Please read all the information carefully before applying for Sydney Writers Festival.
Please click on the application link above to APPLY (Registrations now open)
Inviting Food Vendors Only to Apply. No Market Stalls.
Food vendors must be available for the duration of the event.
Festival Dates 18-24 May 2026
Trading Dates 20-24 May 2016
Times TBC: 8 am to 9 pm daily
Venue: Carriageworks
Pax: 4,000 to 5,000 daily
Sydney Writers’ Festival brings together a broad and engaged community around the sharing of books, writing and ideas.
Each May, we host brilliant storytellers across all forms in a thoughtful, challenging, riotous fun week-long celebration of writing, books and ideas at our home at Carriageworks in Sydney’s Inner West and across the city. Since our first Festival in 1997, the world’s best novelists, poets, journalists, public intellectuals, economists, politicians, podcasters and scientists have come together to discuss some of the most pressing issues of our times on our stages. By showcasing a wide range of Australian and international writers, the Festival helps sustain Australia’s literary community and culture as a whole. We are proud to present a Festival that through careful curation acts as a barometer of the world around us, and offers an invitation to hear new ideas, stories and voices in our beautiful city.
| Key Dates | Date |
|---|---|
| Start Date | Wednesday 20th, May 2026 08:00 AM |
| End Date | Sunday 24th, May 2026 10:00 PM |
| Stage 1 - Notification to successful applicants | Friday 13th, February 2026 |
| Stage 1 - Full Payment Due | Friday 6th, March 2026 |
| Stage 2 - Notification to successful applicants and unsuccessful applicants | Friday 27th, February 2026 |
| Unsuccessful applicants bonds refunded | Friday 29th, May 2026 |
| Stage 2 - Full payment due | Friday 6th, March 2026 |
| Health services documentation due | Friday 24th, April 2026 |
| Final bond refund or Rollover | Friday 5th, June 2026 |