Perth has become the only Australian state capital without a major writers’ festival after a proposed refreshed programme for early 2026 failed to be scheduled, leaving a gap in the city’s cultural calendar that established and volunteer-led events are attempting to fill.
Background and immediate impact
Literary activity has been part of Perth’s cultural life since the University of Western Australia founded what grew into Perth Festival in 1953. The festival’s writers’ programme evolved into a stand-alone Perth Writers Week in the 1990s and was known by that name from 2018. After the pandemic, the scale of the writers’ events was reduced and, in 2024, Writing WA and the State Library of Western Australia jointly delivered the weekend programme.
Organisers say the intention to establish a new festival still exists but that any relaunch must be done at the right time and scale to be sustainable. In the meantime, smaller events around the metropolitan area and in regional centres have expanded their offerings.
“I had no special insight into the festival’s thinking,”
— Per Henningsgaard, chair of Writing WA, told reporters he understood why restarting a major festival might be daunting given recent national controversy around literary programming.
Who is filling the gap?
In the absence of a single, large-scale writers’ festival in Perth, a constellation of smaller, volunteer-supported events and regional gatherings have broadened their programmes. These include:
- Festival of Fiction in Joondalup
- Totally Lit in Fremantle
- Mandurah Writers Festival
- Kalamunda Writers Festival
- The ABC’s Big Day of Books in Perth
- State Library one-day events featuring Premier’s Book Awards shortlisted authors
Regional events have also benefited from targeted funding and programming strategies that make them attractive to international and interstate visitors. The three-day Margaret River Writers and Readers Festival has drawn higher-profile overseas and interstate authors, supported in part by Tourism WA funding to Arts Margaret River dating back to 2017. The festival’s general manager, Michelle Wright, said scheduling that aligns with Sydney and Melbourne festivals helps share international-author travel costs.
| Event | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Festival of Fiction | Joondalup | Volunteer-led expansion |
| Totally Lit | Fremantle | Community-driven programming |
| Margaret River Writers and Readers Festival | Margaret River | Three-day event; benefits from Tourism WA funding |
Questions for Perth’s cultural future
While smaller festivals provide valuable opportunities for writers and readers, chairs and sector leaders warn they cannot fully replace a major festival that employs full-time staff and sustains year-round programming. Writing WA chair Per Henningsgaard said the national debate on literary programming complicates efforts to restart a larger event, and that volunteer-run initiatives are limited in capacity.
For Perth — a city that has hosted literary activity under the Perth Festival umbrella for seven decades — the absence of a single flagship writers’ event prompts questions about how the city markets itself to authors and cultural tourists, how programming dovetails with interstate festival calendars, and where permanent funding and staffing will come from for any relaunch.
Organisers and stakeholders will be watching whether a formally rescheduled Perth Writers Week or an alternative major festival emerges with the financial and organisational backing to restore Perth’s place in Australia’s national festival circuit.
