Here's the proof Canberra punches well above its literary weight

When it comes to big names in Australian literature, the 2024 Canberra Writers Festival (CWF) has been hailed as the most ambitious yet – but the festival never has, and never will be, all about literary rockstars.

Equally important to its ethos is a celebration of the national capital’s local talent, of which there is an abundance, according to artistic director Beejay Silcox.

“The narrative that this is just the place people come for politics couldn’t be more wrong. In Canberra and region, we’re so lucky to have an incredible wealth of talent,” she says.

“We have amazing writers, journalists, poets and storytellers and we want to celebrate that vibrant community of people who are enriching our cultural fabric.

“It’s such a privilege to not only get to introduce Canberrans to big names of the country but to the real extraordinary talent in their own backyard as well.”

Of a program of about 100 writers, nearly half are local. They come from diverse backgrounds, from ecology to sociology, journalism to First Nations poetry.

Billed as a “joyful collision of art-makers, big thinkers and storytellers”, the CWF’s diverse lineup of established and emerging writers includes locals such as Inga Simpson, who will be launching her latest work, The Thinning.

Beejay says this “departure” from the novelist and nature writer behind Willowman (2022) was one book lovers could get excited about.

“Willowman was a beautiful highlight of my reading year. Now Inga has created this propulsive eco-thriller that raises big questions about who we are and what we value,” she says.

“This is a magnificent local writer who is taking risks and trusting her gut in deciding what to write about.”

Festivalgoers will also be intrigued by the story behind Theodore Ell’s latest work, which Beejay describes as a “love letter to Lebanon” after the husband of a diplomat survived the infamous Port of Beirut explosion in 2020.

“He wants people to know it as more than the site of that disaster, and given what’s happening in the world right now, it couldn’t be more timely,” she says.

“This is an outsider’s account of a country on the brink of crisis, but also a survivor’s account of living in a place and celebrating all that’s wonderful about it, and it’s very sensitively done.”

Ell will also be selling his book of poems, the manuscript of which only survived the explosions because it was blown out of a window and caught in the branches of a tree.

Also among the local author lineup will be Andra Putnis, author of Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me – a book Beejay says readers will struggle to put down.

In it, the long-time public servant unveils her family history and secrets as revealed by her two beloved Latvian grandmothers, who survived the deadly Russian and Nazi occupations of their time.

“The whole process was incredible. I discovered the most extraordinary true stories had been rattling around my grandmothers’ heads, waiting to be told,” she says.

“I discovered one was at the Daugavpils festival when the Latvian people realised they were about to be invaded by the Soviet army in June 1940. Hearing all the remarkable things she witnessed was so emotional, and I came to realise how very important it was to document these eyewitness accounts.

“The book tells her whole life story in the context of these momentous historical events of war and displacement, punctuated by all these human stories of love and separated families.”

For more information or bookings, visit the Canberra Writers Festival.