Lucy Adlington is a British novelist and clothes historian with more than twenty years’ experience researching social history and writing fiction and non-fiction. She lives in Yorkshire, England. .
Kirsten Alexander is the author of Half Moon Lake and Riptides. Her third novel, After the Fall, will be published by Ultimo Press in February 2025. Kirsten works as an editor, copywriter, and writer. She lives in Melbourne with her two sons.
Sharlene Allsopp was born and raised on Bundjalung Country into the Olive mob. She dreams of capturing that elusive perfect sentence—preferably liquored up in a Champagne field in France. She studied Writing and Literature at the University of Queensland, and loves her role as an occasional tutor with the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance and Retention Program on campus.
Hossein Asgari studied physics and creative writing. His debut novel, Only Sound Remains, was shortlisted for both the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. His short stories have been published in Splinter Journal, The Suburban Review, Overland, and The Saltbush Review.
Sophie Beaumont is the pen name of Sophie Masson AM, who was born in Indonesia of French parents and grew up in France and Australia. A bilingual French and English speaker, she has a master’s degree in French and English literature and a PhD in creative practice. Sophie is the prolific and award-winning author of more than fifty novels, for children, young adults and adults, many of which have been published internationally.
Cadance Bell is an Australian author, showrunner, producer, director and writer. Her memoir, The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody, was published by Penguin in July 2022 to critical acclaim and shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year. Cadance is currently working on numerous scripted television projects and developing an immersive feature film, Seouls.
Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of over fourteen books for adults and children, including the ABIA and Indie award-winning short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the critically acclaimed bestselling memoir The Hate Race, the self-illustrated picture book When We Say Black Lives Matter, which was longlisted for the UK’s Kate Greenaway medal, and the CBCA Honour Book The Patchwork Bike (illustrated by Van T Rudd), which won the 2019 Boston Globe Horn Prize for Best Picture Book. Her poetry collections include Carrying the World, which won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry, How Decent Folk Behave, and It’s the Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for young people, which won the 2024 ABIA for Book of the Year for Younger Readers. Maxine is the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hannah Bent completed her Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art and Film from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London. She undertook further study in both directing and screenwriting at the Australian Film Televi…
Miro Bilbrough is a writer and filmmaker who grew up in New Zealand and lives in Australia. Her poetry chapbook Small-time spectre was published by Kilmog in 2010, and she has a Creative Doctorate of Arts in screenwriting and screen studies from the…
Ariel Bogle is a reporter with a focus on technology, law and the internet. An investigations reporter at the Guardian Australia, she has won a Walkley Award for her journalism and worked in media in Australia and the United States for more than ten years. Previously, she was a technology...
Verity Borthwick has been published in The Best Australian Stories, Meanjin, Island, The Furphy Anthology, The UTS Writers’ Anthology, Aurealis, Science Write Now and Vestal Review. She was the overall UTS 2022 Anthology Award winner and has been shortlisted for the Island Nonfiction Prize, the Furphy Literary Award and the Alan Marshall Short Story Award. When she is not writing, Verity works as a freelance editor and takes care of her two sons.
Katherine Brabon is the award-winning author of the novels The Memory Artist, The Shut Ins and Body Friend. Her work has received the Vogel’s Literary Award, a NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the David Harold Tribe Fiction Award. Her third novel, Body Friend, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the ALS Gold Medal.
Michelle Brasier is a multiple award-winning actor, singer, writer and comedian whose sold-out shows have won standing ovations across Australia and UK. On the small screen, Michelle has been featured on Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe, Stories From Oz, Th…
Lucy Campbell has worked as a writer and sub-editor across magazines, newspapers and non-fiction books. Lowbridge is her first novel. She lives in Canberra with her husband and three children.
Shankari Chandran was raised in Canberra, Australia. She spent a decade in London, working as a lawyer in the social justice field. She eventually returned home to Australia, where she now lives with her husband and four children.
