Context Writers Festival 2026 – a different narrative
🗓️ Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November 2026
📍City of Adelaide Library, North Terrace
Level 1 Spence Wing, State Library of South Australia
Context Writers Festival 2026 is open for bookings!
Context Festival is a free, three-day festival that brings diverse, vibrant new voices and conversations to audiences through panels, readings and workshops. This year, Context will be held from 20 to 22 November on Kaurna Yerta, at the new City of Adelaide Library, North Terrace.
Context 2026 has been guest curated by Courtney Jaye, and Olivia De Zilva and Tamara Montina (of Opinionated). The program features a bold and interdisciplinary line-up of local and national artists, with sessions based around a sense of community, sharing and perspective.
Presented by Writers SA with City of Adelaide, with support from Writing Australia and Create SA.
A Pop-Up Bookshop run by Mostly Books will be open across the three days of Context Festival. You can find the bookshop on the Bridge to the City of Adelaide Library, Level 1, Spence Wing, State Library of South Australia.
FRIDAY 20 NOVEMBER
The Long Table – different histories, different narratives
🕘 5.00-6.30pm
The Long Table is both an open discussion forum and a performative gathering, inviting participation and observation alike. Take a seat at the table – or be in the audience.
Guests – Dominic Guerrera, Mali Harkin-Noack, Rick Slager, Susie Anderson, Timmah Ball, Zarah Yakubu, Alex Sawyer, Alysha Herrmann, Alyssa Powell-Ascura, Delilah Waan, Emma Pei-Yin, Jazz Fechner-Lante, Kirste Vandergiessen, Mindy Gill, Patrick Marlborough, Shelley Parker Chan and you.
SATURDAY 21 NOVEMBER
🕘 DOORS OPEN 9.30am
Breakfast Baos with the Curators
🕘 10.00-11.00am
Indulge in a slow morning of readings and a Vietnamese-style breakfast with the curators.
Join the curators (of Opinionated), Olivia De Zilva and Tamara Montina, for a Vietnamese-style breakfast and curated readings by Timmah Ball and Mali Harkin-Noack.
Take a seat amongst the library shelves and enjoy complimentary steamed baos and Vietnamese iced coffees to kick-start the Saturday programming. For those who avoid dairy, we will also have an equally energising, iced jasmine tea option.
Moderators: Tamara Montina & Olivia De Zilva
Readings: Olivia De Zilva, Tamara Montina, Timmah Ball, and Mali Harkin-Noack
Together We Speak Louder – Advocacy / Action / Community
🕘 11.15-12.15am
A panel discussion about young people leading the charge for resistance and change in a volatile political and cultural landscape.
Jing Xuan Teo and Marina Sano will speak on their experience as young people navigating the intersection of literature and third spaces through their bookstore, Amplify. The two will discuss the theme of resistance and raising your voice in a deeply volatile, political, and social landscape.
This conversation will be moderated by writer, editor and bookseller, Emma Pei Yin.
Moderator: Emma Pei Yin
Panellists: Jing Xuan Teo, Marina Sano
Writing From The Margins
🕘 12.30-1.30pm
How do we channel authenticity when writing from a marginalised point of view? How does a marginalised point of view empower writers and readers to stand strong against hegemony and represent powerful truths?
Timmah Ball, Susie Anderson, Emma Pei Yin, and Alyssa Powell-Ascura gather to examine the positioning of BIPOC writers on the outskirts of mainstream publishing, and the realities of claiming voice and space through the written word.
Moderators: Alyssa Powell Ascura
Panellists: Emma Pei Yin, Susie Anderson, and Timmah Ball
Found Through Fantasy
🕘 2.15-3.15pm
In this panel, explore how POC writers can use writing to build fantastical worlds that feel expansive of culture and explorative of identity
Join epic fantasy novelists, Shelley Parker Chan (author of ‘She Who Became The Sun’) and Delilah Waan (author of ‘Petition’) as they discuss how the fantasy genre can empower writers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to write inventively against harmful expectations and stereotypes.
This panel will be moderated by Justina Ashman.
Moderator: Justina Ashman
Panellists: Shelley Parker Chan, Delilah Waan
Writing While the World Is Watching
🕘 3.30-4.30pm
How do we create and express ourselves freely under the threat of late-stage capitalism and surveillance?
Is it possible to create freely under the threat of late-stage capitalism and surveillance? What is the real cost of self-censorship?
This panel discussion will delve into using writing as a tool to confront censorship and erasure, and in turn, regain agency and power.
Susie Anderson and Mali Harkin-Noack will sit with Katerina Bryant for a conversation about what it means to write openly and honestly in an age of scrutiny, and how storytelling can serve as an outlet for advocacy.
Moderator: Katerina Bryant
Panellists: Susie Anderson, Mali Harkin-Noack
Literary Speed Dating (18 to 26 yrs) – Exclusive Event
🕘 5-6pm
📍 The Loft, Minor Works, 22 Stamford Ct, Adelaide
A new take on in-conversations and networking.
Calling all emerging writers (aged 18 to 26) to submit to this exclusive opportunity for a round of industry speed dating.
