Clunes Book town festival

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 20^th ANNIVERSARY: BOB BROWN, SOFIE LAGUNA, TONI JORDAN, DENNIS ALTMAN, MAXINE BENEBA CLARKE, MARIEKE HARDY AND REAL PIGEONS!   

Clunes Booktown Festival will mark its 20^th anniversary on 21-22 March with a stellar program on the theme of defiance and hope.

Festival Creative Director Suzi Cordell says the event will include more than 130 books stalls, a Kids Village, writers workshops, panels on crime writing, speculative fiction, romance, First Nations storytelling, playwriting and historical fiction, as well as free music and entertainment across the weekend.

Tickets are on sale from 4 February. Get in fast for unmissable events including:

• Lifelong environmental activist and former Greens leader Bob Brown talking with broadcaster Hilary Harper about his new book
• Hear Me Roar: Fearless Female Characters in Crime with podcaster and author Vikki Petraitis (The Stolen, The Unbelieved), Ned Kelly award-winner Christian White (The Wife and the Widow, The Ledge), Fiona Hardy (Unbury the Dead) and Jacqui Horwood.
• How to Live and Die with screenwriter and playwright Marieke Hardy (From The Heart: Women of Letters, You’ll be Sorry When I’m Dead), Hannah Gould (How to Die in the 21^st Century) and Antonia Pont (Plain Life).
• Miles Franklin winner Sofie Laguna (The Underworld, The Choke, The Eye of the Sheep) discussing Myth and Coming of Age with literary journalist and novelist Jane Sullivan.
• Real Pigeons creators Andrew McDonald and Ben Wood sharing the latest on their crime-fighting birds, and Oceanforged author Amelia Mellor helping young readers invent magical creatures in the Kids Village.
• Historical fiction authors Toni Jordan (Tenderfoot, Addition), Marion Taffe (By Her Hand) and Jock Serong (Cherrywood, The Settlement), discussing characters fighting the tide.
• First Time Lucky will explore the new wave of romance writing with Emma Mugglestone (In The Long Run), Holly Brunnbauer (What Did I Miss?), AFL and queer romance devotee Darcy Green (After The Siren) and multicultural romcom author Cynthia Timoti (How to Find a Guy In Five Weddings).
• Join writer and academic Dennis Altman, human rights lawyer Paula Gerber and biographer Jill Blee for a discussion on the struggle for equal rights in Defiantly Queer.
• Explore The Poetics of Hope with Maxine Beneba Clarke (Beautiful Changelings, The Hate Race); Wiradjuri writer and Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry winner Jeanine Leane, and arts journalist and poet Thuy On (Essence).

There will also be workshops on short story writing, self-publishing, and writing oral history. To see the festival’s full program visit clunesbooktown.org.au

Festival entry is $15 (covering both Saturday and Sunday), and free for locals and children under 16 years of age. Entry includes all day live music, street performances, and Kids Village activities including the Hay Bale Maze.

Author talks are $25, with ticket discounts for multiple events. Workshop tickets are $30 each.