7:00pm – 8:00pm

Opening Night Address 2025

$30 (booking fee included)

Join us for the 2025 Words on the Waves Writers Festival Opening Address.

Together, we will hear fiery dispatches from three acclaimed speakers, each pondering the festival theme: burning bright.

Esteemed social psychologist and ‘national treasure’ Hugh Mackay has always sensed the winds of change before anyone else. Tonight he’ll encourage us towards kindness and finding the best in ourselves and in others. Wiradjuri man and public intellectual Stan Grant will share a personal and poetic paean to peace, forgiveness and ‘deep respect’. And we are delighted that self-described ‘journalist-ish’ Jan Fran – best known for hosting ABC’s Question Everything – will share her unique take on the world.

Don’t miss this inspiring event, which also launches the festival’s fifth celebratory year here on the Central Coast.

Doors 6:30pm for a 7pm SHARP start.

There is a bar onsite with drinks and nibbles available for purchase

Local independent bookseller, Umina Beach Book Nook, will be on site on the evening to sell copies of authors’ books for signing after the event.

Please note: Ticket sales made via our Program Partner, The Art House Wyong. You will be taken to their website to finalise your booking. Their refund policies apply.

Update 5 May: Kumi Taguchi unfortunately can no longer join this event due to a change in her filming commitments. We will be joined by the fabulous Jan Fran instead.

Stan Grant

Stan Grant is a Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi man. He is a public intellectual who has worked as a journalist, presenter, filmmaker and author. He has published seven books, including the bestselling Talking to My Country, which won the Walkley Book Award. His most recent book is Murriyang: Song of Time.

Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay AO is a social psychologist and the bestselling author of 24 books, including nine novels. His book The Kindness Revolution looks at how we can retore hope, rebuild trust and inspire optimism. His latest non-fiction is The Way We Are: Lessons from a Lifetime of Listening. He has had a 60-year career in social research and is a former deputy chair of the Australia Council for the Arts.

Jan Fran

You would be hard-pressed finding an Australian journalist today who straddles the worlds of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media as uniquely, effectively and successfully as Jan Fran. Jan is a Walkley award-winning journalist and commentator known for hosting ABC’s Question Everything and previously Channel Ten’s The Project and SBS’s The Feed. She’s also an independent creator on social media, where her political commentary videos attract millions of views. Her latest project is a six-part investigative series for Radio National on the 1998 Waterfront dispute. Jan Fran best describes herself as a journalist…ish.

The Art House

The Art House is the centre of arts on the Central Coast. Since opening in 2016, it has become a venue of national significance and was awarded Performing Arts Centre of the Year in 2022, whilst also providing a state-of-the-art performance space for the local community.

Umina Beach Book Nook

Festival bookseller Umina Beach Book Nook is friendly spot for book lovers at beautiful Umina Beach. Why not pop by for a browse.