Celebrating its landmark 40th anniversary, Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) today unveiled its program for 2026, with more than 150 artists appearing across the city this 7-10 May.
From intimate conversations in cosy bar corners to blockbuster events at Melbourne Town Hall, MWF 2026 marks four decades of uniting readers and writers in one of the world’s great literary cities.
Brought together by the theme Visions & Revisions, this year’s program sees writers, thinkers and storytellers from across Australia and the world explore ideas that matter: the futures we imagine, the stories we carry, and the revisions – personal and collective – that define us.
MWF Opening Night on 6 May will feature original readings and performances responding to this theme by Omar Musa, Don Watson, Ariana Reines and Sophia Brous, plus the announcement of *The Age Book of the Year Awards.*
Kicking off the busy festival weekend on 7 May, former Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand Jacinda Ardern (NZ) sits down with Virginia Trioli at Melbourne Town Hall, offering her global perspective on leadership in times of crisis. Renowned for her empathetic, values-driven approach to politics, Ardern reflects on the battles of her political career, navigating motherhood in the public eye, and her advice to the next generation of leaders.
In a headline double billing, internationally bestselling novelist R. F. Kuang will also appear at Melbourne Town Hall that same evening. The hugely popular author behind Yellowface and Babel will discuss her latest spellbinding novel Katabasis, the perils and power structures of academia, and the power of speculative fiction with Shelley Parker-Chan.
Activist, historian and author Tony Birch will deliver the 2026 MWF Closing Night Address on 10 May, sharing a meditation on the ethics of reading and writing, and the responsibility that comes with creative freedom. Drawing on stories and poetry by First Nations and other writers, Birch considers how literature fosters empathy across difference, and what it means to read and write with courage and an ethical imagination.
Michael Pedersen, Mieko Kawakami. Image: MWF
‘Many hands, hearts, pens and minds’
In curating the 2026 program, MWF Festival Director Veronica Sullivan is joined by local First Nations Curators Evelyn Araluen, Anita Heiss and Daniel James, who each bring their own distinct creative vision to the festival line-up.
Sullivan said, “Since 1986, MWF has been shaped and sustained by countless visions. Whether contributing as artists, audiences, volunteers or supporters – many hands, hearts, pens and minds have forged the festival’s legacy.
“You’ll hear from bestsellers, prize winners and electric new voices in fiction, poetry and memoir; from our most trusted journalists and political commentators; and from local writers who have been inspired by our City of Literature.
“You’ll be transported around the world; from the jungles of Borneo with Omar Musa, to a housing commission in Hungary with David Szalay, and to the very depths of Hell with R.F. Kuang.”
Man Booker Prize-winning author Yann Martel, best known for the modern classic Life of Pi, returns to Australia for the first time in a decade to unveil his much-anticipated new novel Son of Nobody.
Journalist and human rights advocate Antoinette Lattouf presents Women Who Win, a fierce, unflinching celebration of women who defied expectations, shattered barriers and rewrote the rules without asking permission. Lattouf is joined by one of the book’s subjects, activist and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, for a conversation about defiance, resilience and what it truly costs to speak out, hosted by Tasneem Chopra.
Attendees at previous Melbourne Writers Festival events. Image: MWF
Eager festival-goers can add to their to-read piles in preparation for a trio of book club-style events over the festival weekend.
MWF also heads to the suburbs, with events at local libraries in Doncaster, Hawthorn, Kooyong, Melton and Moonee Valley, bringing the festival to readers who might not otherwise make it into the city.
MWF 2026 features many more panels, conversations, workshops, performances and children’s programming across its four-day season.
The Melbourne Writers Festival is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and City of Melbourne.
• Melbourne Writers Festival’s main program runs Thursday 7 May to Sunday 10 May
• The previously announced Melbourne Writers Festival Schools Program runs from Monday 4 May to Friday 8 May
• Tickets to all events are on sale now via mwf.com.au
• The theme for the 2026 Festival is Visions & Revisions
• Visit mwf.com.au for more details
Top image: Melbourne Writers Festival line up for 2026.