Tickets are now on sale for the Berry Writers Festival, which features a blockbuster line-up of international and home-grown authors led by Nobel Prize winning novelist JM Coetzee and popular Australian writers Michael Robotham and Sally Hepworth.

Kiama’s Ryan Butta, Wollongong’s Hayley Scrivenor, Gerringong’s Fiona Weir and UK-based, Berry-born human rights lawyer and author Jennifer Robinson will join more than 80 well-known and emerging authors at the three-day festival from October 25-27. 

The Guardian editor David Marr will deliver the opening address. Novelists Alice Pung, Madeline Gray, Jessica Dettmann, Nina Wan, Ceridwen Dovey and Yuwaalaraay storyteller and performer Nardi Simpson, are among the talented fiction writers, who will talk about their craft.

Journalist, author and Gold Walkley award winner Chris Masters will discuss his latest book, an investigation into the case against Australia's most highly decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith. 

Conversations That Count will feature 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame chatting with teacher and author Daisy Turnbull about risk, reward, friendship and contentment. 

Marc Fennell, Walkley Award-winning journalist, documentary maker and host of the television series Stuff the British Stole,  will discuss how history is told and adapting books to screens. 

Gina Chick, winner of the television series Alone and granddaughter of celebrated Kiama author Charmian Clift, will join author Holly Wainwright where they will discuss how to be alone.

Mary Cunnane, the festival’s artistic director, and a former publisher and literary agent, said this year’s festival program will be bigger and even more diverse than the inaugural event in 2022.

“The 2024 Berry Writers Festival will deliver a weekend of memorable experiences,” she said. “Words open the world and allow us to tell our stories and understand the lives of others.”

The festival will also include a special Schools Day on October 24. Children’s book authors Kirli Saunders, Nathan Luff and Maryam Master will visit primary schools in Berry and nearby communities to share their stories. On October 25 Shoalhaven’s Anita Ahmadizadeh - a writer, artist, educator, researcher, and academic in children’s literature - will host Drawing Stories, a special workshop for children aged 6-12.

A collaboration with the South Coast Writers Centre, New Voices of the South Coast: A Showcase for Debut Writers, gives new and emerging local literary talent a platform to showcase their work on the final day of the festival. 

The festival’s opening day will feature workshops with experts sharing insights into their work and the world of books and publishing. Sessions include kick-starting your novel; the business of publishing; memoir and biography; self publishing children's books and the skills needed to edit your own work.

Berry Writers Festival president James Robinson said the much-loved event was for “writers, readers and people who believe in the power of storytelling, sharing ideas and healthy debate”. Access to early bird tickets is now available at: berrywritersfestival.org.au.