FORMER Australian of the Year Tim Flannery and television chef Adam Liaw are among the guests at this year's Write Around The Murray Festival.
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The Albury literary showcase has a theme of Journey to Alternate Worlds with a focus on sci-fi and its offshoot climate fiction, otherwise known as cli-fi.
Festival co-ordinator Ann-Maree Ellis said environmental aspects tied into the theme.
“Fantasy and science-fiction are really popular genres, so we wanted to focus on fantasy and it lends itself to looking at environmental themes as they dovetail nicely,” Ms Ellis said.
Dr Flannery will speak about his new book Atmosphere of Hope: Searching for Solutions to the Climate Crisis, while Liaw will talk about his new recipe collection and cook at Albury's Community Wood Fired Oven.
Other high-profile guests include the author of The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion, fantasy writer Isobelle Carmody and stand-up comic Adam Richard.
The event was launched on Wednesday with a monologue from Wagga-trained actor Rob Lloyd who will appear in an opening night play Who are you supposed to be?
It centres on two Doctor Who fans, a role Lloyd fulfils in real life.
He was excited to find a replica-sized Tardis, the time machine used by Doctor Who, at the launch at the Albury Library-Museum.
The plywood and MDF structure was built by Albury astronomical society member David Chandler and his Melbourne friend Miles Allen.
"We only built it for a trivia night, it was only going to be up for one night, so to see it up for this event is fantastic,” Mr Chandler said.
The Tardis will be on display at the library leading up to the September 9 to 13 festival.
"I think the Tardis is really capturing people's attention and imagination, so that might help us draw a new audience,” Ms Ellis said.
Lloyd, 37, who is based in Melbourne, became a Doctor Who aficionado in university after his friend was going through a relationship breakdown.
"Out of tragedy came the greatest joy of my life,” he said.
The look-alike for Doctor Who actor David Tennant nominates Jon Pertwee as his favourite time lord.
Details of the Write Around the Murray program are online at www.writearoundthemurray.org.au.
