AFTER two years of disruption due to COVID-19, the Newcastle Writers Festival will return for its tenth year in April, 2022.
More then 100 local and interstate writers who were included in the recently postponed program in September will now be visiting Newcastle for the 2022 event, running April 1-3.
Festival director Rosemarie Milsom said she was confident that high rates of vaccination, especially in NSW, will enable the festival to go ahead as planned.
"By April it will have been three years since our last live festival in 2019, which is hard to believe," she said.
"Navigating the COVID crisis has been stressful and challenging. That we've been able to engage audiences and pay writers is testament to the level of support from government funders, sponsors, donors and the wider community."
The festival was the first major literary event of its type to adopt online program delivery in April 2020, as the COVID-19 crisis started to take hold in Australia.
In response to the pandemic a decision was made to move the event in 2021 from its traditional April dates to September while offering year round programming, which has included a successful podcast series and online program for primary school students.
The NSW Delta outbreak in June and subsequent travel restrictions forced the organisation to announce in July that it was postponing this year's event.
"The recent COVID-19 crisis unravelled unexpectedly and quickly," Ms Milsom said.
"But we are part of a resilient community and it's important we lead the way with confidence. I am very excited about once again sitting in a festival session surrounded by booklovers listening to some of Australia's most interesting and engaging writers. There's nothing quite like it."
The event would help boost the local economy through visitation, and the organisation will maintain its long-standing commitment to Hunter businesses including MacLean's Booksellers which manages the popular festival bookstore, Ms Milsom said.
The first guest artist announcement will be made on December 3. The program will be launched on March 3, 2022, and customarily include free sessions, as well as ticketed events which will go on sale on March 4.
The schools program, which is usually held before the remainder of the program, will be held at a later date, Ms Milsom said.
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