Sydney Writers' Festival

Sydney Writers' Festival is over for another year. More than 450 writers came together in Sydney for one of the world's leading literary events, and more than 80,000 people came to the hundreds of SWF sessions to listen, to learn, to engage, to debate, to discuss.

The introduction of two new venues at Pier 2/3 drew an additional 13,000 people to the Festival precinct this year. Over 73,000 people attended events in Sydney, compared with 60,000 in 2007. Overall attendances at the Festival were 80,000. The record-breaking crowds saw packed houses for many events and ticket sales and book sales were also the highest ever recorded.

The new venues at Walsh Bay were a success, enabling significant improvements in terms of crowd management, as well as producing a wonderful village feel. Close to perfect weather for the duration of the Festival always helps, of course.

I am thrilled with the overwhelming response to the program. I think this year's Festival was, in terms of content, one of the most challenging yet, and the increased engagement with the Festival demonstrates that Sydney audiences willingly embrace new ideas. The continuing media coverage of Festival guests indicates the importance and significance of the Festival to Sydney and the rest of Australia.

I can still feel the euphoria as the two thousand-strong crowd flowed from the Opera House after being uplifted by Jeanette Winterson's Opening Address. And while such headline events touch many, for just as many it is those hidden gems - the smaller, less conspicuous events without the well known names - that sometimes are the most rewarding.

Feedback is flooding in from writers, readers and stakeholders. Attendance figures are a quantifiable way of gauging success, but it would be a shame for the size of the audience to eclipse the nuances of the Festival and the importance of each session, or the little acts of kindness that took place, such as the Festival volunteers who fed small children so their mother could attend a session with her teenage son, and in that session, the teenager was reminded of his love of books. Or when Samantha and her seeing-eye dog Geraldine returned, as they do every year, and were assisted through the Festival by a host of different people at various times. Or the Festival Sunday, SWF's inaugural family day, when the average height of the Festival audience shrank to about one third as the Walsh Bay precinct was overrun with babies, toddlers and small children - the readers of the future. Or the tears in the bathroom as one woman was moved beyond words at the story she had just heard on stage.

Junot Diaz presented this year's Sydney Writers' Festival Closing Address. He told his audience that he saw his closing role as that of a ferryman, to "bring you back, safe, with all the things you've learned and felt intact within you. It's my duty to return you to the mundane world where books are not universes or beating hearts". Festivals are temporary, by definition ephemeral, but the echoes of that week in mid-May continue. Festivals remind us that the world is extraordinary.

For those who like to plan ahead, Sydney Writers' Festival 2009 will be held from 18 to 24 May. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the podcasts and vodcasts of selected sessions from this year's program.

Wendy Were
Artistic Director & Chief Executive