Sun shines on writers festival as weekend attendance tops 7750

Saturday and it's full program of events was looking glum.

"I thought, 'even I don't want to go in'," she said.

But an hour later, she could see another pattern, the storm looked like it was going out to sea and Newcastle would be spared from a day of wicked weather.

As it turned out, Newcastle and the writers festival enjoyed a fabulous, sunny autumn weekend on both Saturday and Sunday.

Milsom's early estimate indicated 7750 attendees at the festival, which offered 95 events and 150 Australian writers. The opening night keynote event, ABC journalist Leigh Sales in conversation with Indira Naidoo, drew a crowd of 700 to Newcastle City Hall.

"We moved to NuSpace last year and we made some changes," she said on Monday, in summarising the 2024 festival. "This year the bookshop was in the foyer, there was a new cafe on site, which was amazing. There was no cafe on site last year. Those two elements in the main festival hub NuSpace just gave it such a vibe, there was a real energy in that foyer.

"At one point, I couldn't even move, it was overwhelming - young people, because we had family events, I think with lots of younger debut writers in the program, I just noticed a lot more younger people coming along, but really, people of all ages. It was just fantastic."

The festival was filled with top literary talent across a wide range of genres, from actor/writer Bryan Brown to Miles Franklin Award-winning author Shankari Chandran, from respected journalist David Marr to comedy star and commentator Wendy Harmer. There were discussions on sex, death, rom-coms, colonial history, indigenous family, environmental issues, food, fashion and poetry.

There were two art exhibitions in the program, and a specific words and music event at the Conservatorium of Music featuring Jim Moginie of Midnight Oil, Deborah Conway, poet and songwriter Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon, and Newcastle musicians Adam Newling, Piper Butcher, Dave Wells, Elijah Amoss, Nina Romeru, and Lachlan X. Morris and Bray Porter.

Behind the scenes, there was controversy, as Milsom and the festival defended the invitations to festival guests Deborah Conway and Clementine Ford, who had both been embroiled in controversy over their views on the conflict in Gaza.

"As an organisation, our stand was not to cancel people, and to hold a space for conversations, respectful conversations, as difficult as they may be at times," Milsom said.

"I feel what we managed to achieve was really extraordinary. People were able to attend and listen to conversations in a space that didn't cancel anybody."

Milsom credited Amy Lovat, the festival's new program director, with broadening the festival's reach, taking note of a record number of debut writers and Aboriginal writers in the festival.

"It's been a great collaboration and it's only going to get stronger," Milsom said of her and Lovat's programming effort.

Milsom also paid tribute to the "very loyal" Newcastle audience, while remarking on the number of visitors and writers attending the Newcastle festival for the first time.

At end of the day, it's about the audience experience.

"Leigh Sales is one of the most playful, self deprecating people you could meet," Milsom said. " And that is really refreshing for people... so many said, 'I didn't know she could poke fun at herself like that, that she could be so funny';. That's what being at a live event and seeing people engaging authentically is, you get this. It breaks down all those barriers. You can go up and speak to your favourite writer. And they are not intimating.

"There Is no barrier between you and the writer. For readers, because when you are reading a book it is an intimate connection with that writer, meeting them can be very special. It can be a very special experience."