Thank you!

What an inspiring and thought-provoking weekend! The 2018 Newcastle Writers Festival has been blessed with wonderful conversations, audiences and weather. We couldn’t do it without the support and encouragement from a number of organisations and individuals. And of course our guest writers and facilitators bring the program to life. We are blessed with the most amazing team of volunteers and without your support there wouldn’t be a festival. Thank you to our 2018 core funder Revitalising Newcastle – NSW GOV. Without their support there may not have been a sixth festival. Scot MacDonald worked behind the scenes to ensure we could get on with presenting a diverse and ambitious program. Three cheers for our longstanding major sponsor Newcastle City Council and to Nuatali Nelmes – Lord Mayor of Newcastle for being such an enthusiastic advocate (you really should stop disappointing your book club with your slack reading habits!) In 2018, the The University of Newcastle, Australia increased its funding and participation in the program with the inaugural NEW Thinking series. We appreciate the ongoing contribution by professors John Germov, Cathy Coleborne from the School of Humanities and Social Science, Paul Egglestone from the School of Creative Industries. Thanks to the passionate team at Enigma Agency for your brilliant creative input. Encouraging and inspiring children is at the heart of what we do and this year we couldn’t have reached so many young people through our Schools Program without the backing of Newcastle Port Corporation and The Catfish Foundation. Our Schools Program visited Cessnock for the first time because of the enthusiam and hard work of the team at Cessnock City Council’s library. We love supporting local businesses and this year we held events at The Press Book House and Foghorn Brewhouse. The Hunter Writers Centre supports us as well as working hard to encourage aspiring and emerging writers in the region. And a big welcome and thanks to our new sponsors Hunter Water, EJE Architecture, Quest Newcastle West and Margan Family Wines Hunter Valley. Thanks also to Fourth Wave Wine for your ongoing contribution. We couldn’t get the word out about our events without our media partners Newcastle Herald, ABC Newcastle, The Star (Newcastle and Lake Macquarie), NBN Television and Intouch Magazine. Visiting writers have the privilege of staying at Rydges Hotels & Resorts – thank you to management and staff. As always, the hard-working teams at MacLean’s Booksellers and Scion AudioandEvents provide quality service and friendship. We pride ourselves on our collaborations within the Newcastle arts community and we want to acknowledge The Lock-Up, Renew Newcastle, Newcastle Studio Potters & Back to Back Galleries, Gallery 139, Poetry at the Pub, Newcastle, Newcastle and Hunter Valley Folk Club, Catchfire Press, Idea Bombing Newcastle and The Olive Tree Market. We also value the creative contribution from Spineless Wonders Short Australian Stories. Special mention to local businesses FogHorn Brewhouse, Studio Melt and Catherine Henry Lawyers. Director Rosemarie Milsom extends her deep appreciation to the NWF board members, designer Miranda Whittle, and photographers Chris Patterson and Liam Driver, and our social media guru Emma Walsh. Thank YOU for your support. You encourage us to be bold. See you at the 2019 festival, 5 to 7 April.