Get the inside scoop on the Northern Beaches Readers Festival

When she’s not busy writing books – like her latest novel, The Lyrebird Lake Ladies Choir –  author Sandie Docker has found other literary pursuits to fill her time. As the founder and creator of the Northern Beaches Readers Festival (NBRF), a normal day for Sandie might involve wrangling authors, meeting with the festival committee or writing grant applications for events.

This year marks the second run of the biennial festival, which kicked off in 2022. The festival’s first season was a smashing success, and this year promises more fun, laughs and – of course – plenty of books.

To learn more about the festival and find out what readers can expect from it, we caught up with Sandie.

Your festival differs slightly from others because it’s a readers festival, rather than a writers' festival. What inspired you to make that differentiation?

Calling it a readers festival was a very deliberate choice.

For many authors – including myself – writing novels is really about the relationships that we have with our readers, it's not about us. Once a book is out there, it ceases to be about the author. Instead, it’s about the readers and their interaction with the work.

We wanted to have a festival that focused on that connection and bring those readers and authors together in a lovely, warm way.

That's really cool; it's such an interesting perspective shift.

Yeah, I think it is. So many people who attended the 2022 festival said they loved the vibe and how easy it was for readers to access their favourite writers. People loved how friendly the festival was, which was really important to us from the beginning.

Someone mentioned that focusing on the readers instead of the writers takes the ego out of it, which I thought was an interesting perspective – and it's true.

Are there any talks, panels or authors you’re especially excited to see or hear from this year?

That’s like trying to choose who my favourite child is!

There are about five or six repeat authors from the last festival, but there are also a lot of new authors attending. In 2022, we were conscious of people coming out of that COVID-era and being nervous about travel, so we stuck to Sydney-based authors.

This year, now that we're that bit further away from COVID and have a bigger budget, we're bringing in interstate authors, which is fabulous. So I’m very excited about that.

 

 

 

 

 

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A lot of festivals happen in bigger cities. How is it different having this festival in the Northern Beaches?

We’re a different style of festival, so when we were thinking about the location, we wanted it to be in a nice place where people might want to spend a weekend.

We chose Avalon because it’s not too far from the city, relatively easily accessible and close to authors who live in the Northern Beaches – there are a lot of us!

It just seemed like a nice destination for people to come to. Avalon has a nice atmosphere and gives off a holiday vibe. It’s very village-like, which we felt fitted with the overall vibe we were trying to achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

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Have you found that hosting this event has helped strengthen the author community?

Yeah, and it’s something that the authors loved about it the last time around.

We all follow each other on socials, and the writing community is very supportive anyway, but when you meet people in person, it’s different. Authors were fangirling over other authors at the festival. This year, some authors have even been in touch with each other about sharing accommodation during the festival. It's a tight community already, but it will be even tighter after this.

Did you have any experience with event planning before this? What was it like putting on this huge event?

I went into it completely naïve. I had been lamenting the fact that there wasn't a festival that I felt suited my tastes.

Instead of sitting back and wishing for somebody else to do it, I thought maybe that somebody could be me.

I very blindly decided to create a literary festival and asked a few of my writer-type friends to join me. I convinced them it was a great idea, and then we did it! Maybe it was a blessing that we didn't know how much work was involved at the outset, or else we might not have followed through.  

What has the reception from readers been like?

All the readers who came to the festival in 2022 absolutely loved it. People came from all over, not just the Northern Beaches (in fact, the smallest percentage of our attendees came from the Northern Beaches). Readers came from Sydney, country Victoria, far north Queensland and beyond because where else would you get to see all these different authors together?

Many of those same people have booked again to come this year. They loved it and loved the accessibility of authors. We didn’t usher authors in from a private green room, put them up on stage and then usher them away again. We were mingling with each other, chatting with each other.

Quite randomly, at the 2022 festival, a spontaneous dinner happened. Word got around that people were going to one of the restaurants, and so there we were, having dinner with about forty to fifty people. Big authors were there, debut authors were there, some of our volunteers and several readers were there. Everyone was sitting around chatting, eating, talking books. It was great!

Will you be holding some writing workshops again this year?

We definitely will because a lot of readers are aspiring writers as well.

It’s not the bulk of our programme, but it is there.  Candice Fox and Pamela Cook are both hosting workshops – both of which have already sold out!

 

 

 

 

 

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That dinner sounds incredible. Do you have any other favourite memories from the previous readers festival?

The debate we had to close the festival in 2022 was Fabulous. We had Judy Nunn on one side and her husband Bruce Venables on the other. Dinuka McKenzie, Tim Ayliffe, Julie Bennett and Holly Wainwright were the other speakers, and Michael Robotham hosted it.

He gave them all nicknames and it was just hilarious. They were discussing the topic ‘The book is always better than the movie’, and it was just hilarious.

This year, our closing event is ‘Battle of the Bookish Brains’: a trivia event like none other. Participating authors include Ashley Kalagain Blunt, Maya Linnell, Kate Solly, Benjamin Steveson and Greg Woodland . . . plus five lucky audience members – will you be one of them? 

Once again, Michael Robotham is taking a leading role as Quiz Master!

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to attend?

Plan early! Book accommodation and travel early because it is the first weekend of the school holidays.

Accommodation in Avalon is mostly Airbnb, so that would be one thing I would suggest. I also think it's great to make a weekend of it.

If you haven’t bought tickets yet, make sure to do that. Events are selling out fast!

Learn more on the Northern Beaches Readers Festival website.