What a great festival this is. The rainbow in the fountain walking through Civic Park to City Hall this morning seemed symbolic of the gold at the end of the walk. It was a wonderful start to the school holidays this year. I was lucky enough to get to see some great Australian YA authors: Randa Abdel-Fattah, Jaclyn Moriarty and Kirsty Eager.

Other great sessions were about history writing with Tom Griffiths and Grace Karstens, and politics. The latter topic was multi-layered with a panel of “feisty” women – Clementine Ford, Randa Abdel-Fattah and Jane Caro led by Ruby Hamad – and Paul Bevan interviewing Chris Uhlmann and Steve Lewis.

Julia Baird revealed an intimate portrait of Queen Victoria and some of the tribulations of doing historical research. Tara Moss spoke out with Tracey Spicer for a fabulous evening in the gorgeous Civic Theatre on Saturday night. Loved this year’s festival. Looking forward to next year’s.