The Emerging Writers’ Festival work, learn and play largely on the land of the Kulin nation, and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

EWF celebrates the history and creativity of the world’s oldest living culture.

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National Writers' Conference, Online & Professional Development

Richell Prize Showcase

We can’t believe it’s already been ten years since the Richell Prize began. To mark this milestone, we’re holding a showcase with our friends at Hachette, celebrating the stellar alumni of the past and anticipating the incredible writers to come.

    Presented in proud partnership with

Accessibility

Wheelchair, Service Animal, Quiet Room (Reception/Level 3 Library), Hearing Loop, Accessible toilets

Sunday 8 September, 4:15PM

Browse events by accessibility options

The Wheeler Centre
Performance Space Level 2, 176 Lt Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 3000, VIC

Featuring...

Mandy Beaumont

Mandy Beaumont’s debut novel The Furies was long-listed for the prestigious Stella Prize and shortlisted for the MUD Literary Prize and the Queensland Literary Awards. Her collection of short stories, Wild, Fearless Chests, was shortlisted for the Richell Prize and the Dorothy Hewett Award. Stories from the collection also won the MOTH International Short Story Prize and were shortlisted for other notable awards. She holds a PhD and a Masters in creative writing and is a regular feature writer and book reviewer for The Big Issue. Her new crime novel, The Thrill of It, will be out in 2025.

Brodie Lancaster

Brodie Lancaster is an essayist, author and critic. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, Pitchfork, Bon Appetit, Vogue and The Age, among others. She was the founding editor of the feminist film zine Filmme Fatales. Brodie co-hosts the weekly podcast See Also, and is the author of the 2017 memoir No Way! Okay, Fine.

Aisling Smith

Aisling Smith is a Naarm/Melbourne-based writer. She won the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers in 2020. Her debut novel, After the Rain, was published by Hachette Australia in 2023 and was longlisted for the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal.

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