There’ll be more for junior bookworms than ever before with the introduction of the Mudgee Young Readers' Festival.

Due to unforeseen circumstances there are a few changes from the print program, so it’s recommended that you check the mudgeereaders.com website to confirm times and venues for your sessions.

If in doubt, just pop into the Mudgee Library and ask one of the friendly team or check the posters outside the Town Hall Theatre — or message via Facebook.  

For those dipping their toes in the festival there’s an MRF Fringe event on over the weekend, a pop-up book fair at the CWA Hall. 

And places are still available in some terrific sessions, including Beautiful Revolutionary, the thrilling new novel from the author of The Love of a Bad Man.

It explores what happens to a young couple caught in the orbit of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple.

Join author Laura Elizabeth Woollett and host Sharelle Fellows as they talk cults, California in the 1960s, dangerously charismatic men and the women who love them. 

Waiting for Elijah is an account of a tragedy that didn’t have to happen — the 2009 shooting of 24-year-old Elijah Holcombe by a police officer in Armidale.

It is also an intense, forensic deconstruction of the extended legal proceedings that followed, and a heartbreaking portrait of a family’s grief.

Join Kate Wild and Sharelle Fellows for a discussion about this compelling narrative and the research and reportage that went into it. 

The Narrative delves into Australian storytelling, which  dates back 65,000 years and continues to evolve, from the Dreamtime to contemporary art. Gamilaroi artist Paris Norton talks to Paul Collis and Aleshia Lonsdale about the Aboriginal storytelling voice, its history, politics and contemporary incarnation.

The Mudgee Readers' Festival is a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers who are passionate about books. Any profits will be reinvested to promote future festivals.