[3] In October 2008 the centre's board of directors was appointed including Eric Beecher (chair), Peter Biggs, Joanna Murray-Smith, Readings owner Mark Rubbo, Gabrielle Coyne and Andrew Hagger.

In 2008, Melbourne was designated a UNESCO City of Literature,[9] which heralded the establishment of the Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas by the Victorian state government.

[10] The Wheeler Centre officially opened on 12 February 2010 with a gala night of storytelling[11] featuring several of Australia's most significant writers and performers, including Paul Kelly, David Malouf, Cate Kennedy, John Safran and Shane Maloney.

[12] Speakers at the Centre have included Helen Garner, Alexis Wright, Tony Birch, Julia Gillard, Paul Kelly, Melissa Lucashenko, Andy Griffiths, Christos Tsiolkas, Paul Keating, Kon Karapanagiotidis, Clementine Ford, Richard Flanagan, Bruce Pascoe, Bill Shorten, Liane Moriarty, Jack Charles, John Clarke, Stella Young, George R. R. Martin, Hanya Yanagihara, Eleanor Catton, Fran Lebowitz, Ira Glass, Jenna Wortham, Mona Eltahawy, Art Spiegelman, Roxane Gay, Yotam Ottolenghi, Masha Gessen, Jeanette Winterson, Alison Bechdel, Hisham Matar, Fatima Bhutto, Miranda July, George Saunders, Zadie Smith, Patrisse Cullors, Colson Whitehead, June Thomas, Monica Lewinsky, Jia Tolentino and Terry Pratchett.

[16][17] In 2019, in addition to the 20 Hot Desk Fellowships, three Hot Desk Fellows were granted Norma Redpath Studio residencies: fiction writer Geetha Balakrishnan from New South Wales; creative non-fiction writer Rebecca Giggs from Western Australia; and poet Yvette Holt from the Northern Territory.