Michaela Kolowski

I think we counted 26 sessions.

So all day Saturday, all day Sunday.

And we've done something a bit different this year.

So for people who may not remember, last year was the first year we tried Big Weekend of Books.

And it was sort of in response to those lockdowns that happened and also to the fact that so many great writers festivals around the country had to close.

Yep.

But it was before we knew they were going to go online and offer something different.

And then it sort of mutated really into its own offering, which was to bring RN listeners and readers around the country books that they love from authors that they loved and also from authors that they maybe wouldn't get a chance to listen to.

And we got this great feedback from people that, you know, people love attending writers festivals, but they can't always get to them or they don't want to stand in line anymore.

And now here we are again in 2021 and there's no more standing in line close together.

So we're feeling really excited about the fact that we can bring people something to look forward to, something to help them travel around the world or kind of shine a light on new ideas and new authors for them.

And it's going to be, yeah, it's Saturday 9 to 5 and Sunday 10 to 5 all weekend long on Radio National and online and on the Listen app.

So we wanted to give people a taste of Australian authors they love, Australian authors they might not have heard of yet, and the same for internationals as well.

And ones they hate too?

Ones they hate.

My way of saying it is we're giving people authors that they love and authors that they're going to love.

In terms of Australians, we've got one, as you mentioned, there's a great Zoom event.

One of them is a Zoom masterclass with Tony Burch.

So we allowed people to submit questions for Tony Burch and eight lucky competition winners are going to have like a private masterclass with him on Saturday.

just on Zoom, so that's really special.