Includes:

Welcome Event on Friday night (please reserve, tickets limited)

All 9 author sessions on Saturday and Sunday in Jubilee Hall - Presented by Melbourne Airport

Does not include events outside this venue, such as the Ash Wednesday Play - please book separately.

Includes:

50% discount to Welcome Event on Friday night (please book at checkout, tickets limited)

All 6 author sessions on Saturday in Jubilee Hall - Presented by Melbourne Airport

Does not include events outside this venue, such as the Ash Wednesday Play, or events on the Sunday - please book separately.

Includes:

50% discount to Welcome Event on Friday night (please book at checkout, tickets limited)

All author sessions on Sunday in Jubilee Hall - Presented by Melbourne Airport

Does not include events outside this venue, such as the Ash Wednesday Play, or events on the Saturday - please book separately.

Ash Wednesday Play Reading, starring Shane Jacobson & Pia Miranda and special guests.

Written by Kate Rice. Directed by Iain Sinclair.

Reading run time 65 mins
Q & A 30 mins

With Q & A
Community Resilience, Climate Emergency, and the Power of Storytelling
Hosted by Iola Mathews, with special guests.

Recommended for viewers aged 12 and over.

Ash Wednesday Play Reading, starring Shane Jacobson & Pia Miranda and special guests.

Written by Kate Rice. Directed by Iain Sinclair.

Reading run time 65 mins
Q & A 30 mins

With Q & A
Exploring the Child’s Perspective: The Role of Children in Stories About Natural Disasters

Recommended for viewers aged 12 and over.

Ash Wednesday Play Reading, starring Shane Jacobson & Pia Miranda and special guests.

Written by Kate Rice. Directed by Iain Sinclair.

Reading run time 65 mins
Q & A 30 mins

With Q & A
Creative Recovery - The Arts as a Tool for Community Building and Healing
Hosted by Tom Griffiths, with Jane Davidson and special guests.

Recommended for viewers aged 12 and over.

Ash Wednesday Play Reading, starring Shane Jacobson & Pia Miranda and special guests.

Written by Kate Rice. Directed by Iain Sinclair.

Reading run time 65 mins

This session is a RELAXED PERFORMANCE. There will be no extreme sound and lighting effects to consider people with sensory issues or who may feel close to the story.

Ash Wednesday Play Reading, starring Shane Jacobson & Pia Miranda and special guests.

Written by Kate Rice. Directed by Iain Sinclair.

Reading run time 65 mins

at Mount Monument Winery

Friday 22 November, 1pm - 3pm

$149pp or $1100 table of eight

Enjoy a three-course, zero-waste lunch at Mount Monument Winery and a conversation with The Age Good Food Guide’s 2024 Chef of the Year, and one of Australia’s most innovative chefs Jo Barrett (Sustain). A pioneer in sustainable cooking, Jo Barrett will join Mary Gearin in conversation to chat futurefoodsystems, her career as chef and sustainable food systems over estate-grown wines, and a unique fine dining experience. Includes three-course lunch and wine.

at Jubilee Hall, presented by Melbourne Airport

Friday 22nd November, 7 - 9pm

Begin Mountain Festival weekend with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony conducted by Wurunderi Elders, followed by performances from beloved First Nations poets Jeanine Leanine (Gawimarra: Gathering), and Evelyn Araluen (Drop Bear). Hear from festival director Sonia Orchard, enjoy a glass of wine, and settle into the weekend to the tunes of Pirritu. 

