Sydney Writers' Festival

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The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Sydney. The festival began in 1997, with most events being held at the State Library. The festival has since rapidly expanded, and is currently held at the Wharf 4/5 at Walsh Bay. The event runs for approximately one week in May each year, and plays host to more than three hundred authors from around Australia and the world. They include writers of fiction and non-fiction, poets, philosophers and historians. Past guests have included Alain de Botton, David Suzuki and Naomi Wolf. More than 65,000 people attend each year and the program is largely free to the public. The program is curated by the Festival's artistic director and participation is by invitation only.

In 2008 festival organisers prevented students from tbe University of Technology Sydney from distributing Festival News, a newspaper for the festival produced by journalism students. The organisers objected to content criticising the New South Wales government, a major sponsor of the event.