Blussh Romance Festival returns 13 and 14 February 2026 and has secured the most highly anticipated film for opening night, ‘Wuthering Heights’.
From Warner Bros. Pictures and Academy Award- and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell comes “WUTHERING HEIGHTS,” starring Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Margot Robbie opposite BAFTA nominee Jacob Elordi. The opening night event is a firm favourite where the film and literary community come together to celebrate romance, and Blussh couldn’t not think of a more suitable film, inspired by an all-time classic novel. Opening night film and salon tickets go on sale in January 2026.
Blussh will also celebrate the first wave of program announcements with the unveiling of its new location and venue partners: Dendy Coorparoo at Coorparoo Square.
Blussh has a number of programming announcements which will be revealed in the new year, however in addition to opening night, the following program highlights are unveiled today.
Friday 13 February program launches with an early special panel with the Queens of romantasy and newcomers. BLUSSH continues on Saturday 14 February with a jam-packed day of romance-themed festivities, including love-inspired poetry readings, Breakfast with a Heart, film premieres, Q&As, author panels, book club, book signings, pop-up markets and so much more.
Blussh Romance Festival is Australia’s only dedicated romance film and book festival, created to celebrate Queensland as the beating heart of Australia’s romance industry and our shared passion for love stories.
In Conversation AUTHOR PANEL: Have Sword, Will Kiss: The Romantasy Revolution
The literary festival program kicks off with the Queens of romantasy. Join lead crafters and emerging artists in this space as they unpack the genre that continues to boom. Romantasy writers continue to write (and build worlds, characters, adventure, and crises). Readers continue to read as if in a fever dream. Can the momentum last, or really, is this just the beginning.
Guiding us through the plains of dragons, swords, magic and monsters is Dr Kate Cuthbert, book industry profession and genre fiction advocate and enthusiast.
Boasting some of the biggest names in romantasy, with fierce and fabulous newcomers, this not-to-be-missed panel features:
- Stacey McEwan – New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of romantic fantasy.
- AK Mulford – inspirational creator of diverse stories that transport readers to new realms, making them fall in love with fantasy for the first time or all over again.
- Sarah L Richhelm Awarding winning author whose writing blends bonkers action scenes, emotional depth, and morally grey worlds, always with a strong heroine at the centre.
- Jaymin Eve – Jaymin Eve is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Amazon Charts, and Amazon #1 Bestselling author of fantasy and romance novels filled with steamy love stories, adventure, and humour.
Strap in for an entertaining hour of discussion and laughter as the panel talks all things romantasy why the genre continues to woo and make us swoon.
Book signings: After the In Conversation, authors will be signing books in the Dendy foyer. You can also purchase the authors’ books (and many more) at the Books@Stones pop-up bookstore in the foyer.
Take an early mark from work and arrive at the festival early for the Brisbane premiere of the first 2 episodes of Two Years Later. Screening commences at 2.30pm. Full details to be announced in January. Watch this space.
Stay after the panel for the festival’s opening night film and salon.
WHERE: Dendy Cinema, Coorparoo Sq
WHEN: Friday 13 February 2026, 4.00PM
In Conversation Author Event: Lights, Camera…Love!
Whether it’s a rock stage, a reality TV set, or the glow of the footlights, love is always centre stage. This panel pulls back the curtain on the rockstars, reality stars, and rising stars, through contemporary stories that explore the drama of connection when the world is watching.
Hear from authors who write contemporary stories where their characters are immersed in the world of theatre, TV, film or music. Woven into the conversation is those who protect the stars: the lovers, the crew, the bodyguards.
Panellists include:
- Jodi McAlister is both an author and scholar of romance fiction
- Karen Farrell is an author, commissioned writer and communications specialist with over two decades of experience developing and pitching stories across television, theatre and publishing.
- Tania Joyce writes heart-wrenching rockstar, contemporary, and new adult romance stories.
- Sofia Aves is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes spicy romance from dark stalkers to jingle-your-Christmas-baubles heroes and heroines.
Moderating the panel is Romance Writes Australia president and fierce advocate for all things romance is Jem Gowen.
Book signings: After the event, authors will be signing books in the Dendy foyer. You can also purchase the authors’ books (and many more) at the Books@Stones pop-up bookstore in the foyer.
Want more Bodyguard action and romance? Join us for the festival’s retro screening of the 1992 classic The Bodyguard with Whitney Housten and Kevin Costner. The romantic thriller drama follows the former US Secret Service agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect a famous actor and singer from an unknown stalker.
