This festival nurtured a generation of talent. Now it’s on life support

For over two decades, the National Young Writers’ Festival has been a crucial creative and social hub for Australia’s most promising emerging writers. From short stories and non-fiction to zines and poetry, the festival – which is the largest of its kind in Australia – offers a glimpse into the future of our literary landscape, and was the training ground for writers who have since found critical acclaim and success.

Now its future appears uncertain. On Wednesday, organisers of the festival announced that this year’s event, which normally takes place in Newcastle in September and October, would not go ahead.

Organisers say the festival will return in 2025, but those working within the country’s cultural spaces are acutely aware of the impact even just one year off could have on the literary industry.

Festival board chair Jessica Alice says the festival requires further funding to be sustainable.

Festival board chair Jessica Alice describes the event as “a breeding ground for future generations of Australian authors, and a place of vital formal and informal mentorship in an industry that can be isolating and complex to operate within”. But regardless of how crucial it is, Alice says it has always lacked funding.

“That has in part given it the vibrant, independent approach it’s known and loved for, but we can’t continue in the same way without ongoing operational funding,” Alice, who is now artistic director of the Bryon Writers Festival, says.

Alexandra Neill, a producer on the ABC’s Heywire and Takeover programs who co-directed the National Young Writers’ Festival in 2014 and 2015, says the festival was fundamental not only for her career development, but also her personal growth.

Writer and producer Alexandra Neill says the NYWF was not only fundamental for her career, but also for her personal friendships.Credit: Jacob Pattison

“I cannot imagine where I would be without the festival,” she says. “It’s such a safe and nurturing space where you can try new things and make mistakes. You don’t have to be a fully-fledged writer or human to take part.”

Having grown up in regional Australia, the festival was one of the few opportunities for Neill to meet others with similar interests, to network and to be exposed to different ideas. Whether you were interested in editing, comedy, writing screenplays, or producing zines, Neill says there was a workshop, panel or event for everyone.

Professional development for emerging writers does exist elsewhere within the industry, says writer and actor Michelle Law, but it doesn’t tend to have as wide a reach or impact as the National Young Writers’ Festival, which is dedicated solely to young artists.

The National Young Writers’ Festival is the largest youth-based literary festival in Australia.

“Festivals that may be government-funded on a federal level feel a lot more mainstream, and, for lack of a better word, more commercial,” Law says. “They’re geared towards the latest releases and drawing in huge numbers from the public, which the NYWF is as well, but it’s also equally a space for all writers.”

The hiatus has sparked concern among several writers, who argue a postponement could be indicative of more profound issues currently plaguing Australia’s literary industry. Neill says the sustainability of many arts festivals has become questionable, particularly in terms of funding. However, this is even more pronounced for events such as the National Young Writers’ Festival, which is free, more experimental, volunteer-based and youth-oriented.

“There’s such a lack of appetite for risk,” Neill says. “No one wants to invest in something that’s a bit weird, experimental and run by young people who are still finding their feet.

“There are two options: you can run something experimental and messy for no money and no one gets paid, or you can run something hyper-professional, safe, heavy with gatekeepers, and everyone’s on a professional salary. But even in those situations, the burnout is still huge.”

The National Young Writers’ Festival has been a crucial entry point for many young and diverse writers in Australia and New Zealand.

Law agrees, noting that the industry is still grappling with the aftershocks of COVID-19, which has resulted in some book tours for debut authors being cancelled as appetite for risk diminishes. Book sales have also suffered – there was a 2.1 per cent fall in the value of book sales in 2023 compared to 2022.

Without festivals like the National Young Writers’ Festival, Khalid Warsame, who co-ordinated the festival in 2016 and co-directed it in 2017, says the industry will become even harder to break into, with diversity in particular taking a serious hit.

“NYWF does great work in engaging culturally and linguistically diverse writers. There have been specific streams of the festival just for queer writers, for writers of varying backgrounds and writers with a disability,” Warsame says. “Those kinds of things don’t happen in the mainstream, and they don’t happen in the big festivals. They might happen to a certain extent, but not in a way that really centres young people.”

And when young and diverse people are not provided the opportunity to develop their careers, Warsame says our cultural spaces and national conversations begin to lack nuance and substance.

Throughout this year, Alice says festival organisers will consult young local writers to reshape the event, and seek funding and philanthropy to ensure its sustainability.

“The festival’s major challenge has always been securing operational funding. We’re encouraged that the Revive cultural policy has new funding for literature from next year, and Creative Australia is reviewing funding for writers’ festivals,” Alice says.

“[But] what it takes to run arts festivals has become harder and more expensive — from production, insurance, staffing to venue hire. So, if we want to ensure a thriving cultural life, we need governments to invest in the arts as a public good.”

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