Literary Speed Dating is designed to give emerging and aspiring writers (aged 18 to 26 years old) a focused opportunity to speak with industry professionals, ask practical questions, and leave with clearer next steps.
Each conversation should be purposeful, respectful, and concise so that everyone has a fair chance to participate.
Ask The Editor: Alisa Ahmed (Hardie Grant)
Ask The Publisher: Emily Hart (Pink Shorts Press)
Ask The Literary Journal Editor: Farrin Foster (Splinter Journal)
Ask the Bookseller: Annie Waters (Mostly Books)
Fill out the form HERE to be considered (due on 15th of October).
Please note: This is not a pitch day. The purpose of the session is to have practical, focused conversations with industry experts, ask questions, and gain insight into possible pathways, expectations, and next steps.
Participants: Alisa Ahmed (Editor Hardie Grant), Emily Hart (Publishers, Pink Shorts Press), Annie Waters (Owner / Bookseller Mostly Books), Farrin Foster (Editor Splinter)
SUNDAY 22 NOVEMBER
🕘 DOORS OPEN 9.30am
Serve the Tea Blak: Conversation about Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea
🕘 10am-11am
A conversation by K.A. Ren Wyld and Natalie Harkin about Harkin’s new book Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea and K. A. Ren Wyld’s Southerly Essay Serve the Tea Blak.
In this powerful live conversation, author of Aboriginal (Martu) descent, K. A. Ren Wyld and Narungga author, Natalie Harkin come together to explore the stories, memories and acts of resistance that sit at the heart of their work. Bringing Harkin’s new book Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea into conversation with Wyld’s Southerly essay Serve the Tea Blak, the two writers reflect on loss, love, survival and refusal, and on the ways Aboriginal women carry, protect and remake story across generations.
Through poetry, essay and conversation, Harkin and Wyld consider what it means to write from memory, family and Country, and to reckon with the histories that remain present in everyday life. Moving between the personal and the political, this conversation explores grief and resilience, domestic and cultural memory, and the enduring strength found in Aboriginal women’s stories. Together, they ask what survives, what is carried forward, and what it means to refuse the narratives imposed upon us.
Participants: Natalie Harkin and K. A. Ren Wyld (tea and coffee provided, from the pot and the jar)
Emerging Writers: Reading and Panel
🕘 11.15am-12.25pm
Enjoy readings and a panel by incredible emerging Aboriginal voices within the Australian writing space.
Hear from an exciting new generation of Aboriginal writers in this lively session of readings and conversation. Susie Betts, Tikari Rigney, Mali Harkin-Noack and Zarah Yakubu, moderated by Ali Gumillya Baker, come together to share their work, reflect on their journeys into writing, and speak about what it means to be emerging Aboriginal voices in the literary space.
Through readings and panel discussion, the writers will explore the opportunities they hope to see for new Aboriginal writers, the excitement and challenges of building a writing practice, and the people, communities and mentors who have encouraged them along the way. This is a celebration of new voices, new stories and the possibilities that come with making space for the next generation of Aboriginal writers.
Moderator: Ali Baker
Panellists: Susan Betts, Mali Harkin-Noack, Tikari Rigney, and Zarah Yakuba
More Than: Ways to Tell First Nations Stories
🕘 1:10pm-2:40pm
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories are not only written on the page. Celia Coulthard, Dominic Guerrera, Jayda Wilson and Jannali Jones come together to discuss the many ways Aboriginal stories can be shared, experienced and carried across different mediums and generations.
Drawing on their work across art, writing, performance and creative practice, the panel explores how story can move beyond words on paper while remaining grounded in culture, community and connection. Together, they consider the power of different forms of storytelling, the possibilities that emerge when mediums intersect, and how Aboriginal stories continue to resonate, adapt and speak to audiences across generations.
Moderator: Celia Coulthard
Panellists: Dominic Guerrera, Jayda Wilson, Jannali Jones
Telling Intergenerational Stories
🕘 2:55-4.10pm
A panel of Children, Young Adult and Adult Fiction Aboriginal authors who write for both this and the next generation.
What does it mean to write stories for the next generation? Authors Mykaela Saunders, Jared Thomas and Gary Lonesborough come together with Courtney Jaye to discuss writing across Children’s, Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and the responsibility and possibility that comes with creating stories for readers growing up now.
Drawing on their own work, the authors reflect on writing stories that young people can see themselves in, while creating worlds, characters and ideas that resonate across generations. Together, they explore the importance of representation, the stories that stay with us as we grow, and the role writers can play in shaping what the next generation reads, imagines and carries forward.
Moderator: Courtney Jaye
Panellists: Mykaela Saunders, Gary Lonesborough, Jared Thomas
Since its inception in 2019, Context has carved out a place in Australia as a new type of literary festival for writers. It is an accessible, interdisciplinary, participatory weekend celebration of story.
Context Writers Festival is part of Spring Writes, a collaborative initiative designed to amplify the extraordinary reading, writing, and award events happening across our state from September through November 2026.
Read more here.
