Beloved Queenslander Nick Earls and distinguished historian Joy Damousi join the Whitsundays Writers Festival
Airlie Beach QLD 8 April 2024 – The Whitsundays Writers Festival is delighted to announce famed Queensland author Nick Earls and award-winning historian and author Professor Joy Damousi AM as new additions to the speaker line-up.
Joy is one of Australia’s most distinguished historians and is the Australian Catholic University’s Dean of Arts.
Festival President Karen Jacobsen expresses her excitement. “This Festival will be a thrilling event for readers, writers, and thinkers. We’re excited for Joy’s participation, particularly in a conversation on artificial intelligence (AI) and creative writing – to learn more about the impact of Open AI and to debate if the writer and storytelling will ever be replaced by AI.”
Furthermore, the Festival is proud to announce prolific Queensland author Nick Earls.
Nick Earls is the author of 28 books for adults, teenagers, and children including bestselling novels such as Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses and Perfect Skin. His writing has won awards in Australia, the UK, and US. Five of his novels have been adapted for theatre and two, 48 Shades of Brown and Perfect Skin, have become feature films. His most recent works are the novel Empires and the novella series Wisdom Tree.
“Nick is a Queensland author with an important body of work from his decades long career, and we cannot wait to feature his writing in this year’s program,” said Karen. “We eagerly await his insights gained from his own author journey and PhD research into 21st century novella writing and publishing.”
“Joy and Nick’s contribution will add a rich dimension to our Festival program, as we elevate the role of the arts and creative expression. Attendees will love this engaging programming about how we come to see and understand ourselves and the world around us,” Karen remarked.
With nine speakers already announced, the 2024 Festival is shaping up to be a highly sought after national event. Joy joins authors Shankari Chandran, Garry Disher, Sally Hepworth, Kirsty Manning, Christos Tsiolkas, Anne Buist, Graeme Simsion, Karina Kilmore, Melissa Ashley, and Jack Roney in this year’s program.
Details about the Festival’s local author line up and ticketing will be released late April.