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This year's Festival marked a very special anniversary for our longest-standing volunteer, the incredible Adeline Teoh. If you're familiar with the Festival, chances are you're familiar with Adeline, who has welcomed thousands of Festival-goers big and small across 20 years.
We sat down with Adeline to discuss her journey as a volunteer at Sydney Writers' Festival and of course, her favourite books!
What's your favourite volunteering role at the Festival?
My favourite volunteer role are the School Days because of the enthusiasm of the kids. You also get to do a little bit of everything – ushering, artist management and signing. Plus you get to see everyone go home happy and that's such a satisfying feeling.
What first prompted you to sign up for our volunteer program 20 years ago?
20 years ago I was working at a women's magazine and we were profiling the Festival director at the time, Caro Llewellyn, and I thought she was cool and that the Festival sounded really good so I looked for ways to be involved. As I love volunteering, I thought let's volunteer for the Festival and see how we go.
What has been your favourite Sydney Writers' Festival event you've ever attended?
My favourite kinds of events are always the school days, I really love seeing the enthusiastic young readers come in, often for the first time, and see their favourite authors or their new favourite authors! It just captures the spirit of the Festival.
What do you look forward to about volunteering every year?
I love coming back and meeting the other volunteers every year, especially those who are returning who I've seen every year for a very long time. We make a really good crew, love talking books to each other and have created such a great community.
What advice would you give to people who might be interested in volunteering?
Don't just focus on the writers, focus on the readers. They're the people who you are communing with and you're trying to make a really good festival for them.
Who would be your dream Festival guest?
I've picked three! They are David Mitchell, Tamsyn Muir and Joanne Harris.
What was your last 5-star read?
Take five! My top five recent reads are Butter by Asako Yuzuki, There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak, The White Book by Han Kang, The Swan Book by Alexis Wright and Babel by R.F. Kuang.
If you're interested in volunteering with Sydney Writers' Festival, there are positions available for 2026 Festival week as well as ongoing opportunities.
Find our more about volunteering with the Festival here.