Clunes Booktown Festival will mark its 20th anniversary on 21-22 March with a stellar program on the theme of defiance and hope.

Join the festival in the historic main street of Clunes, 36km north of Ballarat, as it transforms into a bustling hub of readers, authors, booksellers and music-lovers of all ages. The festival hosts more than 130 books stalls, as well as a Kids Village, writers workshops, panels on crime writing, speculative fiction, romance, First Nations storytelling, playwriting and historical fiction. Plus, visitors enjoy free music and entertainment across the weekend.

The talks program includes:

• Lifelong environmental activist and former Greens leader Bob Brown talking with broadcaster Hilary Harper about his new book Defiance.
• Miles Franklin winner Sofie Laguna (The Underworld, The Choke, The Eye of the Sheep) discussing Myth and Coming of Age with literary journalist and novelist Jane Sullivan.
• Historical fiction authors Toni Jordan (Tenderfoot, Addition), Marion Taffe (By Her Hand) and Jock Serong (Cherrywood, The Settlement), discussing characters fighting the tide.
• First Time Lucky will explore the new wave of romance writing with Emma Mugglestone (In The Long Run), Holly Brunnbauer (What Did I Miss?), AFL and queer romance devotee Darcy Green (After The Siren) and multicultural romcom author Cynthia Timoti (How to Find a Guy In Five Weddings).
• Join writer and academic Dennis Altman, human rights lawyer Paula Gerber and biographer Jill Blee for a discussion on the struggle for equal rights in Defiantly Queer.
• Explore The Poetics of Hope with Maxine Beneba Clarke (Beautiful Changelings, The Hate Race); Wiradjuri writer and Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry winner Jeanine Leane, and arts journalist and poet Thuy On (Essence).

Tickets and the full program can be found at clunesbooktown.org.au