Arts

This October, a new music and arts festival will take over halls, streets and unexpected spaces across Bangalow and Byron Bay. But for Si Jay Gould, DINGO Festival Director, the ambition goes well beyond putting on another festival, writes Sally Schofield.

Byron Writers Festival returned this year with a new home, a new format and plenty of conversation about the value of books. Four Herald writers reflect on what they heard, what they read and the ideas they brought home.

In our region, we are lucky to have several film societies regularly showing fantastic films to enthusiastic film fans. The three featured here all operate in old community halls, traditionally places for locals to gather and enjoy themselves. Each venue has been renovated and improved with fundraising efforts and sometimes grants, and are lovingly tended by teams of dedicated local…

Northern Rivers artist, Bangalow resident Karena Wynn-Moylan, recently won Best Special Interest Programming at the National Australian Audio Awards, a project built around an idea she believes could change the way people discover books.

Christobel Munson asks Byron Writers Festival Artistic Director and CEO, Jessica Alice, about the challenges faced in relocating the festival from Bangalow Showgrounds to Byron Bay. 

Who doesn’t love a good whodunnit? I think that Irish-Australian author, Dervla McTiernan, is competing for the crown of queen of murder mystery. She is churning out one, sometimes two, a year. Honestly, her books just keep me enthralled – and there is no feeling that she is following a formula to the point that it becomes tedious. A natural…

Escaping into books has long been a tonic for world-weariness, a remedy for sluggish creativity or a pick-me-up when life lacks zest. Above all, reading is an act of solitude that quietens distractions, fills our consciousness with imaginative possibilities – and simultaneously generates introspection and outward magical thinking. This year’s Byron Writers Festival theme, ‘Sanctuary’, encompasses the role of books…

As the Byron Writers Festival approaches, local author Tristan Bancks shares with Herald readers an extract of his latest book for readers aged 10 years+, Raised by Wolves, a story inspired by adventure, resilience and the complexities of growing up. Tristan is host of the free Kids Program on Sunday 16 August at the Bay Street Stage, 9-11.30am

With the 2026 season now sold out, Sally Schofield’s interview with musician Luke Bennett might be the closest you get to NORPA’s Love for One Night this year,

Indefatigable artist and gallerist Caitlin Reilly was preparing the latest multi-artist exhibition at her Station Street gallery when she learned she’d been accepted into one of the world’s top contemporary art competitions, ‘almost hyperventilating’ at the news. Digby Hildreth reports.

Four decades after finding his place in Melbourne’s Goth and post-punk scene, Bangalow musician and artist M.E. Baird is opening a new creative chapter. Digby Hildreth discovers how illness, survival and a lifelong search for meaning continue to shape his music. 

After a decade down south studying and establishing her career as a prosthetist-orthotist, Camille Wiseman, 28, returned home to Bangalow earlier this year – via a 12-month sabbatical in Italy honing her formidable skills as a painter. Georgia Fox found out more.