Despite the weather, this year’s Words on the Waves Writers Festival saw a dramatic increase in attendance, with the audience increasing by more than 20 per cent on previous years.
The festival, which took place from May 29-June 3, recorded more than 5,000 attendances, with an additional 1,088 local primary and high school attendances recorded for the festival schools program.
An increase in attendance was largely due to the addition of The Dip, a new venue and program stream aimed at engaging a broader and more diverse audience base.
The Dip’s free family fun day alone was attended by more than 1,200 people.
Likewise, ticket sales for the popular main program, held at Umina and Ocean Beach surf life saving clubs, were up on 2,023.
“As the festival has developed and grown we’ve become known for the calibre of our authors and for great conversations in our sessions,” festival director Angela Bennetts said.
“Our audiences also tell us how much they appreciate having a writers festival on the Central Coast, combining stunning scenery and culture, and I think that’s helping our audience numbers go from strength to strength.
“This year with the support of the NSW Government through CreateNSW, we were able to offer a range of free and financially accessible sessions including cooking, mental health, history, parenting and fiction, in addition to a dramatically larger family fun day featuring children’s book authors and illustrators, craft and Indigenous storytelling.
“We also included our new Central Coast Reads program, which aims to connect socially isolated seniors with the support of the Department of Communities and Justice, all of which proved to be very popular.”
Bennetts said with success in the 2024/25 round of CreateNSW funding, next year’s festival is set to be even bigger and better.
Festival bookseller BookFace Erina also reaped the benefits of a popular program with strong sales over the weekend.
The more than 100 authors who took part in over 80 sessions also praised the experience.
“Words on the Waves was amazing … it was a really great session and a beautifully run event,” Julie Goodwin said.
Cheryl Akle said despite the rain the festival felt busy and full of life.
“I spoke to so many people who were enjoying it so much,” she said.
“It seems to me that the growth has been exponential and I know how much work goes into that.”
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