Project Summary
The National Young Writers’ Festival (NYWF) is Australia’s leading festival and gathering of young writers. Established in 1998, the festival takes place on the land of the Awabakal and Worimi peoples in Newcastle, NSW. Each year writers and arts professionals under 35 years of age descend on Newcastle for four transformative days of events programmed for young writers. The festival’s mission is to provide a joyful, radical and transformative bootcamp for young Australian writers, and a free and accessible national arts festival which acts as the convergence point for Australia’s young, emerging and experimental writing communities.
This scoping study aimed to formally investigate and examine how the festival has contributed to the literary landscape of Australia over the last 25 years. In particular, it focused on the impact of the festival on creative practitioners and professionals; the trajectories of key participants; how it fosters a supportive, national writing community; where it is placed in the young writer ecosystem; and its connection with the local environment.
Project Outcomes
Following a series of interviews that were coded for themes, the research team produced a scoping study that investigated the NYWF’s distinctiveness among literary festivals in Australia; the way it built communities and facilitated creative experimentation; how it fostered participants’ career trajectories; and how the connection to Newcastle generated a strong sense of place.
Project Lead
Dr Jessica White, UniSA
Research Team
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Dr Hossein Asgari, UniSA
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Dr Stuart Richards, UniSA
Project funding partners
Supported by the National Young Writers’ Festival.
Resources/publications
- White, Jessica, Hossein Asgari, and Stuart Richards. National Young Writers’ Festival Impact Study. Australia: University of South Australia Creative People, Products and Places CP3, 2024. https://doi.org/10.25954/4213-0d03.
Contact information
Primary Contact: Jessica White
Email: jessica.white2@unisa.edu.au
