Held over three days – May 4 to 6 – the festival will be held at Charles Sturt University’s Ponton Theatre, a new venue, as the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre was unavailable.

The festival is set to use two nearby multi-purpose teaching rooms to stage workshops and panel discussions throughout the weekend.

Jenny Barry, co-organiser of the the event alongside Kylie Shead, said there will be plenty to do across the three days.

“There will be a diverse program, with local and international authors to make up a panel discussion,” she said.

“The Great Festival Read [on Sunday afternoon] will be one of the highlights. It is where everyone reads a book beforehand and comes along to discuss it.

“This year’s book is The Lucky Galah by local author Tracy Sorensen.”

Sorensen’s novel will be discussed by a local panel featuring book lovers Warwick Franks, Danielle Hart, Joanne Reid and Victoria Erskine and everyone is encouraged to read The Lucky Galah to take part in the interactive session. 

Another highlight of the festival will be on the opening night, with special international guest author Ashleigh Young. 

Young is a New Zealand writer, poet and literary editor and was the winner of the prestigious 2017 Windham-Campbell Prize for her collection of essays Can You Tolerate This? 

The festival is organised by the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, in partnership with Books Plus and consists of three days of lived streamed sessions direct from the Sydney Writers’ Festival. 

A terrific line-up of international and Australian authors are set to feature in the live stream sessions from the Sydney Writers’ Festival and all sessions are free.

Friday’s sessions are set to begin at 9am and run to 8pm, with a 9.30am start and 9pm finish on Saturday.

Sunday runs from 9.30am to 5.30pm. 

The program for this year’s festival can be found on at www.bmec.com.au or at Books Plus.