Behind the Pages: My Experience as a Sydney Writers’ Festival 2025 Volunteer

Follow along with News Section Editor Chantelle Mackintosh as she recounts the ups and downs of volunteering.

You will be surprised to know that as a life-long reader, it took almost twenty years for me to attend the Sydney Writers’ Festival. And when I finally did, I did not just attend, I volunteered, allowing me to experience the festival from every angle.

The Sydney Writers’ Festival runs each year in May as a celebration of writers, books and big ideas. From non-fiction to fantasy, international and national authors, the festival is the perfect place for book-lovers of any kind. As a volunteer, I got to see a lot of the behind the scenes action while experiencing everything the festival has to offer.  From chatting with authors, to setting up tables, every moment was filled with fun. 

This year, the festival ran from 19–27 May, and somewhere, the train gods frowned down on me. My first shift on the 21st was completely derailed by an electrical outage with no trains running between Blacktown and Redfern, forcing me to catch the metro and walk in the rain. Then for my second shift, I managed to make it on a train, but got trapped on it for fifty minutes thanks to an accident. I should just take this as a sign that trains and I don’t mix.

But on to the good stuff!

My first shift was as an usher for the HSC events. Various HSC-related authors and academics came to give talks to HSC students about the texts they were studying. As an usher, I mainly had to help direct people into the right doors. This role was especially fun as once everyone was in, we could sit in on the talk. The first one I sat in on was Alice Pung’s talk on Unpolished Gem, which wasn’t a text I had ever studied, but her talk was fantastic; the perfect mix of funny and heartbreaking. The students were engaged, which was amazing for me to see as most students in my own high school weren't engaged with English. 

There was another session on Shakespeare, but I didn’t attend that one as I had something more important to do—lunch! The catering team took great care of us; I’ve never eaten healthier food. Chicken salad on a bed of the best rice I’ve ever had. 

Enough about food—back to work! Well, not yet. There were a few hours of rest before I was back for the night shift, this time for The Art and Science of AI panel led by Jeanette Winterson and Toby Walsh. This was such an interesting debate about the use and ethics of AI in art. This debate is so relevant in today's changing world. I’ll leave it at that as the session (along with many others) are all recorded for the Sydney Writers’ Festival Podcast. If you’re interested, check it out on spotify on the Sydney Writers’ Festival Spotify Podcast!

On my second day, I got to work at my beloved Riverside Theatre for Primary School Day! This day was a lot. I’ve always had respect for those who work with kids, but after spending just a single day with them, I could not respect them more. Kids are hectic. This role mainly consisted of guiding kids and teachers to the auditorium, managing book signing queues and offering just general guidance for all the kids. The entire event was MC’d by Joel McKerrow, author of Heist: The Great Chocolate Caper. In the best way possible, he reminded me of Jimmy Giggle, but instead of children’s television and tiktok, he chose children's books and performance speaking. He was great at keeping the audience engaged, which is no small feat when your audience is full of little kids. There were four authors in the panel: Jared Thomas, author of Uncle Xbox, Jacquline Harvey, author of the Alice Miranda series, Terri Libensona, author of the Emmie and Friends series and Katrina Nannestad, author of We Are Wolves. These book signings were the most hectic experience. Everyone wanted a signature from every author. They brought everything from books to notebooks to even scraps of paper for them to sign. During this, I was lucky enough to have a chat with Jared Thomas who was a real down-to-earth guy. As much as I loved this day, I went home exhausted; kids are loud!

Finally, after days of rain, the sun was shining. And I was in the perfect role for it—greeting. This involved standing outside in the lovely sunshine and sneaking pats from all the passing puppies. Being on greeting any other day meant cold wind and rain, so finally my luck was coming up!

However, this was the only day I’d booked tickets. First was Aimee Kaufman and Meagan Spooner’s talk on their new book, Lady’s Knight, which didn’t release until June, but they ordered early copies just for us! These two have been friends for as long as I’ve been alive and it shows. Their ability to literally finish each other's sentences and being always on the same page is astounding. 

Then, (my) main event for the evening, Lynette Noni’s talk on her newest book, Wandering Wild. I’ve been trying to see her for years as I’ve loved her books since I was fourteen. And every time she’s done an event in Sydney I’ve been at work or sick, so this was a big day for me. Her talk was interesting as she talked about her shift from fantasy to contemporary romance, and how writer's block can be devastating (as I know all too well). Afterwards, I got two of my books signed (after waiting in a very, very long queue). This was definitely my favourite day of the entire festival.

Day four was more quiet as I was on Site and Stage set-up in the morning, mainly involving setting out craft supplies and beanbags, which a friend and I chose to make more difficult than we needed to by organising them by colour. But it looked fantastic! We also got some time to explore Russ the Story Bus before all the kids arrived for the day.

Day five was more exciting as I was stationed not at the normal Carriageworks venue, but at Town Hall. I’d never actually been inside Town Hall before so it was a doubly exciting experience for me. There was only one session today, Why We Sleep by Professor Matthew Walker. While I didn’t sit in on this talk, the audience thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, this role meant standing outside in the cold, directing people in, but despite the weather, the city was gorgeous (I definitely took too many photos of the autumn scenery). 

Looking back, while volunteering at the Sydney Writers’ Festival had its ups and downs: from meeting authors to wrangling crowds of kids and buying a stack of new books, the festival was full of a literary magic found nowhere else. 

All in all, volunteering at the Sydney Writers’ Festival was a week of fun, books and new friends. Would I do it again? Definitely. See you next year.