Authors Richard Flanagan (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), Eddie Ayres (Danger Music), Jaclyn Moriarty (The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone), Josephine Wilson (Extinctions) and David Ritter (The Coal Truth: The Fight to Stop Adani) will head to the historic country town to headline the event. 

Other authors speaking at the festival include Emma Viskic (Resurrection Bay), Abdi Aden (Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man), Glenda Guest (A Week in the Life of Cassandra Aberline), Mark Brandi (Wimmera), Nevo Zisin (Finding Nevo: How I confused everyone) and Anna Snoekstra (Little Secrets). 

The two-day event, which turns Clunes’ main street into a giant bookshop, will feature a series of panel discussions and questions and answers with Australian authors. 

Other activities include browsing rare and collectible books, ambling through heritage buildings, enjoying live music, watching live street performances, sampling the region’s food and wine and visiting exhibitions.

Creative Clunes chairman Tim Nolan said the annual event was about celebrating books. 

“This year we are thrilled to be hosting the International Organisation of Booktown’s biannual conference and to be celebrating 12 years of the Clunes Booktown Festival.

“Not only does this festival celebrate the love of books, and everything about them, but it also shines a light on regional Victoria generally, and specifically on Clunes: a small rural town in country Victoria renowned across the globe as a hub of ideas and the arts,” he said.  

Clunes is a member of the International Organisation of Booktowns. It is the only one in Australia. 

A booktown is a small, regional, community-focused town with a concentration of booksellers, mainly secondhand and antiquarian bookshops.  

Clunes Booktown Festival takes place on May 5 and 6. Tickets are $10 and are available at: clunesbooktown.com.au