Sydney Writers' Festival
The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in Sydney, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The festival's interim artistic director since August 2020 is Michael Williams. History. The festival began in January 1997, with most events initially held at the State Library of New South Wales. The first independent Sydney Writers' Festival ran from 12 to 17 May 1998, with 169 participants appearing in venues in, and around, the centre of Sydney. Since then, the Festival has rapidly expanded . The Festival moved from Walsh Bay to Carriageworks in May 2018 (Walsh Bay is undergoing a major refurbishment). Events were also held at venues stretching across Sydney, from the City Recital Hall and Sydney Town Hall in the city centre, into suburban Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Held mid-to-late May each year, the Festival now involves over 400 participants and presents over 300 events in renovated piers at Walsh Bay. Other festival locations include Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall, and Sydney Opera House. Events are also regularly held in regional and suburban locations including  Parramatta, Ashfield, Auburn, Blacktown, Bankstown, Campbelltown, Hornsby, Penrith, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong. Approximately one-third of all Sydney Writers' Festival events are free of charge. Festival attendances have reached over 90,000 each year since 2007. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Sydney Writers' Festival Limited is a not-for-profit company with an independent board of directors. The chairs of the festival have been: