Adelaide Writers Week invited to contribute speakers and sessions to famous Hay literary festival in Wales in 2024

Adelaide Writers Week in the Pioneer Women's Garden on King William Road, Adelaide city, had extended activity in 2024 when it was invited to contribute sessions and speakers to the famous Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye in Wales.
Images courtesy Adelaide Writers Festival and BBC Arts
Australian writers took centre stage at Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye 2024 – the biggest writers festival in the world – due to an exclusive partnership with Adelaide Writers’ Week.
The Hay Festival of Hay-on-Wye, Wales, featured four sessions showcasing the work of Australians including South Australia’s own author Pip Williams.
Hay Festival’s special Adelaide Writers’ Week sessions included:
- “Massacre on the Australian Frontier”, with award-winning author, film maker and host of ABC Radio National’s Speaking Out Larissa Behrendt and journalist and author David Marr.
- “Australia and China: Maverick or Model?”, featuring Australian Financial Review’s international editor James Curran, former Australian prime minister and Australia ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd, and former deputy Beijing bureau chief at the Financial Times and author Yuan Yang.
- “Always Was, Always Will Be”, showcasing two of Australia’s leading First Nations poets Jazz Money and Ellen van Neerven.
- “The Power of Words” with novelist Pip Williams in conversation with Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler.
This was the first time an Australian festival had been invited to take part in Hay Festival, recognising South Australia’s international reputation for arts and culture and as a renowned festival city.
Adelaide Writers' Week director Louise Adler said it was “delighted to be bringing the Antipodes to the United Kingdom, to present the rich diversity of our literary culture. We thank our government partners for their support in assisting us to amplify our voices on an international stage, while our own tents are packed away for another year.”