New Newcastle Writers Festival artistic director Amy Lovat won't be "completely reinventing the wheel" but hopes to attract more marginalised groups and young readers to its audience.
Lovat has been unveiled as part of a two-pronged leadership team, which also features Central Coast-based managing director Tristan Sharp.
The pair will be tasked with continuing the success of the Newcastle Writers Festival (NWF) following the departure of founder and director Rosemarie Milsom after 14 years.
Ms Milsom was appointed in May as the director of the Adelaide Writers' Week.
"As a writers' festival, we are always looking to connect with all areas of the community, so marginalised groups in the community, little pockets of the community who may not know about the festival, but we feel could program ideas and sessions and writers that would reflect back to them their experiences," Ms Lovat said.
"We're always looking to diversify and welcome more and more audience members.
"I think for me personally, I am really excited by the idea of trying to capture younger people, younger audiences, because they are the future. Kids and teenagers and uni students, they're our future audiences in the years to come."
As a born-and-raised Novocastrian, Lovat has been part of the festival since its inception when she volunteered while a PhD student at the University of Newcastle.
The published author also spent the past three years serving as the NWF's program manager.
"I've been so privileged to work closely with Rosemarie [Milsom] in the last few years and have learned a lot," Ms Lovat said.
"She's built this festival from the ground up. It's blossomed into an incredible asset for Newcastle.
"But it has become too big for one person, and I think that's why this new opportunity of splitting the role into 'artistic director' and 'managing director' is particularly exciting, so I can focus on the curatorial side of things and the creative programming. We can all play to our strengths."
Sharp brings more than 25 years' experience in the arts to the managing director role and has previously held positions with the Central Coast Conservatorium of Music, Australian Classification Board, Powerhouse Museum and Newcastle Art Gallery.
This year's NWF had the highest attendance in its 14-year history and experienced its most widespread publicity after Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah was announced as a speaker, just a month after she was controversially dumped from the Adelaide Writers' Week in the aftermath of the Bondi Massacre.
Even NSW Premier Chris Minns waded into the debate, describing the decision to book Dr Abdel-Fattah as "crazy".
Ms Lovat said the NWF would continue to curate thought-provoking line-ups as it builds towards its 15th edition on April 2 to 4, 2027.
"We are living in an increasingly pressured world politically and culturally, so I think that's why it is so important for writers' festivals to continue to thrive," she said.
"We need those spaces where we can respectfully share ideas. Obviously writers' festivals have become a hotspot and a target for controversy, which obviously makes my role even more important, and I'm deeply conscious of the responsibility of creating a program that is considered and safe and respectful but also shares challenging ideas and multiple perspectives.
"The great thing about Newcastle Writers Festival is that we enjoy curatorial independence.
"We invite writers on the merit of their work. We're all about celebrating great books, great writers, and great ideas, and that position will remain as we move into our 15th year and beyond."
