Feature Events are separately ticketed events outside of the main Festival program. Featuring a curated selection of guests and interviewers, these performances and intimate conversations will have you laughing, crying and truly inspired.
Seats are filling fast, so grab a date and book now! Read on for details and booking links.
Lemn Sissay in conversation with Richard Fidler
Lemn Sissay will take us from a tough beginning as a child of the state, to a life of triumph as the poet of choice for major international cultural events. As Chancellor of Manchester University and alumni of TEDx, he’s a man of influence. With Richard Fidler leading the conversation, get set for an enthralling evening with one of England’s great performance poets.
Date: Friday 3 August
Time: 7 – 8pm
Venue: Byron Theatre
Cost: $30
The Saturday Paper’s Bedtime Stories
Catch Tim Rogers as MC to ‘Bedtime Stories’…last year’s smash hit returns with four Festival authors retelling their books in the style of a children’s bedtime story. Entertaining, funny, heartfelt and of course a little comforting. Curated by The Saturday Paper’s Erik Jensen, this year’s event will feature literary great Tom Keneally, The Trauma Cleanerauthor Sarah Krasnostein, The Guardian columnist Brigid Delaney and asylum seeker advocate Kon Karapanagiotidis.
Event Partner: The Saturday Paper
Date: Friday 3 August
Time: 8.30 – 9.30pm
Venue: Byron Theatre
Cost: $30
Writer and legal academic Sarah Krasnostein’s multi-award-winning first book The Trauma Cleaner tells the story of Sandra Pankhurst’s extraordinary life in death, decay and disaster. With Richard Fidler guiding the discussion, this event is sure to be fascinating to the last cleansing revelation.
Date: Saturday 4 August
Time: 6.30 – 7.30pm
Venue: Byron Theatre
Cost: $30
Live Storytelling: Stories of Place
Five Byron Shire locals each tell a 10-minute tale drawn from life. Featuring Dr Mary Gardner, Arakwal woman Delta Kay, Mayor Simon Richardson and Southern Cross University Vice Chancellor Adam Shoemaker. Curated by professional storyteller Jenni Cargill-Strong.
Supported by Brookfarm
Date: Saturday 4 August
Time: 8 – 9.15pm
Venue: Byron Theatre
Cost: $15
Peter Greste in conversation with Jane Hutcheon
Veteran correspondent Peter Greste was arrested in Cairo in 2013 and released without explanation after 400 days. Part memoir, part history, The First Casualty is about how the war on journalism has spread from Middle East battlefields to Western governments. Greste will be in conversation with ABC TV One-on-One presenter, Jane Hutcheon.
Event Partner: The Byron at Byron Resort and Spa
Date: Friday 3 August
Time: 7 – 8pm
Venue: The Byron at Byron Resort and Spa
Cost: $30
Women Like Us: The Show
If you would prefer to laugh yourself silly, crowd favourite Mandy Nolan and partner in crime Ellen Briggs are putting on the ultimate show, Women Like Us; two hours of rapid fire stand-up comedy at Elements of Byron. Irreverent, outrageous and totally real, these girls don’t just deliver in the birth suite, they do it on stage.
Date: Saturday 4 August
Time: 7.30 – 10pm (inc. interval)
Venue: Banksia Pavilion, Elements of Byron
Cost: $35
Liane Moriarty in conversation with Ashley Hay
Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of seven internationally bestselling novels, read by more than 10 million people worldwide. Her 2014 smash hit Big Little Lies debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list and garnered some serious attention, namely by Resse Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman who went on to co-produce the book into an award-winning HBO TV series.
Event Partner: Lennox Arts Board
Date: Saturday 4 August
Time: 7.30 – 8.30pm
Venue: Club Lennox, Lennox Heads
Cost: $30
Penned Pals
Ailsa Piper and Tony Doherty (authors of The Attachment) celebrate their favourite collected correspondences in this surprising, tender and sometimes hilarious charmer of a performance. Includes afternoon tea provided by Bangalow CWA.
Event Partner: Friends of the Libraries, Byron Shire
Date: Thursday 2 August
Time: 2 – 4.30pm
Venue: Moller Pavilion, Bangalow Showgrounds
Cost: $25
Wonderbabes by Kate McDowell
Wonderbabes is a performance poem underpinned by a live electronic score that conveys one young woman’s brutal test of her social and sexual capacity.
Event Partners: NORPA and Lismore City Council
Date: Thursday 2 – Saturday 4 August
Time: 7 – 9pm
Venue: The Quad, Lismore
Cost: $30
