2026 Brisbane Writers Festival
Thursday, October 08 – Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Catch these Magabala creators at the 2026 Brisbane Writers Festival.
Bebe Oliver
First Word Opening Address
Thu 8 Oct 2026
3:00PM-4:00PM
Parkside Marquee
BWF’s 2026 opening speech will be delivered by one of Australia’s most accomplished authors and educators: the Gudanji/Wakaja and Kalkadoon writer Debra Dank. Dank’s luminous 2023 memoir, We Come With This Place, won an unprecedented four prizes at the 2024 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, plus the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal; her recent books, Ankami and Terraglossia, delve with lucidity and grace into the vicissitudes of language, loss and living.
At this very special event, you'll also hear from BWF’s 2026 First Nations Cultural Curators, Bruce Pascoe, Samantha Faulkner and Bebe Oliver, from select event sponsors and from BWF Artistic Director Jackie Ryan.
First Stories Collective
Fri 9 Oct 2026
5:00PM-6:00PM
Fairfax Studio
What does the future of storytelling look like when First Nations voices lead the conversation? This panel explores cultural authority, publishing, readership, literary infrastructure and the power of stories within public memory and national identity. Bringing together leading First Nations writers, the discussion will examine the opportunities and tensions facing the sector, and what it’ll take to build a thriving and self-determined literary future for generations to come.
Bruce Pascoe
First Word Opening Address
Thu 8 Oct 2026
3:00PM-4:00PM
Parkside Marquee
BWF’s 2026 opening speech will be delivered by one of Australia’s most accomplished authors and educators: the Gudanji/Wakaja and Kalkadoon writer Debra Dank. Dank’s luminous 2023 memoir, We Come With This Place, won an unprecedented four prizes at the 2024 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, plus the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal; her recent books, Ankami and Terraglossia, delve with lucidity and grace into the vicissitudes of language, loss and living.
At this very special event, you'll also hear from BWF’s 2026 First Nations Cultural Curators, Bruce Pascoe, Samantha Faulkner and Bebe Oliver, from select event sponsors and from BWF Artistic Director Jackie Ryan.
Mother Earth
Fri 9 Oct 2026
11am-12pm
Underground Theatre
Featuring Melissa Lucashenko, Judy Watson, Samuel Watson. Mother Earth is a sacred being – a source of life, knowledge and sustenance that we must care for and respect. Join these leading First Nations artists as they discuss making Mother Earth the centre of spirituality and protecting culture.
Curated by Bruce Pascoe
The Library That Made Me
Fri 9 Oct 2026
2:00PM-3:00PM
Parkside Marquee
Libraries are special places: they offer refuge and escape, connection and solitude, inspiration and peace. Celebrate the magic of these storied institutions with a conversation featuring contributors from The Library That Made Me, an anthology of love letters to libraries everywhere.
Bruce Pascoe: Big Sky
Sat 10 Oct 2026
9:30AM-10:30AM
Underground Theatre
Bruce Pascoe in conversation with Melissa Lucashenko. What happens when an Aboriginal farmer and an astrophysics professor look to the heavens and talk about what they see? Big Sky chronicles a powerful and perspective-shifting dialogue between award-winning Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe and accomplished astrophysicist Ray Norris. It’s both an illuminating meeting of minds and a vital union of science and philosophy, showing us what we can learn from millennia of First Nations sky knowledge and how it can help us navigate the ecological uncertainty of our future.