Harrison Christian is a New Zealand journalist and writer. His reporting career has seen him travel extensively in the Pacific and beyond, covering such topics as rising sea levels in Arctic Alaska and the escape of political refugees from China. He…
Megan Clement is a journalist living in Paris. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Bloomberg, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Book Review, Crikey and Meanjin, among other publications. Megan edits Impact, a bilingual newsletter of feminist journalism and teaches at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle University.
Aoife Clifford is the author All These Perfect Strangers which was long-listed for both the Australian Industry General Fiction Book of the Year and the Voss Literary Prize, and Second Sight, a Publishers Weekly (starred review) and PW Pick for Book…
Claire G. Coleman is a Noongar woman whose family have belonged to the south coast of Western Australia since long before history started being recorded. She writes fiction, essays, poetry and art writing while either living in Naarm (Melbourne) or o…
Abby Corson has been a luxury travel and lifestyle writer for over ten years, with her work featuring in magazines and newspapers including Vogue Australia, The Age and The Herald Sun. Born in Manchester, England, Abby now lives in Melbourne. The Con…
Zoë Coyle has spent over 15 years in corporate and communication training, building on her 20 years’ experience as a film and theatre actor in the UK, US and Australia. She is the communication coach of choice for the CEOs of some of Australia’s larg…
Sophie Cunningham AM is the author of seven books, across multiple fiction and nonfiction, children and adults and include City of Trees – Essays on life, death and the need for a forest, and Melbourne. She is also editor of the collection Fire, Floo…
Shelley Davidow is the acclaimed author of forty-five books including recent international memoirs of displacement Shadow Sisters and Whisperings in the Blood (UQP, 2018; 2016). Her novel In the Shadow of Inyangani was nominated for the Macmillan/Pic…
Marele Day's four-book Claudia Valentine series won her a Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award for crime writing. Her bestselling literary novel, Lambs of God, was published to acclaim in Australia and overseas, and became a multi-award winning mini…
Jackie Dent is a journalist who has worked for major media outlets including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, Monocle, Reuters, The New York Times, Strewth! and others. Her career has included stints with the United Nations in Afghanistan, Pa…
Annie de Monchaux is an English, West Australian-based writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her non-fiction anthology Cray Tales was shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards and the basis of a CBS/ABC documentary. Prior to this, Ann…
Jack Ellis is a writer and musician based in Sydney. His first novel, The Best Feeling of All, was published by Arcadia in 2014. He has also written for publications including ABC Online, Crikey, Women's Health Magazine and Men's Health Magazine. Jac…
Liz Evans is a British journalist, author, former psychotherapist and academic with a PhD in Creative Writing. Currently based on unceded Melukerdee land in lutruwita/Tasmania, she has written for the NME, The Guardian, New Statesman, Elle, Dumbo Fea…
Heidi Everett is an artist, creative workshop facilitator, mental health recovery advocate, social impact facilitator, and projects and events innovator in Melbourne, Australia. My Friend Fox is her first book.
Nigel Featherstone is the author of Bodies of Men, which was long-listed for the 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize, Highly Commended for the 2020 ACT Book of the Year, shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards, and received a 2019 Canberra Cri…
Pip Finkemeyer is a novelist living in Naarm/Melbourne. Her debut Sad Girl Novel was published in 2023. You can find her writing in Harper’s Bazaar, Kill Your Darlings, Big Issue, Eleven Stories: The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, Mojo Best of Fiction Anthology, and more.
Zahid Gamieldien is an author, screenwriter, editor and writing tutor. His short fiction has been published in literary journals including Overland, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, Island Magazine and many others. His work was listed for the Richell Pri…
Zeynab Gamieldien is the inaugural winner of the 2022 Westwords–Ultimo Prize. Her work has been shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction and featured in publications such as the Sydney Morning Herald’s Daily Life section and the Australian…
Published in English in Australia, the UK and the US, and in the translation in more than a dozen territories, Sulari Gentill is the author of The Hero Trilogy and the multi-award-winning Rowland Sinclair Mysteries, ten historical crime novels (thus far) chronicling the life and adventures of her 1930s Australian gentleman artist. The first book in this series was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the second won the Davitt Award. The remaining books have been variously shortlisted for the Davitt Award, the Ned Kelly Award, and the Australian Book Industry Association Awards.
