Word Up

Addi Road Writers’ Festival 2026 was one of our biggest festivals so far. With seven panels on that day that covered everything from anxiety to crime writing and Latin American literature; two additional and very unique storytelling performances respectively involving theatre and cartooning; five live-music and spoken-word performances; and seven poetry book launches.

All of that taking place across three venues with over 40 guests directly taking part on the three stages – and off the stage as well.

The theme for ARWF2026 was ‘truth beauty’. We did our best to seek out the honest and true in every way, as well as offer something positive, and even special …. whether it was Judith Nangala Crispin taking us all on a night drive through the desert in her poem about urgently trying to get her dog Moon to a vet in a faraway town after a snakebite …. Luke Carman brilliantly and wittily hosting a panel on men’s voice in literature today, drawing out the raw and profound from fellow writers Jet Williams and Dr George Haddad … or the Read to Me crew bringing their cartoon narratives to life with live projections and storytelling. The day rolled on in this way, funny, profound, friendly, real.

There is simply far too much to sum up here. Fortunately ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas team were at Addi Road Writers’ Festival 2026 to record two of the panels: ‘Attacking Anxiety | Writing Past Masks of Normality’ and ‘Mind Net | Imagining the Future’.

Fully Lit were also there recording every other session on the day. Brought to you by the Sydney Review of Books, Impact Studios, and the UTS Writing and Publishing program, Fully Lit should have the various sessions that they recorded online soon. ABC RN’s Big Ideas should follow in next few months. Needless to say, we will keep you posted!

ARWF2026 marks our sixth year creating, curating and running own independent strete-level writers festival. It was doubly special to have such a major event during what is Addi Road’s 50th birthday year as a community centre. A symbol of creativity and community engagement that Addi Road offers on many levels.

The festival was also one our most successful in terms of sales, with just over 220 paying attendees and a plethora of other supporters, staff and volunteers involved taking numbers on the day to over 300. A big thanks to Berkelouw Books and 2SER-FM for supporting us, as well Cockatoo Comics and all our food vendors.

We are especially indebted to the ‘vols’, of course, who do it all for nothing and help what is a pretty big and wild day flow in fine and friendly style. Without the volunteers we just would not be able to make it happen.

It may seem a little tangental, but behind-the-scenes at Addi Road we sometimes talk about an old folk song called ‘Bread and Roses’ that soundtracked the suffragette and labour movements of early twentieth century. It’s an historical reference point that captures some of our values at Addi Road today, attending to basic needs while also trying to answer something more elusive and deeply human …. providing bread literally among our many food relief activities; and offering ‘roses’, somewhat more metaphorically, via our creative activities that scan across everything from the Public School Arts Festival to youth music festivals like Addi Sounds and, of course, Addi Road Writers’ Festival 2026.

We hope you had a great day with us. And that Addi Road Writers’ Festival 2026 gave you something special.

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A very special thanks to Sharon McKenzie for taking these snaps on the day. We were so hectic no one thought to get pictures. So you are a gem Sharon for taking the time to document a few months along the way while you were working yourself!