fattah. Recently Randa Abdel-Fattah made headlines after the Adelaide Writers’ Week board deemed her “too culturally sensitive” following the Bondi Beach tragedy and removed her from the festival, which then led to the resignation of director Louise Adler and a boycott by 180 writers, forcing the event’s total cancellation.
Abdel-Fattah will join Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Antoinette Lattouf, in conversation with Jan Fran, to unpack the hard truths at the core of their latest works in an event called ‘Silenced’.
On this topic, panellists Waleed Aly, Cordelia Fine, Antoinette Lattouf, Greg Sheridan and Amy Thunig-McGregor and hosts Daniel Heller and Farid Zaid will explore how we can talk about difficult questions, and how having better disagreements can strengthen Australian society and democracy in ‘Brave Conversations: When Words Offend’.
Writers Jessica Chapnik Kahn, Lee Kofman, Simon Tedeschi and Michael Visontay will reflect on grief, solidarity and resilience with Michaela Kalowski in ‘After Bondi’, responding to the 2025 Bondi terrorist attack and exploring how communities reckon with violence.
Artistic Director Ann Mossop said, “Sydney Writers’ Festival is home to the world’s best contemporary writing and the open exchange of ideas. With the theme, Show Me the Truth, the 2026 Festival highlights how these brilliant authors explore truth and trust in times of uncertainty across all forms of writing.”
Sydney Writers’ Festival runs from 17–24 May 2026. Tickets are on sale from 10am Saturday 14 March.
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