Announcing the 2026 Thomas Keneally Oration. Thomas Keneally AO—one of Australia’s most distinguished storytellers—will deliver the inaugural Oration at the 2026 Manly Writers’ Festival, 19-22 March. “Storytelling is essential for the human core…” Tickets: from Humanitix: buff.ly/zQXXIyT

Do you want your very own program to hold in your hands, rather than having to hit the forward button on your keyboard? Pre-order today! www.manlywritersfestival.org.au/2026-program #ManlyWF26

Our program drops in 7 days for the 2026 Manly Writers' Festival. Sign-up at our website to make sure you get the news first! #writing #reading #ideas #ManlyWF26

Our program drops in 7 days for the 2026 Manly Writers' Festival. Sign-up at our website to make sure you get the news first! #writing #reading #ideas #ManlyWF26

At times like this, first principles matter. Writers have agency. Readers have agency. Festivals should make space for disagreement without coercion. That’s the principle we stand by at Manly Writers’ Festival.

As the year winds down & summer settles in, we wanted to pause, step away, and say thank you. Manly Writers’ Festival exists because of a remarkable community who believe that stories matter, conversation matters & that coming together around books is one of the best things we can do.

"If it will make trouble, I'm willing to give a talk on it," says Thomas Keneally about the first Thomas Keneally Oration in March next year. Here he talks on ABC RN Radio National Hour with Kylie Morris.

Announcing the 2026 Thomas Keneally Oration. Thomas Keneally AO—one of Australia’s most distinguished storytellers—will deliver the inaugural Oration at the 2026 Manly Writers’ Festival, 19-22 March. “Storytelling is essential for the human core…” Tickets: from Humanitix: buff.ly/zQXXIyT

Join our #Donors Circle before #EOFY for a tax-deductible donation in FY25. buff.ly/gZkJjPm

Against the Welcome to Country? You are missing the point. buff.ly/os3YLoG #connection #storytelling

We hope you enjoyed #ManlyWF25 as much as we did. We hope you enjoy some of the memories in this short video too. If you want to put the dates in your diary for next year, we'll see you from March 20th to 22nd, 2026.

As the final pages turn on this year's festival, we are inspired, appreciative, and full of stories we have yet to write. Thank you to every reader, writer and thinker who made it unforgettable. We hope to see you in 2026.

Don't miss it! The fabulous #finale to #ManlyWF25. Your very own Chairman's Lounge Experience with #hightea, #champagne, #stringquartet... and JOE ASTON! Sunday March 30th, 3pm for 3.45pm until 5pm. Tickets essential. buff.ly/0HImse2

Delighted to meet Josh Pittman who has seen his book, ‘Behind the Mask’ for the first time at today’s festival. It is released later in April. #manlywf25

On the other side of our Sunday program is #creativelives and #authors who share their journeys. A fabulous line-up. | Sunday 30th March, 10am-3pm #ManlyWF25

Doing anything Sunday? We've got nine fabulous sessions covering #creativelives and #sport, starting at 9.15am with some fabulous sport talk with some of the best #fiction & #nonfiction sports writers. | Sunday 30th March, 9.15am-3pm #ManlyWF25

Come to #ManlyWF25 and grab some coffee from our on-site barista right next to Gleebooks bookshop.

An aerial view of last night's opening night event—the launch of Blanche d'Alpuget's latest book, 'The Bunny Club', on stage with Jeremy Fernandez at Manly Spirits Distillery. There are still two more days of #ManlyWF25. Join us! buff.ly/kVwbYcD

Don't miss it! The fabulous #finale to #ManlyWF25. Your very own Chairman's Lounge Experience with #hightea, #champagne, #stringquartet... and JOE ASTON! Sunday March 30th, 3pm for 3.45pm until 5pm. Tickets essential. buff.ly/0HImse2

Our Saturday #specialevent is a #Literary #Trivia Night in support of cancer care & people living with cancer in the local area. Please join us! Great prizes for teams & individuals. | Saturday March 29th, 7pm-10pm, Manly SLSC. buff.ly/0xTF3CD

Doing anything Sunday? We've got nine fabulous sessions covering #creativelives and #sport, starting at 9.15am with some fabulous sport talk with some of the best #fiction & #nonfiction sports writers. | Sunday 30th March, 9.15am-3pm #ManlyWF25

Best-selling #author Heather Morris with journalist/author/host Michael Brissendent at #ManlyWF25. Heather was our opening guest author.

On the other side of our Sunday program is #creativelives and #authors who share their journeys. A fabulous line-up. | Sunday 30th March, 10am-3pm #ManlyWF25

The #authors you'll hear from this weekend. Don't miss out. *THIS* weekend. 28, 29, 30 March. buff.ly/NLcEMmG

Delighted to be hosting the session with Australia’s finest foreign correspondents. Saturday!