Rachel Givney is an internationally bestselling author and filmmaker. She has worked for many of Australia’s most beloved and critically acclaimed shows including Offspring, McLeod's Daughters, All Saints, The Warriors, and many more. Her short films have been official selections at Tropfest, Flickerfest and the Sydney Film Festival.
Melissa Goode lives in the Blue Mountains. Her work has appeared in Best Australian Short Stories, Kill Your Darlings and Griffith Review. Ordinary Human Love is her first novel.
Christine Gregory is an Australian writer of crime and general fiction. An earlier version of The Community was runner up for the 2022 Banjo Prize. Christine has previously been shortlisted in the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards.
Madison Griffiths is a writer, artist and producer based in Melbourne. She is the co-producer of Tender, an award-winning Broadwave podcast that follows what happens in the aftermath of abusive relationships. Her essays have been published widely in…
Eliza Henry-Jones is an author, freelance writer, PhD candidate and flower farmer. Her previous novels have been listed for multiple literary awards including the ABIA, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and QLD Literary Awards. Her work has also been pub…
Gail Holmes grew up in Scotland, the youngest of seven children and the only girl. She graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering and a Master of Business Administration. She moved to London to join an international energy company and had an international career there for twenty-three years as a project manager and commercial manager.
Joanna Horton was born in the US, grew up in New Zealand, and now lives in Brisbane. She has an MA from the University of Chicago and a PhD from the University of Queensland. Catching the Light is her second novel—her first, Between You and Me, was p…
Melody Horrill is a journalist, former TV presenter and co-chair of the Jane Goodall Cetacean Committee. She is the author of the memoir A Dolphin Called Jock, a passionate animal and nature lover and advocate.
Andrea Hotere grew up in Otepoti, Dunedin, and lives in Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland, with her family. She studied history at the University of Otago, journalism at the University of Canterbury and has worked as a historical researcher, journalist, TV p…
Adrian Hyland is the award-winning author of Diamond Dove, Gunshot Road and Kinglake-350, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction in 2012. His books have been published internationally, including in Britain and t…
Born in Iran, Pirooz Jafari migrated to Australia more than two decades ago as an ambitious photographer. His experience of witnessing violations of human rights of every imaginable kind throughout his childhood, adolescence and young adult life in I…
Melanie Joosten is the author of two novels and a book of essays. Berlin Syndrome (2011), a psychological thriller, won the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist prize, and the Kathleen Mitchell Award for the best writer in Australia under 30. Be…
Ashley Kalagian Blunt writes to expose the myriad ways our technology makes us vulnerable. She is the number-one bestselling author of Dark Mode, a psychological thriller published in multiple territories and languages. Dark Mode was shortlisted for the 2024 ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year and the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction, and was voted number 20 in the Better Reading Top 100.
Yumna Kassab is a writer from Western Sydney. She studied medical science and neuroscience at university. Her first book of short stories, The House of Youssef, has been listed for prizes including the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, Queensland L…
Chrissie is the author of over thirty books for Children and Young Adults, including thirteen books in the popular Go Girl series and the award winning Whisper. She lives in St Kilda with her husband, three children who are stubbornly refusing to sta…
Porochista Khakpour was born in Tehran and raised in the Greater Los Angeles area. She is the critically acclaimed author of two novels, a memoir, and a collection of essays. She lives in Queens, NY with her beloved partner and her elderly blue poodl…
Zain Khalid has been published in the New Yorker, the Believer, the Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and elsewhere. He has also written for television. Brother Alive is his first novel. He lives in New York City.
Vijay Khurana is a writer and translator. His debut novel, The Passenger Seat, was shortlisted for the 2022 Fitzcarraldo Editions/New Directions/Giramondo Novel Prize, while his short fiction has been recognised by numerous prizes and published in Th…
Jessica Knight is a writer, performer and zine maker based in Melbourne. She has participated in the National Young Writers' Festival, the Emerging Writers' Festival and Red Dirt Poetry Festival. She performed a one-woman show entitled Mormon Girl in…
Martine Kropkowski has worked as a soldier, journalist and academic. Her short fiction and essays on literature and culture have appeared in Griffith Review, Overland and The Conversation. She is a sessional academic at The University of Queensland where she is completing a PhD.
