Regarding our open letter concerning the Canberra Writers Festival.

Since it was released on 12 July we have been inundated with support, all of which we’ve appreciated. It is part of our mission to advocate for ACT-region writers, and we will continue to do that work.

We have also appreciated the opportunity to discuss through various media channels how essential diversity, equity, and inclusion is to the dynamism and health of our ever-changing literary landscape.

We stand by our open letter.

As a result of some of the questions you have raised with us, we reached out to the CWF asking for additional information. In particular, we asked how many events by marginalised writers had to be cancelled, and for more information about its open call for submissions from writers. Festival Director Paul Donohoe responded: “…we are unable to release our original program as we aim to support as many of those authors and publishers in 2021. They will form part of our program announcement next year.”

Pending further developments, these will be our last comments on the matter. We look forward to being consulted by CWF on their 2021 programming.