This year the events schedule has been pushed online which has allowed organisers to attract award-winning writers from around the country, and the globe, to speak across the virtual event.

Earlier this year, Tara June Winch - a Wiradjuri author born in Wollongong - won Australia's richest literary prize, the Miles Franklin, for her novel The Yield.

The multi-award winning writer is one of the highlights of the festival program and will be part of an online panel discussion around how writers tackle the topic of death.

Other notables on the line-up include award-winning journalist Helen Garner; NSW Premier's Literary Awards-winning author Bruce Pascoe; Stella Prize-winning author Jess Hill; Stella Prize-winning author Vicki Laveau-Harvie; interdisciplinary artist Bhenji Ra; and International Book Awards-winning author Leah Kaminsky.

This year's theme is "the body" and will be dissected in different facets through 12 panel discussions, including: the traumatised body, the non-white body, the trans body, the dying body, the non-monogamous body, the disabled body, the sick body, the sex worker body, the aging body, the sexual body, the animal body and bodies hidden by history.

"The body as a subject in literature has always been both fascinating and politically imperative and remains one of the most important topics a writer can pay attention to today," festival director and author Chloe Higgins said.

"To write about what it means to inhabit a body is to write about what it means to be human."

To see the full program and ticketing information, visit: wollongongwritersfestival.com