Vincent Lam’s first book, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, won the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and was adapted for television and broadcast on HBO Canada. The Headmaster’s Wager, Dr Lam’s first novel, was shortlisted for the 2012 Governor General’s…
Tina Makereti is a New Zealander of Te Atiawa, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Rangatahi-Matakore and Pakeha descent. Her novels include The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke and Where the Rekohu Bone Sings. In 2016 her short story ‘Black Milk’ won the Commonw…
Mark McAvaney is a new Australian author, originally from Clare, South Australia, who’s lived in London for many years, working in film, TV and publishing.
Bill McDonough is a member of the iconic rock band Australian Crawl formed in 1978. Bill played drums and composed several of the band’s most memorable hits, including ‘Downhearted’ and ‘Shut Down’. Bill has also worked as a record producer, jingle writer and music industry consultant.
Magdalena McGuire was born in Poland, raised in tropical Darwin, and now lives in Melbourne. Her writing has won, and been nominated for, various awards including the Mslexia Short Fiction Competition, Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, Commonwealth…
Dr Lachlan McIver specialises in rural & remote medicine, tropical medicine and public health, and did his PhD on the health impacts of climate change. Originally from Millaa Millaa in Far North Queensland, his travels to date have spanned almost one…
Kira grew up in Perth, Western Australia and now lives in London. Her work has been published in Westerly, the Stockholm Review of Literature and the London Short Story Prize Anthology. In 2018 she received a London Writers Award. Higher Education is…
Janine Mikosza is a writer with a background in visual art and a PhD in sociology. Her essays and short stories have appeared in publications such as The Kenyon Review, Electric Literature, The Best Australian Essays, and Meanjin. She lives in Melbou…
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is a scholar of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Kylie speaks several Middle Eastern languages and has spent significant periods travelling and conducting academic research in the region. She was falsely charged with espionage…
After growing up in Hong Kong, Isabelle Oderberg went to university in Melbourne. She has worked as a journalist for two decades in newswires across Europe, Asia and Australia, where she was the country's first social media editor for Melbourne’s Her…
Michael Pascoe is one of Australia's most respected and experienced finance and economics commentators with nearly five decades in newspaper, broadcast and online journalism covering the full gamut of economic, business and finance issues. He's most…
Marija Pericic is the author of Exquisite Corpse, which was shortlisted for the Davitt Award, and The Lost Pages, which won The Australian/Vogel’s LiteraryAward, was shortlisted for the Readings Prize and for which she was named a Sydney Morning Hera…
Jacquie Pham is a Vietnamese-Australian writer of adult fiction. Growing up in Vietnam during the New Korean wave around 2007, Jacquie started writing short stories about Korean boy bands. She then moved to Australia to attend the University of Sydne…
Following the establishment of a career leading human services, Denise Picton retrained in business and established a management consulting firm that has worked across Australia and Asia for over thirty years. In her twenties she published short fict…
Peter Polites is a novelist from Western Sydney. He has written two acclaimed novels, Down the Hume and The Pillars, which won the 2020 NSW Premier’s Multicultural NSW Literary Award. He also won the 2020 Woollahra Digital Literary Award for Fiction.…
Ya Reeves is a freelance outdoor and environmental educator from Far East Gippsland. Following in her parents footsteps, she studied a bachelor of outdoor education with honours and has worked in wild and beautiful places across Australia. She divide…
Diana Reid is the Australian author of the bestselling novels Love & Virtue and Seeing Other People. Her debut, Love & Virtue, won the ABIA Book of the Year Award, the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year Award, the ABA Booksellers’ Choice Fiction Book of the Year Award, and the MUD Literary Prize. She was also named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist in 2022.
