The annual Clunes Booktown Festival is back on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th May, with 18,000 people expected to join the most amazing whole town bookshop experience in Australia. Headline authors this year include Clementine Ford, the Hon. Tim Fischer AC, Hannah Kent, Kate Grenville, A.S. Patric and Annie Raser-Rowland.

Along with author talks, panel discussions and literary luncheons, festival-goers can discover the largest collection of rare, out-of-print and collectible books in Australia, go inside heritage buildings, listen to live music, watch street performers, take a horse and cart ride, try their hand in a scrabble tournament and immerse themselves in the State Library Victoria’s display, which includes one of Samuel Johnson’s original dictionaries from 1755.

There’s also the Magazine In A Weekend program for students, which includes writing, editing and design workshops and culminates in the launch of an online magazine. Offering insights are the people behind literary magazines including The Lifted Brow and Kill Your Darlings.

The Clunes Booktown Festival is all about celebrating books and the great conversations and big ideas that come from them. Join the conversation during the first weekend in May in Clunes.