Australian Voices In Print - AVIP

New popular fiction writers, published in Australia for the Australian market, can tell a great yarn and stand alongside well known American and stand alongside well known American and British authors such as Barbara Taylor Bradford, John Grisham, Jeffery Archer, Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King and Catherine Cookson.

Our popular fiction authors have stepped into the "commercial" shoes of Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, writing popular novels for the Australian audience, in most cases using Australia as their canvas.

Yet their work will often go unnoticed by the book-reading public in Australia. Many popular fiction authors from the US and the UK are household names in Australia, but our own authors, writing similar works, are neglected because of the literary cringe that exists in Australia.

"Australian Voices in Print" aims to make many of our own writers of popular fiction as well know as our popular actors and soapie stars. Australian popular fiction writers are just another form of entertainment and will delight the reader from start to finish - AVIP just wants to get the word out to mainstream Australia that these talented writers do exist and that the Australian reading public will buy our own if they know about them.

AVIP will have achieved its goal when these writers of popular fiction become household names in their own country.

AVIP first presented the Australian Popular Writing Festival in 2001, at the NSW Writers' Centre, to showcase the diversity of writing talent available in Australia. It was such a success that the Festival was held again in 2002 with an expanded program (4 sessions each day) and even greater crowds. The first of its kind ever in Australia, the program is always 100% comprised of Australian authors, across all areas of popular writing. 2003 saw a diverse program of 8 sessions each day and a stellar cast of some 30-plus authors. Now named the Popular Australian Readers' & Writers' Festival, the weekend is confirmed as a regular annual event, which continues to grow in scale and reputation and enjoy wonderful success. In 2004, readers and writers alike enjoyed yet another fantastic festival and we got to big for the writers' centre, moving to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2005. The new venue has been a terrific success, allowing us to really reach the wider public and include them in an entertaining celebration of our popular writing talent.

Of course, it's on again this year - July 1st & 2nd.  Have a look at the exciting program!