The Sorrento Writers Festival is a new, not-for-profit cultural and community organisation that aims to bring year-round literary events, discussions and talks to Sorrento and the wider Mornington Peninsula community. The inaugural Sorrento Writers Festival was in April 2023.
The Balnaves Foundation is the Founding Partner of the Sorrento Writer’s Festival, and has provided seed funding to aid in the Festival’s success in its first year.
The Festival brings together a huge array of writers, illustrators, influencers and political commentators from Australia and overseas to discuss contemporary literary issues across a four-day program. Events include talks, panel discussions and performances as well as children’s workshops in collaboration with two local schools.
The Sorrento Writer’s Festival has enormous cultural significance for the communities in the Mornington Peninsula, and prior to the Festival’s launch had already garnered overwhelming community support. The Festival intends to use its success to launch a calendar of literary events and projects in the region, and its multi-year plan includes the goal of establishing a community library in the Mornington Peninsula, which the area does not have.