Winterwords Festival

Winterwords is more than just a writers’ festival – it is five days of talking, listening, watching, and doing, all designed to foster a celebration of words.

Attendees can enjoy panel discussions and author talks, participate in workshops, listen to or share stories, chant mantras in yoga sessions, create word collages, attend play readings, experience comedy performances, visit art exhibitions, enjoy or present poetry, play word games, explore philosophy, and chat by the open fire in the pub. There is truly something for everyone.

While most events are held in the Beechworth Memorial Hall, other venues include cafés, pubs, the Beechworth Library, and a variety of historic and civic buildings across Beechworth and Stanley. Activities such as art exhibitions, drama performances, and play readings are presented in collaboration with local community organisations, including the Mayday Hills Arts Society and The Beechworth Theatre Company.

With so much to enjoy over the course of a winter week, Winterwords stands out as a truly unique event.

SUNDAY 17/08/2025
• 2:00pm — Tanswell’s Upstairs — Winternudes Creation Event: An immersive life-drawing session to create word-driven art inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale.

WEDNESDAY 20/08/2025
• 4:00pm — Supper Room — Artchat: Valerie Cross and Darren John Pope on exploring myths and archetypes in art.
• 5:00pm — Memorial Hall — Official Opening of Artwords and Winternudes Exhibitions: Drinks, nibbles and a wander through the artwork. (Gold coin)

THURSDAY 21/08/2025
• 3:30pm — Supper Room — Poetrywords 1: Your Own Voice workshop with Frank Prem and Dr Rox Bodsworth.
• 7:30pm — Memorial Hall — Playwords: Beechworth Theatre Company rehearsed reading of The Apothecary by Judi Moncur. (Gold coin)

FRIDAY 22/08/2025
• 5:00pm — Supper Room — Official Opening of Winterwords 2025: Drinks, nibbles, chats and speechy things. (Gold coin)
• 6:00pm — Beechworth Books — Bookshopwords: Open night with soup and mulled wine. (Free)
• 7:30pm — Tanswell’s Upstairs — Poetrywords 2: Evening with Melbourne performance poets TT.O. and Sandy Caldow.

SATURDAY 23/08/2025
• 8:00am — Beechworth Bakery — Breakfastwords: Meeting, reading, sharing, eating for readers, writers and listeners. (Gold coin)
• 10:00am — Library — Kidswords: Winterwords Storytime for littlies. (Free)
• 10:00am — Supper Room — Collagewords: What’s in a Word? Mixed-media collage workshop about words.
• 12:00pm — Supper Room — Novelwords 1: Liz Foster chats about The Good Woman’s Guide to Making Better Choices.
• 1:30pm — Supper Room — Monologuewords: Jenni Munday on writing and performing monologues.
• 3:00pm — Supper Room — Crimewords: Margaret Hickey with Troy Hunter on YA crime and the adults who read it.
• 4:30pm — Beechworth RSL — Philosophywords: Drink and Think — interactive philosophical banter. (Gold coin)
• 7:30pm — Memorial Hall — The Passion of Saint Nicholas: Cabaret by Geraldine Quinn.

SUNDAY 24/08/2025
• 9:00am — The Singing Tree Yoga Studio — Yogawords: Workshop exploring traditional Sanskrit mantras with Valerie Crosse.
• 11:00am — Supper Room — Adapting a True Story: Workshop on writing about real events and people with Geraldine Quinn.
• 12:45pm — Supper Room — Novelwords 2: Siobhan O’Brien on her historical novel All the Golden Light.
• 2:00pm — Supper Room — Feministwords: Feminist reconstruction of mythological tales workshop with Roxanne Bodsworth.
• 4:00pm — Quercus Oregon Hall — Songwords: Learn two uplifting harmony songs with Leanne Murphy.
• 5:00pm — Quercus Oregon Hall — SongShedwords: Performance by Yackandandah choir SongShed (Chris McGorlick & Leanne Murphy).
• 6:35pm — Bridge Road Brewers — Afterwords: Book your own table and celebrate the end of Winterwords. (Contact BRB)

EXHIBITIONS
• Thursday–Sunday 23–24/08/2025, 10:00am–3:00pm daily — Memorial Hall — Artwords and Winternudes: Word-driven visual arts exhibitions. (Gold coin)