IF Maitland Indie Writers Festival and Art Fest 2022 showcases the best in local talent

Stretching over two weekends starting Friday, October 21, the festival takes place all over Maitland at artsy hot spots like Sun Street Studios, Studio Amsterdam, Maitland Regional Art Gallery and The Repertory Theatre.

Now in its third year, IF Maitland director Graham Davidson said the festival is an important opportunity for artists to tell their stories.

"I'm really excited that art is playing a bigger part in this year's festival, because it's all about people being able to tell their stories," he said.

"It doesn't matter how they tell their stories, whether it be through memoir, fiction, poetry, visual arts or theatre."

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Mr Davidson said while a lot of writer's festivals are about promoting works from mainstream publishers, IF Maitland is "unambiguously" about encouraging people to tell their stories.

Some highlights of this year's festival are the street exhibition with six exhibiting store fronts, the huge poetry program and a screening of Dark Noise, the first feature film produced in Australia during lockdown.

Some old favourites are back, like Spark My Interest, the elevator pitch competition where the winner gets 50 copies of their book published for free by Ingram Spark.

There will also be workshops and presentations by one of the Hunter's most talented artists Trevor Weekes, and a giant community mural being created in Sun Street as a part of the family fun day (October 23).

On Saturday, October 22 at MRAG there will be an important workshop for people with a disability, helping them prepare submissions for the Disability Royal Commission.

Mr Davidson said it's "tremendously" important to him to help share art with the Maitland community through the festival.

"Every year when I do this, it makes me realise just how many people have stories that need to be told," he said.

"I've become very passionate over the last few years on the importance that history must be told by the generation that lived it. When history is told by those who follow, it's never told accurately.

"When you talk to people who have lived an interesting life, and everyone ends up living an interesting life, it's extraordinary, the stories people have got to tell."

To see the full list of IF Maitland events or book in, head to ifmaitland.org/2022events.