Latrobe Literary Festival

The Latrobe Literary Festival was first held in 2016 as a morning workshop and an afternoon author panel. It has grown since to include more diverse events such as performances, poetry and children’s activities. It is held annually in late May, usually during Library and Information Week.

An important aspect of the festival programming is to include local authors, whether for talks or as tutors. Over the years, we’ve programmed Gippsland-based writers including Honey Brown, Scot Gardner, Margareta Osborn, Alice Robinson, Amy Espeseth and more.

A mix of creative writing workshops and author presentations, the festival has attracted some big names and award-winning writers including Sofie Laguna, Alice Pung, Demet Divororen, Les Twentyman, Cath Crowley, Mark Brandi, Vikki Petraitis and Victoria Purman.

Latrobe Literary Festival is billed as ‘your local festival for all things reading and writing’. We want to break down the perception that literary festivals are elite or only for city folk. Everyone is welcome to attend our festival and enjoy its relaxed vibe.

The festival is supported by independent Traralgon-based book shop Readers Emporium and Writers Victoria.

Our big festival weekend will run alongside the Sydney Writers Festival Live & Local livestream from 20 to 22 May.

Outside of the weekend there are in person and online author talks and a craft workshop.

Traralgon Library: Tuesday 17 May from 6pm to 7pm 

$5 booking fee. Book here.

Aussie crime writers Stephen Johnson & Hugh McGinlay will swivel the spotlight as they interrogate each other about their latest books.

Stephen, author of Boxed, and Hugh, author of Bodysurfing, will spill the beans on everything that goes into writing their page-turning crime series.

Stephen is an Australian-born writer, TV producer, kayaker and traveller who now plots crime fiction from his garret overlooking the Tamaki River in Auckland. His debut novel Tugga’s Mob was inspired by three seasons working as a tour guide on double decker buses around Europe in the ‘80s. It was a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best First Novel. Boxed is the second book to feature the Melbourne Spotlight television crew.

Hugh is a writer, musician and optimist. These poor career choices means that he has also worked as a bus driver, a kitchenhand, singing teacher and a seller of dental consumables. Now three books into the Catherine Kint series, he continues to be amazed at the levels his imaginary friends have been accepted into other peoples’ heads and bookshelves. As a musician he has released four albums and occasionally gets played on the radio. He lives in Melbourne with his wife, two children, a cat and six chickens.

Buy copies of their books and get them signed.

This event may be photographed. 

Book here.

Livestream takes place at Traralgon Library. Day and festival passes available. Book at Eventbrite. 

Friday 20 May

10–11am Art Spiegelman with host Morris Gleitzman.

12–1pm Michelle de Kretser & Christos Tsiolkas

2–3pm Steve Toltz: Here Goes Nothing with Sarah Krasnostein.

4–5pm But Not Forgotten Jackie Huggins on bell hooks; Sarah Krasnostein on Joan Didion; Melissa Lucashenko on Keri Hulme; and others. Hosted by Susan Wyndham.

Saturday 21 May

10–11am Barrie Cassidy & Friends: Election 2022 featuring Fran Kelly and Niki Savva.

12–1pm Sarah Winman talks about art, love and war in her joyous and richly drawn new novel Still Life with Ailsa Piper.

2–3pm Maxine Beneba Clarke & Omar Musa in conversation with Evelyn Araluen.

4–5pm The Limits of Imagination Damon Galgut (The Promise), Larissa Behrendt (After Story) and Paige Clark (She Is Haunted) join host Sisonke Msimang.

Sunday 22 May

*10–11am Rebecca Solnit: Orwell’s Roses with Sophie Black.

*12–1pm Where Angels Fear to Tread Hannah Marshall, Chris Masters and Kate McClymont choose their words carefully with Erik Jensen.

*2–3pm Liane Moriarty & Caroline Overington

4–5pm I Was Wrong

* sessions facilitated by Vikki Petraitis and Claire Halliday, guiding discussion after each broadcast. 

Download the full SWF program here: 

Sydney Writers Festival Live & Local Livestream Program

Traralgon Library: Saturday 21 May from 6pm to 7pm 

$5 booking fee. Book here.

Vikki Petraitis' career as a true-crime writer has spanned an impressive 25 years.

As a child, her love of reading was inspired by the adventures of the Famous Five and Nancy Drew, and today, as an award-winning writer, teacher, podcaster, and presenter, Vikki's love of the written word is even more passionate.

As if publishing more than 20 true-crime titles wasn't enough, Vikki's first podcast series - The Vanishing of Vivienne Cameron (based on her first book, The Phillip Island Murder) - has seen her create an ongoing collaboration with the internationally successful Casefile podcast and achieve more than three million global downloads by people who appreciate her justice-led, victim-focused take on the complex and intriguing world of true-crime.

Vikki has recently been announced as the inaugural winner of Allen & Unwin's Crime Fiction Prize and her novel 'The Unbelieved' will be published in August.

Join Vikki Petraitis in person - and in conversation - with writer/interviewer, Claire Halliday.

via Zoom: Monday 23 May from 6.30pm to 7.30pm 

Book here.

Gorrie's award-winning memoir is the powerful story of her life as an Aboriginal female police officer - and her fight for justice both within and beyond the Australian police force.

Veronica Gorrie is a proud Kurnai woman, who grew up full of cheek - and with a fierce sense of justice. Gorrie signed up for training to become one of a rare few Aboriginal police officers in Australia and, in her ten years in the force, despite witnessing appalling institutional racism and sexism, she provided courageous and compassionate service to civilians in need, including many Aboriginals themselves.

With a great gift for storytelling and a wicked sense of humour, Gorrie explores the impact of intergenerational trauma resulting from cultural dispossession, and the inevitable difficulties of making her way as an Aboriginal woman in the white-and-male-dominated workplace of the police force.

Black and Blue saw Veronica Gorrie win Australia's richest literary prize - the $100,000 Victorian prize for literature at the Victorian Premier’s literary awards.

Black and Blue is a witty, wise memoir of remarkable resilience and in the lead-up to Reconciliation Week, this online event is timely and important.

Traralgon Library Saturday 28 May from 10am to 12noon. 

$10 booking fee. Book here.

Every story, long or short, requires characters that catch a reader’s attention, propelling the plot through the choices that they make. It’s necessary to consider backstory, tics and habits, psychological layers and communication styles to build a strong character with a rich internal landscape and a nuanced relationship to the world through which they move. In this workshop, learn how to develop complex and believable figures who’ll linger in the mind.

Amy Espeseth immigrated to Australia in the late 1990s. A writer, publisher and academic, she is widely-published and is the recipient many scholarships, prizes and awards. Her first novel, Sufficient Grace (2012), received critical and popular acclaim.