The Orange Readers and Writers Festival has been inspiring great reading since 2015 and will return on August 2-3 as part of the Orange Region Fire Festival.
A talented line-up of fiction and non-fiction authors will share their stories and experiences at the intimate event:
- Indira Naidoo – The Space Between the Stars
- Rhys Gard – Four Dogs Missing
- Gabbie Stroud – The things that matter most
- Ian W. Shaw – The Golden Gang: Bushranger Frank Gardiner and the biggest gold robbery in Australian History
- Rachael Mogan McIntosh – Mothering Heights
Indira Naidoo
Orange City Council's Services Policy Committee Chair, Cr Mel McDonell said a highlight of the festival was the opportunity for attendees to meet their favourite authors.
"The Readers and Writers Festival has been bringing booklovers and storytellers together to share their love of stories for almost 10 years. It's a great way to connect like-minded people during the winter months," Cr McDonell said.
The main day of the Festival will be held from 10am to 3.30pm on Saturday 3 August in the ballroom at the Hotel Canobolas. Early bird tickets cost $75 until 15 July, after which tickets will cost $95.
Orange Mayor Jason Hamling will announce the winners of the 2024 Banjo Paterson Writing Awards at 11am.
A Writing Workshop 'Making your Writing Shine' with author Kim Kelly will be held from 10am to 1pm on Friday 2 August, when aspiring writers will get a book industry insider's view of the importance of the editing process. Cost is $45pp.
Tickets are available from Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/cc/orange-readers-and-writers-festival-2024-3480359
The Orange Readers and Writers Festival is hosted by Central West Libraries and supported by Collins Booksellers, Orange. Books by the authors will be available for sale and signing at the event.
About the authors
Indira Naidoo - The Space Between the Stars
During her 30-year award-winning journalistic career, Indira Naidoo has hosted and reported for some of the country's most distinguished news and current affair programs. She currently hosts ABCTV's Compass. Her first book, the best-selling The Edible Balcony, published in 2011, about growing food in small spaces, has been launched in London, Hong Kong and New York and her second book, The Edible City – about community gardening – was published in 2015. Her latest best-selling book is The Space Between the Stars about the healing powers of nature. It is a heart-rending, at times funny, and uplifting tribute to love and our innate need to connect to the natural world, a celebration of the reassuring cycle of renewal that sustains and nourishes us all.
Rhys Gard - Four Dogs Missing
Rhys Gard is a writer and a chef. Between careers, he studied English and Film at the University of New South Wales. He has worked as a journalist, marketer, wine writer and restaurateur. He lives in Mudgee. Four Dogs Missing is his first novel. Art theft, revenge and murder play out against the vineyards of the Mudgee wine region in this 'edge of your seat' thriller - Four Dogs Missing.
Gabbie Stroud - The things that matter most
Author Gabbie Stroud is a freelance writer and novelist and former teacher. After years of juggling the demands of the primary classroom, she made the painful decision to leave the profession she had loved. In 2016, her critical commentary of Australia's education system was published in Griffith Review's Edition 51 Fixing the System, which went on to be shortlisted for a Walkley Award. Gabbie's smash-hit memoir Teacher was shortlisted for Biography Book of the Year at the 2018 ABIA Awards and continues to contribute to the national dialogue on education. In 2020 her book, Dear Parents, offered a passionate call to arms for all parents. Gabbie's first novel, a Young Adult fiction novel, Measuring Up, was published in 2009. The Things That Matter Most is her debut fiction for adults.
Ian Shaw - The Golden Gang: Bushranger Frank Gardiner and the biggest gold robbery in Australian history
Ian W. Shaw is the author of 12 books including: The Bloodbath, On Radji Beach, Glenrowan, The Ghosts of Roebuck Bay, The Rag Tag Fleet and Murder at Dusk. The Bloodbath was nominated for a Victorian Premier's Literary Award and was shortlisted in the Local History category. Ian is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and holds postgraduate degrees from Monash University and the University of Michigan. After a decade as a secondary school teacher, Ian worked in the Commonwealth public service, and private enterprise for three decades, and is an expert on security issues. He lives in Canberra. The Golden Gang is the first comprehensive biography of the godfather of Australian bushranging - Frank Gardiner - leader of the Lachlan gang and mastermind of the largest gold heist in Australian history - the gold escort (from Forbes to Orange) at Escort Rock, Eugowra.
Rachael Mogan McIntosh - Mothering Heights
Rachael Mogan McIntosh is a writer and crisis counsellor from the south coast of NSW. She's a mum of three and the author of Pardon My French, which tells the riotous story of a year spent in France with her young family. Her writing has appeared in publications across Australia, France and the USA. Rachael loves books, baths, coffee, podcasts, TV and Terry's Chocolate Orange, consuming them simultaneously whenever possible. Mothering Heights is her second book. A comedy, tragedy and farcical romp all rolled into one, Mothering Heights is a memoir about the highs and lows of becoming a mother.
Kim Kelly
Kim Kelly is an award-winning author of novels and short stories. Her novella, The Rat Catcher: A Love Story, was longlisted for the prestigious ARA Historical Novel Prize 2022, and her latest, Ladies' Rest and Writing Room, won the 2023 Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Prize. Kim is also a well-known book editor with more than 25 years' experience working for Australia's major publishing houses on all genres of fiction and creative non-fiction. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Literature at Macquarie University, where she has lectured on editing, too.
