The first instalment of the 2025 Words on the Waves Writers Festival program is here! Celebrated authors and journalists will descend on the Central Coast May 28 – June 1 for author talks, headliner conversations, literary readings, storytelling soirees, writing workshops and more all illuminated by the theme: burning bright. Please join us booklovers, as we burn brightly this fifth birthday and together warm ourselves with the glow of literary discovery.

Day or Weekend Pass

The Day or Weekend Pass is your ticket to soul-tickling talks and mind-expanding conversations with some of Australia’s best authors. From politics to poetry, memoir to spy crime, Words on the Waves offers something to tempt every kind of booklover. On both Saturday May 31 and Sunday June 1 count yourself lucky, because you can catch some absolute heavy hitters: Kate Grenville, David Marr, Clare Wright, Gail Jones and more. Faces familiar to us from our favourite TV and radio broadcasts include Julia Baird, Steve Vizard, Jane Caro and Gideon Haigh. Fiction savants Emily Maguire, Inga Simpson, Jumaana Abdu, Charlotte McConaghy, Nikki Gemmell, Jessie Tu and James Bradley meet non-fiction winners Debra Dank, Lech Blaine, Peter Greste and more.

You can now browse our Saturday May 31 program and Sunday June 1 program, and then purchase tickets for each Day or the Weekend. The Day Pass entitles you to four (4) sessions across two venues, Ocean Beach SLSC and Umina Beach SLSC (the Weekend Pass entitles you to 8). You can select any Session you wish to attend. Book signings will follow each event. These sessions are accessible via a Day or Weekend Pass only.

Saturday May 31 Program

Sunday June 1 Program

Highlight Events

Don’t forget our radiant array of Highlight Events: poetry and reading evening Late Night Lit, outrageous storytelling soiree Story Club, the Saturday headliner An Evening with Kate Grenville at our fun-loving festival marquee The Dip, and the return of our prestige launch event, the Opening Address at The Art House Wyong. Do you have a book inside of you, just itching to get out? Join our professional development day, Writing Up Stream, with industry experts.

Tickets for the Highlight Events and Writing Up Stream workshops and panels can be purchased separately to the Day Pass.

The Dip Festival Marquee

Our fun-loving festival marquee, The Dip, is back! Located in the Peninsula Recreation Precinct in Umina Beach (next to Jasmine Greens Kiosk and near Umina Beach SLSC), it is our home for low-cost, high-impact author talks on Saturday May 31. Special guests include Blanche d’Alpuget, Rosie Waterland, Hugh Mackay, and the launch of our inaugural Poetry Slam. On the Sunday June 1, join us for the free Family Fun Day!

Tickets for The Dip sessions can be purchased separately to the Day Pass and Highlight Events.