The Byron Writers Festival may be over for another year, but the conversations continue with a jam-packed October calendar of events across the Northern Rivers.

From bestselling novelists to one of Australia’s best-known surfers, the Festival’s year-round program brings four very different events to Brunswick Heads, Bangalow, Lennox Head and online during October.

Pip Williams in Conversation – 8 October

Bestselling author Pip Williams comes to the Brunswick Picture House on Thursday 8 October to talk about her new novel, The German Ward.

Williams is best known for The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho. Her latest novel returns to themes of love, history and the stories that can be hidden in the past, following a forbidden relationship between an English nurse and a German doctor during the First World War.

Thursday 8 October, 6pm
Brunswick Picture House, Brunswick Heads

Find the Voice: Novel-Writing with Sofie Laguna – starts 10 October

Writers can also join Miles Franklin Award-winning author Sofie Laguna for an eight-week online masterclass exploring one of the most important parts of writing a novel – finding a character’s voice.

The course combines discussion, writing exercises and text analysis, with Laguna looking at how voice can help shape plot, tone, dramatic tension and emotional depth. It’s open to beginner, intermediate and advanced writers.

Starts Saturday 10 October
Eight-week online masterclass

Kate Grenville in Conversation – 12 October

One of Australia’s most celebrated writers, Kate Grenville, heads to Bangalow on Monday 12 October with her new book, The Country Schoolmaster: A Mystery in 88 Letters.

The book began when Grenville discovered a century-old collection of letters about a country NSW schoolteacher. What follows is part historical investigation, part mystery and part exploration of how writers turn fragments of the past into stories.

Grenville will be joined in conversation by journalist and broadcaster Mick O’Regan.

Monday 12 October, 6pm
Bangalow A&I Hall

Mick Fanning in Conversation – 14 October

Three-time surfing World Champion Mick Fanning comes to Lennox Head on Wednesday 14 October for the launch of his memoir, All Heart.

The book goes well beyond Fanning’s surfing career. It looks at growing up in a big family, becoming a world champion, dealing with extraordinary loss and the people and experiences that have shaped his life along the way.

Wednesday 14 October, 6.30pm
Lennox Head Cultural Centre

It all makes for a busy October for Byron Writers Festival, with events stretching beyond books and writing to surfing, history and some very personal stories.

Tickets are on sale now through the Byron Writers Festival What’s On page.