Sydney Writers’ Festival is returning to southern Tasmania in 2022!

Thanks to the generosity of our partners at Huonville Library, in 2022 we're able to offer seats at Sydney Writers’ Festival Live&Local sessions in southern Tasmania for free. 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all seating is reserved. 

Reservations for each day close at 8pm the previous evening.

Following a wonderful three-day program at Huonville Library in 2021, the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival (TARWF) is once again hosting one of Australia’s best-loved forums for literature, ideas and storytelling - the Sydney Writers' Festival.

This is an opportunity for Tasmanians to immerse themselves in three days of the Sydney Writers' Festival without leaving the state.

Streaming its headline events in Sydney direct to Huonville Library - a 30 minute drive from Hobart CBD - on Friday 20, Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 May, this year’s program features 12 panel sessions with:

Liane Moriarty, Christos Tsiolkas, Roanna Gonsalves, Rebecca Solnit, Sophie Black, Caroline Overington, Art Spiegelman, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Omar Musa, Evelyn Araluen, Barrie Cassidy, Fran Kelly, Niki Savva, Hannah Marshall, Chris Masters, Kate McClymont, Erik Jensen, Michelle de Kretser, Steve Toltz, Sarah Krasnostein, Melissa Lucashenko, Susan Wyndham, Derecka Purnell, Damon Galgut, Larissa Behrendt, Paige Clark, Sisonke Msimang and a host of others.

Prepare to be engaged by conversations, debates and discussions, as the Festival brings the world’s finest authors to southern Tasmania in real time. As well as hearing new ideas from great thinkers, audiences have the opportunity to participate in Q&A sessions at each event, sending questions direct to the stage.

Join us and be part of Live & Local, streamed live by Sydney Writers’ Festival and delivered locally to southern Tasmania.

The Live & Local program is hosted in 2022 by the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival in partnership with Huonville Library of Libraries Tasmania.

The Panel Sessions

Friday 20 May

10–11am Art Spiegelman

12–1pm Michelle de Kretser & Christos Tsiolkas

2–3pm Steve Toltz: Here Goes Nothing

4–5pm But Not Forgotten

Saturday 21 May

10–11am Barrie Cassidy & Friends: Election 2022

12–1pm Sarah Winamn, Still Life

2–3pm Maxine Beneba Clarke & Omar Musa

4–5pm The Limits of Imagination

Sunday 2 May

10–11am Rebecca Solnit: Orwell's Roses

12–1pm Where Angels Fear to Tread

2–3pm Liane Moriarty & Caroline Overington

4–5pm I Was Wrong

For a full description of each session, including all panellists, please go to the Sydney Writers' Festival Live&Local page by clicking here.

Seating and COVID-19 Safety

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, seating numbers are limited.

If you wish to sit near friends, please provide their names in the notes when you reserve tickets. We aren’t able to guarantee you will be seated near each other, but we will do our best.

Please note the library's COVID-19 safety procedures will be in place. We will confirm requirements with you the week of the festival. 

Please note these may include mask wearing, social distancing and remaining at home if you feel unwell on the day. 

Please respect all requests from festival and library staff to help make the sessions safe and accessible for all.