'Feast of fiction': spring renewal for Canberra Writers Festival

And for artistic director of the Canberra Writers Festival Beejay Silcox, there's no better time to show off Canberra's book-loving chops to the world.

She said moving the festival from August to October had brought a sense of renewal that perfectly matched the feeling in the air - once spring gets around to it.

And this year's festival program, launched on Wednesday, has enough big names to prove she's onto something.

And no, in response to a complaint that has often been levelled at the festival, they're not all politicians and press gallery journalists.

"I've always said the program's going to be a love letter to the city, but there is no lovelier time in the city than spring," Silcox said.

"There's so much life and energy and curiosity - it's just the perfect time to be sparking national conversations."

Some of Australian literature's heavy hitters will be making their way to the capital to spruce their new books, among them the legendary Tim Winton, multi-award-winner and current Booker longlisted Charlotte Wood and Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, as well as Christos Tsiolkas, Melissa Lucashenko, Bri Lee and Robbie Arnott.

There'll also be a line-up of Canberra-based authors, including best-selling crime thriller writer Chris Hammer, Inga Simpson and David Lindenmayer.

And, lest anyone think Canberra has lost touch with its reason for being, Senator David Pocock, Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts and a panel of Canberra journalists will swap perspectives on Australian politics, Rick Morton will be on hand to discuss his long-running Robodebt expose, Amy McQuire will talk about Indigenous representation in the media and Barrie Cassidy will lead a panel on the fragility of global democracies.

From overseas, Lucia Osborne-Crowley will give an inside look at her book on the Ghislaine Maxwell trial and Fred C. Trump III, of all people, will delve into his views on the Trump family legacy (just a week out from the presidential election).

Silcox said the timing of the festival meant a chance to delve into the books that everyone would be talking about for the next year.

"Positioning the festival here is a chance to really say this is the home of national storytelling - the national conversation starts here and it starts now," she said.

And, in her second year as artistic director, she said she had listened hard to what previous attendees thought of the programming.

"It's really purposeful that there's a big feast of fiction in here, because that's a part of who we love," she said.

"I spent a lot of time in the last two years listening to Canberrans and listening to the things they care about, the things that energise them, the things they're excited to talk to other people about, the things that excite them.

"And the message I got over and over and over again was, politics is part of what Canberra is, but we're tired of it being everything that Canberra is and everything that people assume about the city.

"If you're going to reflect the city back to itself, which is what a good festival should do, it shouldn't be imposed on a city. It should bubble up from inside of the city. It should reflect the city back to itself.

"It should show that the city is full of readers and storytellers and poets and writers and people who just escape when they get home from their jobs into stories and into fiction."