Apollo Bay gears up for a weekend of stories and ideas

APOLLO Bay’s annual celebration of stories, ideas and language will return later this month, with a diverse line-up of literary talent, thought-provoking conversations and community-led events.

Taking place between July 25 and July 27, this year’s Apollo Bay WORDfest promises a packed program of author panels, workshops and youth-focused events tackling this year’s theme, “real and imagined”.

Anglesea’s Mark Smith, who is best known for his young adult fiction works including the Winter Trilogy, will join Port Fairy local Jock Serong and Melbourne-based psychologist Kylie Ladd for the festival’s first panel session on July 26.

The trio will discuss the question ‘What if?’ along with the themes from their latest novels, with Smith’s Three Boys Gone exploring a teacher faced with an impossible choice, Serong’s Cherrywood an imaginative tale of reinvention, and Ladd’s The Mix-up tackling an IVF blunder that leaves two children questioning their identities.

Award-winning Tasmanian author and historian Maggie Mackellar, poet and novelist Lia Hills, and Rachel Morton, who last year won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript, will follow.

Each have published novels that reflect deeply on a longing for belonging and connection with the land, and will discuss “the real dirt” as they take the audience through the paddocks of Tasmania and across the Wimmera desert to the lakes of Guatemala.

A deep dive into “imagined futures” will round out the event’s author panels, with Kate Mildenhall, whose novel The Hummingbird Effect was longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize, and Walkley award-winning journalist Tracey Spicer set to discuss progress, remnants best left to the past, and the aspects that must be preserved for a more hopeful future.

Beyond the main stage, the literary festival will offer plenty for writers and readers of all ages. Short story competitions, a book club session and writing workshop will run throughout the weekend, while a series of sessions targeted towards little readers and young emerging writers will kick off the festivities on July 25.

The Apollo Bay WORDfest’s annual crowd pleasing literary sparring event the Great De(Bay)te – described as “a battle of wit and well disguised insults” – will take over the Mechanics Hall on the evening of July 26, while the festival’s first day will culminate in an open mic-styled, stand-up poetry event, known as Poetry & Pies.

The WORDfest’s organising committee say all forms of expression and languages are welcomed at Poetry & Pies – whether the poem of choice is an original, personal favourite, or even a song – while the Apollo Bay Bakery’s award-winning pies will round out the offering.

For more information, to view the full program, or purchase tickets, head to apollobaywordfest.com