{"id":190569,"date":"2026-07-02T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=190569"},"modified":"2026-07-01T21:10:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:10:01","slug":"readers-embrace-new-literary-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/readers-embrace-new-literary-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers embrace new literary festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE Surf Coast&#8217;s newest festival has made a strong first impression, with hundreds of book lovers attending the inaugural Surf Coast Writers&#8217; Festival in Torquay.<\/p>\n<p>Held at RACV Torquay Resort on Saturday, the festival featured more than 20 sessions with some of Australia&#8217;s best-known authors, spanning crime fiction, memoir, poetry and contemporary literature.<\/p>\n<p>Festival co-founder Mia de Rauch said the response from readers, writers and authors had exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/730040722_1788854965_21673_tn_w600-1.jpg\" alt=\"The festival featured more than 20 sessions with some of Australia\u2019s best-known authors.\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The festival featured more than 20 sessions with some of Australia\u2019s best-known authors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The feedback throughout the day was incredible,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People told us they felt inspired, welcomed and energised. Many said they had already started planning to come back next year before the day had even finished.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The event attracted visitors from Melbourne, Geelong and regional Victoria, with readers filling sessions, meeting authors and joining book signings throughout the day.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/731022985_1788854964_21689_tn_w600-1.jpg\" alt=\"The event attracted visitors from Melbourne, Geelong and regional Victoria. Photo: Alex Shore Photography.\" width=\"600\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The event attracted visitors from Melbourne, Geelong and regional Victoria. Photo: Alex Shore Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We started this festival with a simple goal: to create a place where stories bring people together,&#8221; de Rauch said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Saturday proved there is a real appetite for that here on the Surf Coast.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was a genuine sense that something special was happening. Watching readers meet their favourite authors, seeing aspiring writers ask questions they&#8217;ve been waiting years to ask, and witnessing new friendships form over a shared love of books was incredibly rewarding.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/730258660_1788854968_21674_tn_w600-1.jpg\" alt=\"Surf Coast Writers Festival founders Mia de Rauch and Kate Walsh. Photos: Alex Shore Photography\" width=\"600\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Surf Coast Writers Festival founders Mia de Rauch and Kate Walsh. Photos: Alex Shore Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Organisers are now planning to bring the festival back in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE Surf Coast&#8217;s newest festival has made a strong first impression, with hundreds of book lovers attending the inaugural Surf Coast Writers&#8217; Festival in Torquay. Held at RACV Torquay Resort on Saturday, the festival featured more than 20 sessions with some of Australia&#8217;s best-known authors, spanning crime fiction, memoir, poetry and contemporary literature. Festival co-founder [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/readers-embrace-new-literary-festival\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":190598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_section_post":"right_list","home_featured_section_post":"right_list","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-190569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Readers embrace new literary festival - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Surf Coast&#039;s newest festival has made a strong first impression, with hundreds of book lovers attending the inaugural Surf.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/readers-embrace-new-literary-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Readers embrace new literary festival - 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