Canberra Writers Festival has held its 10th anniversary with another record-breaking festival. More than 10,300+ tickets were snapped up over the main festival by book lovers from across the Canberra region and interstate, making a total of 13,000 tickets sold so far this year with more events to come.
More than 200 authors were showcased across 110 events with many events sold out, and strong audiences for sessions across the program.
Canberra Writers Festival Artistic Director Andra Putnis said the response across the community demonstrated continued demand for books and ideas.
“To follow last year’s record-breaking festival with further growth is an extraordinary way to celebrate our tenth anniversary,” Ms Putnis said.
“We heard people travelled from as far as Tasmania and Western Australia to listen to authors on our program. It’s a wonderful endorsement of the festival as a national event, and of Canberra as a place where books and ideas matter.”
She also said that given the festival is a small not-for-profit organisation, the community support and strong partnerships that sit at the heart of the festival are vital.
“Arts and cultural festivals and organisations including writing, music and theatre are in a difficult funding and ticket sales environment and continued support from across government, business and community really matters.”
Best-selling books: The festival’s top 10 bestselling books spanned fiction, memoir, politics, history and children’s adventures showing the broad range of ages, genres and tastes of those who attended the festival.
1. The German Ward – Pip Williams
2. She Who Tastes, Knows: A memoir of food, exile and awakening – Durkhanai Ayubi
3. On Friendship – Andrew O’Hagan
4. Tell Me Something True – Michael Robotham
5. You and Me and the Peanut Butter Beast – Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Bill Hope
6. Full Circle – Chris Hammer
7. Three Shocks: Who We Are Becoming in the 21st Century – George Megalogenis
8. Stuff the British Stole – Marc Fennell
9. Before It Was Called Science – Corey Tutt, illustrated by Jaelyn Biumaiwai 10. Screw Nice – Amy Remeikis
Schools program-This year the festival tripled its schools program and delivered a primary and two secondary schools days for Canberra students at the National Library of Australia. Kids and young adult readers were also at the heart of the weekend program with free story-times and visiting superstars including Amie Kaufman, R.A Spratt, Deadly Science’s Corey Tutt OAM and Andy Griffiths and Bill Hope designed to get kids reading and thinking creatively.
Canberra Writers Festival CEO Travis Green thanked the hundreds of volunteers, artists and partners who brought the festival to life.
“We are incredibly grateful to our major supporters, the ACT Government, Creative Australia and Icon Water, and to the many venues, cultural, community, media and bookselling partners who make this celebration possible.”
This year the festival was delighted to welcome new partners including the National Archives of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, University of Canberra, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, The Canberra Centre, Beyond Bank Australia and Yellow Edge. For a full list of valued festival partners please see our website here.
MEDIA RELEASE
October, 2026
Upcoming events
The festival continues to celebrate authors across the year with its out of season events. Mark your calendar for the upcoming events below:
– Ariarne Titmus: Relentless | Friday 13 November at Verity Lane Market – Building Bad: The Explosive Inside Story of the CFMEU | Thursday 19 November at The Street Theatre
– GINSIGHTS: Antoun Issa at Olims Bistro | Friday 20 November at Mercure Hotel – Emily St John Mandel: Exit Party | Wednesday 25 November at the National Library of Australia
– Anne Summers: Witness Thursday 3 December 2026 at National Library of Australia
ENDS
Media contact:
Kristen Zotti at Zotts & Co PR | 0413 057 504 | kristen@kristenzottipr.com