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Secondary School Days
Join Sydney Writers' Festival for a day of discovery with Australia's most exciting literary talents.
Over five presentations, students will be inspired and challenged through thoughtful discussion of literature and ideas. Authors will share insights into the writing process, invite students to consider new perspectives and encourage them in their own creative pursuits.
The Secondary School Days program is programmed with students in Years 7 to 10 in mind, but is suitable for all high school students.
Dates and venues
🗓️ Monday 17 May – The Concourse, Chatswood
🗓️ Tuesday 18 May – Sydney Town Hall*
Schedule
🕤 9.30am Arrive at venue
🕙 10am Morning session
🕦 11.40am Lunch break
🕧 12.40pm Afternoon session
🕜 1.45pm Event finish
Tickets
Tickets are $30 per student. There is one free teacher ticket per 20 paying students and it's $30 per additional teacher.
Tickets to Sydney Town Hall are free for schools with an ICSEA value under 1,000. Please note, free tickets are limited so we recommend booking early.
You can read Sydney Writers' Festival's education payment terms and conditions here.
If you have any questions, please contact at [email protected] or via phone (02) 9256 4200.
Explore the program
Barry Jonsberg
Barry Jonsberg’s most recent YA novel, Darkest Night, Brightest Star, won the 2026 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers. It is a story about fractured families, masculinity and friendship. As a writer, Barry often tackles complex and emotionally charged issues, creating relatable characters that speak to young readers. Spend time with Barry as he takes us through his writing inspirations and processes.
Lynette Noni
Lynette Noni is one of Australia’s top selling authors, known especially for The Prison Healer and The Medoran Chronicles fantasy series. Her latest is the first volume in the Shadow Reaper duology, a book full of relentless twists, enemies-to-lovers romance, found family and high stakes action. Lynette will appear in conversation to discuss her approaches to fantasy world building.
Balli Kaur Jaswal
Balli Kaur Jaswal’s YA novel The Unpronounceables shines a light on second-generation migrant families and is a glorious celebration of Indian-Australian culture. With her work billed as a contemporary Looking for Alibrandi, Balli joins us to share how she tackled the messy and complex issue of identity in her warm-hearted and ultimately hopeful coming-of-age novel.
Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor is a #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning graphic novelist, screenwriter and comic book author. He is the co-creator of the CBCA winning Neverlanders series and has written for DCeased, Suicide Squad, Spider-Man, X-Men, and more. Tom will share insights into writing for visual mediums and answer all the questions you have about creating comics and graphic novels.
Meet the authors
Balli Kaur Jaswal
Balli Kaur Jaswal was born in Singapore and grew up in Japan, Russia and the Philippines. For her novel Inheritance, Balli won the 2014 Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Australian Novelist award. She is the author of five novels for adult readers and has been published in over 20 languages. Her fiction combines wit and heart with provocative social commentary and all of her HarperCollins novels have been snapped up for film development. Balli now lives in Australia with her young family.
Barry Jonsberg
Barry Jonsberg is a multi-award winning internationally acclaimed author of 28 books for children and young adults. His novel My Life As An Alphabet was made into the award-winning film H is for Happiness in 2019 and is currently being adapted as a Broadway musical. His books have been published in twenty countries and translated into fourteen languages, winning many domestic and international awards.
Lynette Noni
Australian author Lynette Noni studied journalism, academic writing and human behaviour at university before venturing into the world of fiction. She is the #1 bestselling author of The Prison Healer series, The Medoran Chronicles and the Whisper duology. To date, she has won three ABIA awards and a Gold Inky award, and her books have sold more than one million copies in over 20 countries across the globe. Her latest duology is The Shadow Reaper.
Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor is a #1 New York Times bestselling and Eisner Award–winning comic book writer, playwright and screenwriter. He is well known for his work for DC Comics and Marvel, writing for celebrated series Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Wolverine, Nightwing, Iron Man, Justice League, X-Men, The Suicide Squad and The Titans as well as many Star Wars comics. On top of this, Taylor is the writer and architect of DC Comics’ horror universe, DCeased, and its epic fantasy universe, Dark Knights of Steel.
Outside of his work with DC and Marvel, Taylor is the head writer and executive producer of the hit animated TV series, The Deep, based on his Aurealis Award–winning comics of the same name. He is the co-creator of C.O.R.T. Children of the Round Table, Seven Secrets and Neverlanders, the latter of which won CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers. He once lost a BAFTA award to Spongebob Squarepants.