The Riverina Readers Festival is returning to Wagga Wagga but will move from the CSU Playhouse to the Civic Centre. Photo: Supplied.
The Riverina Readers Festival is set to take over the Civic Precinct and Wagga Wagga Council Chambers with more than 15 esteemed writers and best sellers ready to share the secrets behind their stories.
Organiser, book reviewer, podcaster, and book salesperson Melissa Fattore is promising the second iteration of the festival on Saturday 12 July will be even bigger and better than last year.
“The Riverina Readers Festival is a homegrown readers festival,” she said.
“Our reading team are all volunteers who are very passionate about books and the book industry. We hosted our first festival in 2024, which was an incredible success, and we’re thrilled to be returning again this year for 2025, with funding from Wagga City Council and the support of our library partners at Wagga City Library.
“It will be an all-day event. The first panel will start at 9:30 with introductions and openings happening at 9:15. It’s held in the council meeting room, but if you attend and enter the Civic Centre, you’ll find that it’s been ‘bookified’.
“We’re so excited to see readers from all around our region and outside of our region as well, coming to meet some of their most beloved authors.”
From humble beginnings, the festival has moved to a bigger space.
“Last year, we made such a warm and welcoming and inviting space for readers to connect, and it was at the CSU Playhouse,” Ms Fattore said.
“This year, with us moving to a more centralised location, just across the road, it’s allowing people to walk straight out the doors of the Civic Centre and enter the Festival of W celebrations.
“Our headlining authors this year are Rachel Johns, Shelley Burr and Sulari Gentill.
“Rachel Johns is one of Australia’s most well-known contemporary romance and rural romance fiction authors. She has such a community of readers behind her and has been in the publishing industry for over 15 years. So it’s really exciting to bring someone like her from Western Australia all the way over to the Riverina.
“Sulari Gentill is a local favourite, and we claim her as our own. She will be coming back, returning to the festival, as well as Shelley Burr who will be a returning author to the festival as well, and they’re both top-selling Australian crime fiction writers. So that’s really exciting, too.”
Ms Fattore said she was excited for people to enjoy what the festival had to offer.
“Reading has always been incredibly popular with the people who appreciate it, which the people of the Riverina do,” she said.
“I think that for us, as the Riverina Readers Festival, one of our biggest values is that we appreciate reading in all of its forms. Whether that be through physical books, digitally, through e-books, audio, or even graphic novels, any form of reading is fantastic for your well-being and for your health.
“Our aim is to combine with others who appreciate reading as well, because once you put readers in a community setting where they can connect with like-minded readers, it really is something truly special.”
The Riverina Readers Festival will take place at 9 am on Saturday 12 July at the Wagga Wagga Civic Centre.