*Note this event is included free in the Weekend Pass only. Saturday and Sunday Pass buyers can get a 50% discount on this ticket at time of pass purchase.

at Duneira Estate, sponsored by Duneira Estate and Harvest and Soul 

Friday 22nd November, 10am - 4pm

Explore the grounds of Duneira Estate with artist Jane Rusden examining the plants, insects and birds found in the Estate’s gardens. Jane will run a nature journaling workshop incorporating sketching, deep observation and elements of citizen science. Embedded in Jane Rusden’s passion for wilderness and love of adventure is a strong conservation consciousness. This class is limited to 12 participants. Includes a lunch break.

at Duneira Estate, sponsored by Duneira Estate

Saturday 23rd, 10am - 1pm

Learn how to draw, sketch and paint beautiful botanical art with Sarah Hankinson (Art Class: Flowers and Foliage). Using an array of botanicals as inspiration, you will be guided through simple foliage exercises and more structured botanical art projects. Sarah’s practice blends traditional and non-traditional approaches to still life drawing—no experience in drawing or illustration is required. Suitable for beginners who want a taster in drawing, and intermediates who want a different take on their creative processes. Includes a break.

at Duneira Estate, sponsored by Duneira Estate and Harvest and Soul

Sunday 24th November, 10.30-11.30am

In 1982, Bob Brown was the face of the campaign to save the Franklin River. This was just the beginning of a long career of environmental activism, notably the expansion of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and a champion to save takanya (the Tarkine Rainforest). Bob Brown reflects on a life of activism with Mary Gearin, establishing the Bob Brown Foundation in 2012, and the what next? for conservation. Booking this intimate session gives you an exclusive opportunity to explore the grounds of Duneira Estate after scintillating conversation.  

at Duneira Estate, sponsored by Duneira Estate, Towrong Vineyard & Harvest and Soul

Sunday 24th November, 3 - 4pm

Annie Smithers (Kitchen Sentimental) will take us on a journey through every significant kitchen in her life, both domestic and professional, chatting about her personal development, her surprisingly complex relationship with food, and the lessons she has learned to find her garden-to-table niche at du Fermier, Trentham.  Stay for a glass of bubbles in the salon of historic Duneira Estate.

Presented in partnership with the Wheeler Centre

at Mountview Theatre

Saturday 23rd November, 10 - 11am

Waanyi writer Alexis Wright (Praiseworthy) is the only person to have won the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Stella Prize twice. With Evelyn Araluen (Drop Bear) she will unpack her latest novel, Praiseworthy, discussing allegory and epics, Indigenous forms of storytelling and climate catastrophe. 

at Mountview Theatre

Saturday 23nd November, 11.30 - 12.30pm

From the land-rights movement, to Treaty borne from the ashes of an unsuccessful referendum, Clare Wright (Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions) and Inala Cooper (Marrul) discuss the long, powerful history of First Nations sovereignty and activism. With Tom Griffiths they will discuss the Yirrkala Bark Petitions and what this founding document can teach us about Australian democracy as we journey towards Treaty. 

at Mountview Theatre

Sunday 24th November, 10 - 11am

Lynne Kelly (The Knowledge Gene) talks to Radio National’s Natasha Mitchell about uncovering the source of human creativity; a gene that mutated 500,000 years ago and transformed humanity into musical, artistic and storytelling beings. With special guests Jane Rusden and Hilary Blackshaw the panel will discuss art and the cognitive strengths of neurodivergent people.

at Mountview Theatre

Sunday 24th November, 11.30 - 12.30pm

The trees around us–some we may walk past every day–tell a story. The mallee box by the twelfth hole of North Adelaide Golf Course evokes a time when Adelaide was clothed in mallee scrub and desert senna. Brisbane’s remnant blue gum, growing by the botanic gardens, indicates a time when the city was once jungle. The river red gums of Melbourne bear the scars of Aboriginal craftmanship. Mangroves, Leichhardt trees, acacias, eucalypts, foxtails. Ramble through a millennia of Australian natural history with expert Dave Witty (What the Trees See).

at Jubilee Hall, presented by Melbourne Airport

Sunday 24th November, 3.30 - 5.30pm

Join legendary musos Tim Rogers, Valanga Khoza and writer Gregory Day as they interrogate the influence of nature on our creative lives, on music, story, place.