Melbourne writers fest a place of connection both outward and inward

When Debbie Lee was planning the 2024 Melbourne Jewish Book Week (MJBW) festival in the shadow of October 7, 2023, the theme was “belonging”. It fulfilled a need of Jewish artists and writers to look inwards to a shared identity, reflects Lee, the festival director. “Everyone just needed to feel like they belonged.”

Two years on, the former Sydneysider feels becoming part of the festival was pivotal in shaping her personal sense of belonging, and that this sentiment was reflected in the wider community. Still healing from October 7, and with the compounded shock of December 14, Jewish Australian creatives continue to come together with great resilience and a renewed purpose.

It seems natural, then, that the theme of this year’s festival, which takes place at Melbourne’s Pullman Hotel over August 1-4, would be “Connections”.

“We now need to make sure that we're not retaining an insularity, but radiating outwards,” says Lee, “connecting with the external community, as well as reconnecting with our networks, our families and our inner selves.”

That sense of outreach resonates within MJBW’s feast of interviews, panels, poetry, performance, and conversation, packing more than 20 events into the four days, in genres as diverse as history, romance, memoir, satire and grief.

True to its outward-looking theme, the scale of the 2026 festival is broad – embracing Jews and non-Jews, Australians and overseas guests, and notably one British and two high-profile Israeli writers.

Mindful of the need for more “joy and less oy”, the opening night welcomes the festival on an upbeat note, with the gala performance, If You Don’t Laugh … produced and curated by playwright Jessica Bellamy.