The books have been packed up, the authors are collecting their pens and the Mudgee Readers’ Festival is over for another year.
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Attendees at the 2013 event were treated to 14 author sessions, one Bookworms read-a-long, a long, lazy lunch and dinner with a sex therapist before the weekend was through.
“The response has been fantastic and the tickets sales have gone brilliantly,” Mrs Trethowan said.
The Readers’ Festival sold out at least two sessions for the first time in the festival’s history.
Author Susan Johnson was extremely impressed with the size of the 2013 Festival, comparing the relatively new event to the likes of the Sydney and Melbourne writers festivals.
“I’ve been to Sydney and Melbourne quite a few times and I’d have to say the crowds here today are equally as large,” she said.
Authors who attended the event included children’s author Mem Fox, crime novelist Tara Moss, former paramedic Katherine Howell, and poet- turned-novelist Berndt Sellheim.
Author talks and panel discussions posed the big questions to both the audience and authors, with topics ranging from accepting happiness to the books that started the authors’ writing journey.
Mem Fox’s talk was one of the most popular, with audience members ranging from four to 70 reading and singing along with her most beloved books.
Cowra locals Libby Walsh and Kaye Kilby travelled to Mudgee for their second year at the Readers Festival, bringing along their husbands for a weekend away.
“We came to the Readers’ Festival while we were in Mudgee for another event but this year we specifically came for the Readers’ Festival.
“The authors are all just terrific,” Mrs Walsh said.
As well as talks with the authors, visitors to Parklands Resort were able to meet their favourite authors at books signings held across the weekend and hundreds of people walked away from the secondhand book fair on Saturday with bags full of books to add to their reading lists.
“The marketing for the vent was just amazing,” Michele Burton said.
“We received emails from the organisers almost daily to let us know what was happening. We might just have to come back next year.”