We're moving! 2025 dates and venue announcement
Save the date: we're moving to October, and to the Brisbane Powerhouse!
We’re thrilled to announce Brisbane Writers Festival will be starting an exciting new chapter in 2025 with a move to the iconic Brisbane Powerhouse. We’ll also be moving our dates to later in the year, so mark your calendars:
9–12 October 2025
After two years of record-breaking ticket sales and attendances, BWF Artistic Director Jackie Ryan is delighted the festival can now offer our writers and audiences the opportunity to enjoy larger theatres, more intimate event spaces and expanded dining options offered by Brisbane Powerhouse.
The central Turbine Platform will also be transformed into a giant bookshop during the festival, operated by new partners Avid Reader & Riverbend Books, two of Brisbane’s most beloved independent bookstores. More from Jackie below:
“The visually stunning Brisbane Powerhouse is well established as one of the most popular and exciting event destinations in our city, which makes it the perfect new home for Brisbane Writers Festival as our audiences and our ambitions grow.
“In 2025 and beyond, festival fans can look forward to BWF’s page-turning program of stimulating live events and talks, featuring some of the most loved authors in Australia and internationally, in the diverse riverside spaces offered by Brisbane Powerhouse.
“I’m also excited by our move to October, as this will put BWF at the forefront of the pre-Christmas season, when so many new blockbuster books are released.”
Brisbane Powerhouse CEO/Artistic Director Kate Gould is thrilled to welcome BWF to the Powerhouse’s stellar line-up of cultural festivals and events in 2025. “Brisbane Powerhouse has a devoted audience for writers and literature, making Brisbane Writers Festival the perfect partner for a venue-wide takeover,” she said.
“Together we will transform Brisbane Powerhouse, inside and out, to deliver an extraordinary literary celebration but still with the relaxed Brisbane vibe that defines this much-loved event.”
We at BWF would like to thank the State Library of Queensland, our home of many years, for their support in the growth of the festival.
Stay tuned — the BWF 2025 program will be announced mid-next year, and we will have a fantastic program of out-of-season events in the meantime.