For the past 32 years, our journey has been built on the power of words, shaping our work to enhance the lives of young people through transformative storytelling experiences. We soared into 2025 with ambition and continued our impactful legacy by delivering over 160 events across Queensland. From festivals, activations, launches and beyond - we're honoured to share this chapter with you all.
Growing Our Community
This year, we welcomed two familiar kidlit faces into the Storyfest fold. Bringing a wealth of bookish knowledge, Megan Daley, multi award-winning teacher librarian, author, speaker, podcaster, and literary judge, became our Artistic Director. Guiding our festival programmes in alignment with school curriculum and learning based outcomes, with a focus on joyful experiences that welcome expression and curiosity.
Championing our mission, 2024 Prime Minister's Literary Award winner and young adult author, Will Kostakis, stepped into the role of Storyfest Patron. Advocating for the written word with his signature humour and grace.
Both Megan and Will have brought passion and commitment to their respective roles, rising to the challenge of literacy decline and making our growing community proud.
Our Festival Lineup
If there is one secret to our success, it's our people.
This year, we proudly connected 700 artists and art workers with nearly 30,000 individuals across our programmes. They helped shape our festivals and events into unforgettable moments.
Our cornerstone writers' festival, Storyfest Gold Coast, continued to nurture, inspire and celebrate young minds with over 58 schools in attendance across three days of literary events and activities.
We continued to spread the joy of storytelling on our Regional Tour. Since 2022, we've established our outreach across Queensland, beginning with a pilot festival in Longreach and expanding to St George and Emerald in 2024.
This year, we welcomed 17 schools to Storyfest South West in St George, 14 to Storyfest Out West in Longreach, and 10 to Storyfest Central Qld in Emerald.
Each festival is an opportunity to make an impact on young lives, and when we see children's faces excited about reading and writing, we know we've successfully delivered.
The Fun Continues
Our calendars are rarely empty, and we kept this year at a steady pace of launches, On the road… visits, and engagement events.
We kicked things off by hosting the MS Readathon 2025 launch with none other than children's book legend Andy Griffiths. We then swung into the serious nature of scams and fraud awareness with Tracy Hall, guest speaker at our annual Business Lunch. While half the team were on our Regional Tour, we activated our bright and bookish Beach Library at the SWELL Sculpture Festival.
We wish every school student across Australia could experience the wonder of a Storyfest writers' festival. While we're building our reach, we continued to deliver our On the road… programme across South East Queensland, providing unique learning experiences. Our van clocked up the miles with visits including Hymba Yumba Independent School with Anton Clifford-Motopi and Dr Caroline Graham, and the Sunshine Coast with Jacqueline Harvey and Will Kostakis.
It's safe to say it's been a busy, rewarding and impactful year.
What Makes Storyfest Special
As a charity, we rely not only on the support of our community but also on their generosity, which enables us to create year-round memories and the opportunity to give back to others.
We celebrated mid-year in style. Donning our brightest orange colours and spending 12 hours raising money through our annual Giving Day. From 8.00am to 8.00pm, we had volunteers on the cupcake-making station, a room full of dedicated phone callers speaking to donors, and students competing in a book race with Nat Amoore on the mic. In total, we raised just over $143,000. A mighty effort by all involved, with cheers ringing out into the night, thanks to our matching donors and contributors.
Everything ties back to the people who uplift Storyfest, and we want to thank our new and continuing sponsors and supporters. Their patronage of the arts keeps our programmes running and advancing literature across our communities.
We also know the value of giving back, and it's one of our joys to, in turn, support the charity and literary industry. Highlights this year include enabling authors Megan Daley and Tristan Bancks to attend the Writing NSW 2025 Kids & YA Festival, supporting the CBCA Queensland Branch Readers Cup, bringing authors Carla Fitzgerald and Emma Lord to the finals in Brisbane and becoming platinum sponsors of the inaugural Currumbin Crime Writers Festival, sponsoring a workshop with renowned author Fiona McIntosh and funded two students to attend the festival.
There is a lot of joy to find in a good book, and no greater one than seeing a young, eager reader find the perfect one for them. With book donations and our growing collection, we were able to give away a whopping 2,500 books.
The bookish vibes keep going rain or shine with our Little Lending Libraries, packed with donated books that's spread across South East Queensland. The focus this year has been on maintenance, as storms, damage, and age have taken their toll. While we repaired and reinstalled, we continued updating our map to ensure everyone gets a chance to find that magical next read.
A heartfelt thank you to every single person who volunteered, donated, attended and supported us this year and beyond. You are what makes Storyfest special.
Looking Forward
While we've taken a moment to reflect on the last twelve months, we look forward to the coming year with enthusiasm and commitment. We're delighted to announce two new writers' festivals.
Partnering with the Ipswich District Teacher-Librarian Network to bring Storyfest West Moreton. Since 1995, the dedicated and passionate team behind StoryArts Festival has united children, authors and book lovers across the region. We will continue their legacy with a two-day writers' festival from 23 to 24 July in Ipswich.
Just a little further out, we're capturing story lovers in Toowoomba with Storyfest Darling Downs on 25 July. Both festivals will be part of our 2026 Regional Tour.
With growth and change on the horizon, we recommit to our promise to deliver unforgettable storytelling experiences.
The tale continues in 2026, but for now, we wish everyone a wonderful holiday season, and we'll see you in the new year.
