An all-female music event with a significant lesbian following is returning to the US festival circuit, and will now also visit Australia this spring, before heading to the UK and Asia.

Founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, the Lilith Fair festival originally ran in the summers of 1997 to 1999 with a diverse lineup of female solo artists and female-led bands. It returned to tour the States this year after a decade-long hiatus.

“We’re definitely thinking 2010-2011 and then we’re expanding it outside of North America. We’re going to Australia in September and the first week of October. We’re going to the U.K. marketplace indoors in late October. Then over to Japan and Asia in March. Back into North America for the summer of 2011,” Terry McBride, Sarah McLachlan’s manager and co-founder of Lilith Fair, told The Advocate.

“What we’re trying to do is expand the Lilith brand and concept because this concept can work anywhere. It just has to be the people with the will and the desire and the passion to make it happen.”

Bride hopes the festival will help break female performers in new markets by booking them to tour with international festival. “Over time, those international artists get a footprint and can come to North America. We can put on Kate Miller [Heidke] along with Missy Higgins knowing that they’re going to be key to a Lilith Fair in Australia.”

The line up for this year’s North American tour includes Beth Orton, Indigo Girls, Carly Simon, Cat Power, Tegan and Sara, Emmylou Harris, Go-Go’s, Gossip, Heart, Indigo Girls, Kelly Clarkson, Loretta Lynn, Mary J. Blige, Metric, Norah Jones, Queen Latifah, Rihanna, Sarah McLachlan, Selena Gomez, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega and The Bangles.

The official Lilith Fair website is here, and Sarah McLachlan’s track Loving You Is Easy is below.