WHERE: Dendy Cinema, Coorparoo Sq
WHEN: Saturday 14 February 2026, 9.30AM
In Conversation Author Panel – Lussh Literary Lunch: One is the Loneliest Number
Our inaugural Lussh Literary Lunch in 2025 sold out! This year’s event will be just as popular as we have quadrupled the panel numbers to host guests from around Australia as they discuss the joy and challenges of writing collaboratively.
The act of writing is often imagined as solitary. A single author, a single voice. But what magic emerges when that voice becomes a chorus? In this illuminating panel, we explore the art and intimacy of collaboration with authors who write, edit, and dream together.
- Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus, co-authors, professional book ninjas and Books on the Rail founders, who turned friendship into fiction and continue to slay with contemporary stories celebrating love.
- Louise Duval and Allison A. Andrews bring warmth and wit to their beloved Hot and Frosty Christmas and Coming Home for Christmas anthologies.
In July 2025 Magabala Books announced a call for submissions for a First Nations romance anthology, to be edited by Ambelin Kwaymullina, Dr Melanie Saward and Dr Kate Cuthbert. The editors wrote of the anthology, ‘we hope to explore the unique intersection of genre romance and love through First Nations storytelling; we hope to find new voices and rediscover familiar favourites; and we hope to showcase the creativity and artistry of the genre and its writers. In short, we hope to fall in love.’ We are thrilled to have two of the editors on this panel joining us. Dr Melanie Saward, a proud Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman, and Dr Kate Cuthbert, publishing director and genre fiction advocate.
Bringing it all together and moderating this very special discussion is bestselling author Ally Blake. An award-winning author of over fifty warm, wistful, whimsical romance novels, with more than four million copies of her books sold around the world. In 2026 Ally will release not one, but two, co-written books with Michelle Douglas and Kandy Shepherd.
Tickets include a delicious lunch bowl and beverage to enjoy during the panel.
Book signings: After the In Conversation, authors will be signing books in the Dendy foyer. You can also purchase the authors’ books (and many more) at the Books@Stones pop-up bookstore in the foyer.
WHERE: Dendy Cinema, Coorparoo Sq
WHEN: Saturday 14 February 2026, 1PM
In Conversation Author Panel: Algorithms, Aisles, and Accidents
How do we find our next great read, or does it find us? From the precision of algorithmic recommendations to the happy chaos of bookstore browsing, this panel explores the strange, delightful ecosystem of story discovery in the digital age. Our panellists unpack how taste is shaped by TikTok trends, library shelves, book clubs, and the random recommendations that change everything. Is the future of reading curated by code, community, or sheer coincidence?
A lively and contemporary conversation for our times, for anyone who’s ever fallen in love with a book they didn’t even know they were looking for.
Each of the guest panel members bring a very different and unique perspective. From booktokkers, to podcasters, to book shop owners. The conversation will likely be spread thin across the plethora of opinions for sourcing your new favourite author and story.
- Lauren Jackson is an Australian author and an avid reader and a co- administrator and booktooker with Booktok Bookclub.
- Sarah Williams is a bestselling romance author and CEO of Serenade Publishing. As a publisher, podcaster and festival director, Sarah offers an intimate insight to book discovery trends.
- Ky Garvey a writer, podcaster and coffee/chocolate connoisseur. She has been a judge for the Australian Podcast Awards and most recently included in the Courier Mail list of Brisbane’s 60 Most Inspirational Women 2025.
- Kat T. Masen is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She is the founder of the Books Ever After store, and spends way too much time on BookTok.
Moderated by author, journo, and podcaster extraordinaire, Louise Duval,
Book signings: After the In Conversation, authors will be signing books in the Dendy foyer. You can also purchase the authors’ books (and many more) at the Books@Stones pop-up bookstore in the foyer.
‘WUTHERING HEIGHTS’
About The Film
From Warner Bros. Pictures and Academy Award- and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell comes “WUTHERING HEIGHTS,” starring Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Margot Robbie opposite BAFTA nominee Jacob Elordi.
A bold and original imagining of one of the greatest love stories of all time, Emerald Fennell’s “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” stars Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, whose forbidden passion for one another turns from romantic to intoxicating in an epic tale of lust, love and madness.
The film also stars alongside Oscar nominee Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, BAFTA winner Martin Clunes and Ewan Mitchell. Fennell directs from her own screenplay based on the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” is only in Cinemas February 12, 2026.
Blussh Romance Festival returns on February 13+14, 2026 at the uber cool and centrally location Dendy Cinema at Coorparoo Sq.
Browse the festival program and book your tickets at www.blusshromancefestival.com
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For more information, media enquiries and author interviews, please contact:
Sue-Anne Chapman, Blussh Romance Festival: sue-anne@blusshromancefestival.com 0402 005 261