A great event, truth be told

A WORLD-CLASS line-up of authors, writers and personalities featured at the fourth annual word for word National Non-Fiction Festival last weekend at the Geelong library & Heritage centre.

Jelena dokic, Peter Fitzsimons, Julian Burnside Qc, Tracey spicer, John safran, Frank Moorhouse, Tim Flannery, Alice Pung, Benjamin law and susan carland were among the 80 presenters appearing at 44 events over the festival weekend.

Topical panel discussions included politics, death and dying, history, climate change, feminism and faith, armed forces, with sessions of comedy too.

Attendance numbers had dramatically increased on last year’s event, with festival coordinator rochelle smith extremely pleased with the future of the annual literary festival.

“It was really fantastic to see so many of the local community attend the event and listen to speakers across a variety of subjects,” rochelle said.

“It was definitely an emotional rollercoaster. We had a wide range of heavy topics discussed which generated some great audience discussion and participation.

“It was just amazing and I’m definitely looking forward to next year’s event already. let the planning begin!”

Former Tennis prodigy Jelena dokic was a popular speaker amongst festival goers, revealing many personal details about her abuse outlined in her book Unbreakable.

For more information on the event and speakers, visit wordforwordfestival.com.au.