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After a long and happy 18 years at the CUB Malthouse, The Age Melbourne Writers’ Festival will, in 2008, move to the heart of Melbourne, Federation Square.

Over the last few years the festival has moved parts of its programming into the city with great success. In 2006 the festival inaugurated a master-class program at the City Museum in Spring Street, held a number of key debates in RMIT’s Storey Hall and BMW Edge had the key-note opening address in Melbourne’s Town Hall and a film program in the ACMI cinemas.

From 2008 the festival will be focused on the BMW Edge, the Atrium and the ACMI cinemas at Federation Square. We will also develop a full-blown children’s program for the festival in partnership with ArtPlay in Birrung Marr.

The technical facilities of Federation Square will allow the festival to explore video-streaming of interviews with authors from elsewhere around the globe and especially the Edinburgh International Book Festival. It will also mean that the Festival will be able to stream festival activities to elsewhere in Victoria, Australia and overseas. This capacity will maximise the impact and life of the hugely popular schools’ program.

In addition, the move will enable the festival to develop large-scale signature public events and will also allow a re-think of the festival program structure from the ground up. 'I see this as the first step in a period of major growth for the festival in line with the emphasis that Victorian State Government is placing on literature and literacy', says Rosemary Cameron, Festival Director. 'This is reflected in their current bid for UNESCO City of Literature status and their support for the Premier’s Literary Awards, The Premier’s Reading Challenge and in the increased funding the festival itself has received this year'.

Federation Square has unmatched public exposure, is a major public transport hub, is well-served with public car parks and is an easy walk from many people’s work or place of study.

'The CUB Malthouse has been a great friend to the festival and it will be a wrench to leave' continues Cameron.  'To celebrate our 18 years at The CUB Malthouse, we will be collecting people’s reminiscences, photos and keepsakes from previous festivals for display on our website. We will of course have a farewell party. The festival’s history predates our time at the CUB Malthouse, starting in 1986 as a series of sporadic events at the Athenaeum Theatre and from there it grew to a series of events at The Kino cinemas and finally, as a fully-fledged festival, it moved to the CUB Malthouse'.

The festival board and management are confident that this move will allow the Melbourne Writers’ Festival to continue to grow and serve Victorians as an intelligent, lively, non-partisan guide through the maze of today’s culture, politics and everyday life.

In the meantime it is business as usual at the CUB Malthouse for the 2007 festival.

Website: www.mwf.com.au