Our final sessions on Saturday encompass #geopolitics, a sporting legend, #fiction royalty & #poetry. Don't miss it! | Saturday 29th March, 4.10pm #ManlyWF25

Our Friday #specialevent. A #booklaunch with Blanche d'Alpuget of 'The Bunny Club' - her first #crime novel. Released tomorrow and available at #ManlyWF25. | Friday 28th March, 6.30pm. Tickets essential. buff.ly/TZTKWHN

Join us at 2.50pm on Saturday 29th March for a stellar panel of #foreigncorrespondents, #travel writers, a discussion on #mentalhealth episdoes and Australian historical #fiction. #ManlyWF25

How do David Lloyd George & the 'special relationship' btwn UK & US impact us today? What's it like to grow up #Indian in Australia? How do #medicine & #storytelling go together? Why is the #landscape so much part of #crimefiction? And how to you write your life story? | Sat 29 March, 1.30pm

More on Saturday 29 March at #ManlyWF25, this time the 12.10pm time slot. We talk #trust, #AUKUS, #dispossession, meet three new #fiction voices, and learn how to write your life story. Come along, grab a coffee from our on-site Hennessy Coffee Barista, & join the conversations.

What's on Saturday 29th March at 10.50am? Author Lech Blaine talking about his memoir of two very different families, and two former journos turned crime writers on their inspiration for their #crimefiction. #ManlyWF25

Our busiest time at #ManlyWF25 (quite accidentally) is Saturday, first thing. So much to do! @[email protected] #author talk, AI & #socialmedia, big public works projects, reflections on #conflict, #truecrime & #editor workshop. So much choice! | Saturday 29 March, 9.30am

Finishing the day sessions on Friday are two: #loss and #grief and how we deal when a loved one goes suddenly, and for something completely different, historical fiction, but rather sophisticated #historicalfiction (no torn bodices or ripped shirts). | Friday 28 March, 3.20pm

Join us at 2pm on Friday for another fabulous #author talk with @janecaro.bsky.social, an incredible discussion on #bipolar journeys, and what it's like to make the transition to a new land, when that's about your only choice in life. | Friday 28 March, 2pm-3pm #ManlyWF25

Friday at 12.40pm we talk Australian #cuisine (most definitely NOT an oxymoron), how life changes, Kathleen Folbigg, new #fiction voices, & a #copyright Masterclass. Friday 28 March, 12.40pm

Our second group of sessions on Friday include #romance #fiction, #cancer and #grief, and amazing #women. 11.20am Friday March 28 #ManlyWF25

We get underway on Friday with two sessions: a Big #School Day on News Literacy, plus best-selling author Heather Morris in an #Author Talk with Michael Brissenden. | Fri 28 March, 10am 🎟️ buff.ly/D65lzR8

The things we talk about at #ManlyWF25. Don't miss out on the big ideas and real conversations. 28, 29, 30 March. Get your tickets from our website or via Humanitix.

Interested in #sportshistory? One of the books debuting at #ManlyWF is 'Golf Dreaming' by John Maynard, an #Aboriginal perspective on #golf. As this reviewer poses: whose history is celebrated in sport? Come along on Sunday, 9.15am and find out. buff.ly/vC11g0H manlywritersfestival.org.au

The #authors you won't see or hear from anywhere within two hours of the #NorthernBeaches anytime soon, other than with us. THIS weekend. March 28, 29, 30.

Books on super-coaches (#Ange), #SouthAmerica, player #agents, #Socceroos & #Matildas recent history, #mentalhealth & #YA sport, #ANZACS & sport, and #golf. Plus #fiction for ages 13+. Don't miss it. | Sun 30th Mar, 9.15am-3pm manlywritersfestival.org.au/program

What this chorus of writers doesn't know about #creativearts, #music, the politics & tensions of #performance & more isn't worth knowing. Wouldn't you like to have a chat with them, this Sunday as part of #ManlyWF25? buff.ly/chiKiNO

The nation voted "no". We discuss the implications through powerful non-fiction and #fiction works from Shireen Morris, Jacqueline Rule, Lia Hills, in conversation with Isobel Higgins. | Sat 29 Mar, 12.10pm buff.ly/ShnpMfb

Trust. Confidence. Traits in short supply, especially when it comes to institutions and governance. How did it come to this? And ow do we restore them? Join a riveting discussion with Gavin Fang, Tracey Kirkland, and Julia Baird in conversation with Michael Baird. | Sat 29 Mar, 12.10pm #ManlyWF25

Join John Maynard at #ManlyWF25 on Sunday 30th March at 9.15am over #coffee from Hennessy Coffee and croissants. www.manlywritersfestival.org.au/program/sunr...

If you're an aspiring #writer, we've got one masterclass and two workshops to help guide you—on #copyright, the use of a personal #editor, and how to tell your own story. | Fri & Sat 28 & 29 Mar #ManlyWF25

Yes, we know, it's really not this simple, but who would you rather be buying a #submarine from??? Find out in our session entitled "I don't think, I know" when #author Andrew Fowler talks #AUKUS with Mark Corcoran. buff.ly/D7XL2is #ManlyWF25 | Sat 29 Mar, 12.10pm

Meet three of our #writers who will be at #ManlyWF25 this week. Lisa Gallate talking on 'Holding On & Letting Go'; Kate Horan, one of the new #fiction voices, and Michele Seminar, #poet. All locals! Get tickets here: buff.ly/Z2PbJv5

"I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a colour slide ..." (Billy Colins) Join our sextet of fabulous #poets at our Poetry Salon. | Sat 29 March, 4.10pm ONLY at #ManlyWF25

Think writing’s just for the chosen few? Think again. At #ManlyWF25, we don’t care about your book deal. We care about the books and the voices. Writing belongs to all of us — not just the bestseller list. 🎟️ Come join the story → www.manlywritersfestival.org.au/program #DemocracyOfWriting