‘Sydney is not a shallow city': Major change for Sydney Writers' Festival
Almost 30 years after launching at the State Library of NSW in 1997, the festival is to become a resident company of the Macquarie Street institution in the same way that Opera Australia or the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performs mostly in the Sydney Opera House.
Arts Minister John Graham has awarded $1.5 million to the writers' festival for the first year for events at the library – outside its one-week annual May festival at Carriageworks – starting from September.
The investment precedes the upcoming launch of the state's writing and literature strategy – the first time an Australian government has put together a comprehensive plan to support writing and literature, Graham said.
'I see Sydney as a city of ideas. I don't accept that Sydney is a shallow city,' he said. 'We've got some of the best writers, some of the most engaged readers and writers and, with the library and the festival working together, it will strengthen both institutions.'
Festival-led talks and events at the library will rise from the current trial of six to 10 a year to between 75 and 80 events annually, confirming the library as the festival's second home. It's all part of the evolution of the writers' festival into a literary institution that conducts year-round events programs for local and international thinkers and a platform for new and diverse voices in the manner of Melbourne's Wheeler Centre.
'That's huge growth for Sydney Writers' Festival, and presents increased opportunities and access both for the literature sector and for NSW,' the festival's chief executive Brooke Webb said. 'There are shrinking paid opportunities for writers right now and, if we don't address this now, in 20 years' time writing just won't be a viable choice for people.'
In Australia, writers are among the poorest paid creatives, earning on average $18,500 a year, yet reading and writing remain vital to personal wellbeing, and economic and social prosperity.
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