Iain Ryan grew up in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. He has written numerous crime novels, and his work has been published by Akashic Books Online, Crime Factory, Kill Your Darlings and Seizure. He has been shortlisted twice for a Ned Kelly…
Alex Sarkis was born and raised in Sydney’s West to Lebanese immigrant parents. In her early twenties she began writing stories of her own. Her main source of inspiration has always been the wild and wonderful landscape of her hometown, her family’s…
Danielle Scrimshaw is a writer, historian and lighthouse enthusiast. Her 2019 essay ‘Be Gay, Do Crime: Or, the Ballad of Catherine and Ellen’ was shortlisted for the Deakin University Nonfiction Prize. Her thesis on queer women’s narratives in Australian history – or the lack thereof – was highly commended by the Australian Queer Archives.
Jonathon Shannon is a Sydney-based writer and creative director. His work has been recognised at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, screened at the St Kilda Film Festival, and is housed in the permanent archives of the Museum of M…
Natasha Sholl is a Melbourne-based writer and lapsed lawyer. Her writing has appeared in The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend magazine, SBS Voices, Mamamia and elsewhere. She graduated from the University of Melbourne, majoring in Creative Wr…
Michael Smith has been covering China for over 20 years and is currently the China correspondent for the Australian Financial Review. He lived and reported from China up until September 2020, when the Chinese government compelled the last Australian…
Sarah Smith is one of Australia’s most experienced TV drama writers and showrunners. Her credits include Amazing Grace, Bite Club, Love Child, House of Bond, Winter, Wild Boys, Rescue: Special Ops, Dripping in Chocolate, All Saints and McLeod’s Daug…
Sophie Smith is a journalist, broadcaster, editor and MC with more than a decade of experience covering elite sports and breaking news for TV, newspapers, magazines and websites. She’s worked as Australian and British press, spending the formative ye…
Anna Snoekstra is an internationally bestselling author living in Naarm/Melbourne. Her novels, including Only Daughter and Out of Breath, have been published in over twenty countries and sixteen languages. She has written for many literary magazines and newspapers including The Guardian, Kill Your Darlings, The Sydney Morning Herald and The...
Anna Spargo-Ryan is the author of two novels, The Gulf and The Paper House, and an acclaimed nonfiction writer and teacher. She was the inaugural winner of the Horne Prize and is the current Nonfiction Editor at Island Magazine.
Hannah Tunnicliffe is the author of several books for kids and adults including The Colour of Tea, Season of Salt and Honey, A French Wedding and the trilingual picture book Marjory and the Mouse. She is the co-creator of the Detective Stanley series published by Flying Eye Books. Her work has featured in the New York Times Book Review and she is the founder and host of the body acceptance podcast, Bod Almighty.
Sita Walker is a high school literature teacher, freelance writer and award-winning author whose first book, The God of No Good (Ultimo Press, 2023), won The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Award at the Queensland Literary Awards and the University of...
Sophie Wan cares deeply for her sourdough starter and eats too many brownies. Words and sunshine are her greatest joys. As a Bay Area native, she has no choice but to enjoy outdoor activities, but prefers those where her feet remain firmly on the gro…
Madeleine Watts is a writer of fiction, stories, and essays. Her debut novel, The Inland Sea, was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing. Her writing has been published in Harper’s Magazine, The Believer, HEAT, The White Review, Literary Hub, The Paris Review Daily, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Irish Times, Bookforum, and Meanjin among others.
Cam Wilson is a Walkley Award-nominated reporter whose work covers the intersection between internet culture, online extremism and politics. He’s currently Crikey’s Associate Editor, and previously worked at the ABC, BuzzFeed News, Business Insider a…
Louise Wolhuter grew up in northern England, moved to Queensland, before settling in Perth to raise a family. She currently works as an Education Assistant in a primary school, which leaves her early mornings, weekends and school holidays to write. H…
Gyan Yankovich is a writer and editor based in Sydney, Australia. She is the lifestyle editor at the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She was previously based in New York, where she held editor roles at Man Repeller and BuzzFeed. Her work has been…