Storyfest is the leading children’s literary festival for the Gold Coast community and surrounds, with a mission to deliver unforgettable storytelling festivals and programs for young people and families, stimulating curiosity, creativity and empathy.
Born out of the Somerset College school community in 1993 as the ‘Celebration of Literature’, Storyfest is now a not-for-profit organisation delivering annual, multi-day literary festivals on the Gold Coast, in Longreach, and – newly in 2024 – in St George and Emerald.
Along with festival delivery, Storyfest’s activities include year-round outreach programs, in-school workshops, pop-up lending libraries, and adult engagement and fundraising events.
Storyfest’s programming has attracted significant engagement in regional Queensland. In 2022, Storyfest delivered its first two-day regional festival in Longreach, Storyfest Out West, reaching over 2,000 attendees. The festival was developed and presented with the Longreach School of Distance Education as the leading education partner, a relationship that continued through the event’s return in 2023 and 2024.
Storyfest had our whole community in mind... They provided adults in the Central Western communities with the opportunity to attend a variety of events including workshops for parents and teachers to support students both at home and in school.
- Rachelle Moore, Deputy Principal, Longreach School of Distance Education
Storyfest Out West experienced strong interest and attendance from other regional communities, resulting in the organisation expanding to deliver three regional festivals in 2024 in partnership with schools, businesses, local councils, and Arts Queensland, along with its original Gold Coast festival – all of which received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
The festival made its inaugural appearance in St George with Storyfest South West in late August 2024, returned to Longreach with Storyfest Out West in early September, and delivered another first with Storyfest Central Queensland in Emerald, also in September.
Storyfest’s regional festival delivery aims to expand on its mission and bring a love of storytelling to rural areas of Queensland.
We are acutely aware of the significance of literary programmes in regional Australia, and are working hard to bring the benefits of books to as many regional spots as possible.
– Storyfest
Each festival delivers a series of literary experiences, along with workshops and opportunities for budding readers and writers alike. Highlights include a Literary Lunch, a Prologue Party, and the opportunity for attendees to explore the bookshop and get their books signed by their favourite authors.
Programming includes student and adult workshops, adult panel sessions, and a young writers’ dinner providing young people the opportunity to spend an evening workshopping with some of Australia’s bestselling kids and YA fiction writers.
Storyfest aims to engage the whole of community in the lead up to and delivery of each regional festival. In St George, The Beehive Project was designed to connect the community through a visual art installation, highlighting the importance of bees in the local area and reflecting the community coming together to rebuild after the devastation of floods in recent years, which also impacted local hives.
Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year, author, beekeeper (and recently appointed Storyfest Artistic Director) Megan Daley recently released The Beehive, a dual text children’s book that combines storytelling with factual information about Australia’s heroes of pollination, the native stingless bee. The Beehive served as the inspiration for The Beehive Project, which was delivered alongside Megan’s workshops for both adults and children at Storyfest South West.
Storyfest engaged local arts producer Kimberly Thornton to oversee the Beehive Project, which involved a large beehive built by the St George Men’s Shed, that was then decorated throughout the festival by attendees. Balonne Creative Arts ran crochet workshops with students ahead of the festival to create decorative flowers, and local artist Tjalara Draper designed and laser cut craft bees, which each student in the region was able to decorate before placing on the Hive.
Along with this, the project also involved visits to schools in the lead up to the festival, engaging local permaculture practitioner Grow Eat Learn who educated on pollinator-friendly plants, local beekeeper Nathan Gibbins from St. George Honey who provided a beehive and displays, and local nursery Moorelands Bush Nursery which donated a Bee Garden Starter kit to every school that attended the festival.
Plans are underway to select another book on which to focus a similar activation for this year’s Storyfest South West!
Top: Producer Kimberly Thornton and Storyfest CEO Andrea Lewis discuss the project. Bottom: The Beehive Project, fully decorated.
Storyfest Gold Coast: 1 – 3 April 2025
Storyfest Out West (Longreach): 10 – 12 September 2025
Storyfest South West (St George): 1 – 3 September 2025
Storyfest Central Queensland (Emerald): 16 – 17 September 2025
Cover photo: Attendees at Storyfest Gold Coast
Storyfest is supported through the Resilience stream.