Emerging Writers’ Festival has entered your orbit. Read on to see which of our events this year has been fated for you…

ARIES

For the courageous Aries, the time has come for you to brave the spookiest of literature EWF has to offer on the hallowed evening of Monday, 19 June at 8pm. Scream Scenes promises an evening of spooky and silly stories backdropped by matching cinema projections. Dress up in your scariest horror garb, mingle with fellow ghouls, and listen to a lineup of readings sure to make your hair stand on end. 

Join us at Thornbury Picture House if you dare: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/scream-scenes/

TAURUS

Your foundation of responsibility and stability, traits oft rooted in the hearth and home, has drawn this partnered event with Pantera Press into your orbit; On Intergenerational Stories. Hear father and daughter, Lamisse and Hazem Hamouda, discuss the intergenerational approach to their co-written book, The Shape of Dust.

Join us on Thursday, 22 June at 6pm at The Wheeler Centre: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/on-intergenerational-stories/

GEMINI

With a spontaneous nature like yours, it is no wonder why EWF’s birthday party is perfect for you! In partnership with Willy Lit Fest, both festivals are turning 20, and you’re invited to the party! Come for a drink, games, a slice of cake and of course the party playlist. Hear the founders of both festivals in conversation with current artistic directors, as they reflect on the past two decades.

Let’s party at Peachy Keen on Sunday, 18 June, 6pm: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/birthday-party/

CANCER

The loyalty and belonging that is core to your sign is powerful enough to bring together people, concepts, and even… fields?

In partnership with State Library Victoria, the fields of sports and literature come together at Re-Forming the Field, where sports-focused writers and artists explore representation in sport storytelling, the creative possibilities in sport and how we can use sport to tell our stories.

Find your team on Tuesday, 20 June at 1pm: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/re-forming-the-field/

LEO

Bring the confidence you carry so well with you to the page with Dinner Party Press. Express yourself in new ways at this workshop where you’ll learn to transform your intimate erotic prose or poetry into a spoken declaration of desire with Dinner Party Press and Emerging Writers’ Festival, hosted by Emily Westmoreland.

Manifest your inner Leo at Willows and Wine on Monday, 19 June at 2pm: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/from-page-to-stage/

VIRGO

As a Virgo, your inner perfectionist has been longing for the perfect medium; the perfect way to express your ideas in a medium that, like you, is more than the sum of its parts.

Let Alistair Baldwin sate this desire with Writers’ Night School: Writing TV, and learn what it means to create meaningful, unforgettable television.

Join us at The Wheeler Centre on Wednesday, 21 June at 6:30pm: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/writers-night-school-writing-tv/

LIBRA

The balance and fairness you propagate and strive for can be found in many places; explore the inherent hybridity of the Libra by peaking behind the creative curtain of writers working with the written word in the digital space.

Presented in partnership with Arts Access Victoria, Into the Hybrid: A Dialogue of New Works is coming into orbit on Tuesday, 20 June at 11am at The Wheeler Centre: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/into-the-hybrid-a-dialogue-of-new-works/

SCORPIO

Great feuds and scandals are borne of the deepest of passions, something this water sign is no stranger to.

While we can’t condone the sharing of real literary gossip, join some of EWF’s favourite writers at Meat Market on Thursday, 15 June at 6pm as they share the most scandalous gossip they could imagine – emphasis on imagine.

Come along to hear the juiciest made-up stories of silly scandals and fake feuds: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/xoxo/

SAGITTARIUS

The Sagittarius craves a medium as dynamic and spontaneous as themself: enter hip-hop. Learn the history of hip-hop and literature — in its 50th year of international recognition — in this deeply compelling conversation about the ties between music, culture and literature at Section 8 on Friday, 23 June at 2pm. Stick around for the kick-ons: a lineup of DJs and MCs curated by Section 8.

Don’t miss it: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/i-got-a-story-to-tell/

CAPRICORN

This earth sign is methodical and practical, in many ways, like language itself. Explore the many facets of these traits at the Immigration Museum where Australian Multilingual Writing Project curates a fluid display of literature. Writers will perform in Urdu, Hindi, French, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, English and Spanish to promise an evening of waterworks.

Presented in partnership with Museums Victoria on Wednesday, 21 June at 7pm: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/ewf-x-amwp-spillways/

AQUARIUS

Explore the philosophical and independent edge that bubbles in this water sign by bringing it to the open flame at Collingwood Yards on Thursday, 22 June at 7:30pm. Experience performances dedicated to oral storytelling, adventure, myth, and legend around the campfire. This unique, immersive Winter Solstice celebration will be one that keeps an Aquarius bubbling long after the flames have died down.

Don’t miss out: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/hibernal-under-the-moon/

PISCES

Romantic notions of publishing can be difficult to quell for a sign like Pisces, but it is sometimes necessary to hear just how much more is involved than signing a book deal and watching your Google Doc be whisked away into a hardcopy relic. 

EWF has brought this free panel conversation into your orbit so that you can hear from Pantera Press publisher, Lex Hirst, and author, Sasha Kutabah Sarago, about the rigorous, collaborative editing and publishing process.

Join us at The Wheeler Centre on Wednesday, 21 June at 6pm: https://2023.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/event/on-being-published/

Tag us on Insta and Twitter @emergingwriters to share your #EWF23 horoscope with us. Emerging Writers’ Festival kicks off on Wednesday, 14 June.