Candice Fox
Hades, Candice Fox's first novel, won the Ned Kelly Award for best debut in 2014 from the Australian Crime Writers Association. The sequel, Eden, won the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel in 2015, making Candice only the second author to win these accolades back to back. All her subsequent novels — Fall, Crimson Lake, Redemption Point and Gone by Midnight — have been shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award. In 2015 Candice began collaborating with James Patterson. Their first novel together, Never Never, set in the vast Australian outback, was a huge bestseller in Australia and went straight to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the US and also to the top of the charts in the UK. Their subsequent novels Fifty Fifty, Liar Liar and Hush Hush have all been massive bestsellers across the world. Their most recent collaboration, The Inn, was released in August 2019. Candice's latest novels are Gathering Darkness released in 2020 and The Chase released in March 2021. Bankstown born and bred, Candice lives in Sydney. |
Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Ashley is the author of two books, How to Be Australian, a memoir, and My Name Is Revenge, a thriller novella and collected essays. My Name is Revenge was a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Woollahra Digital Literary Awards. Her writing appears in Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books, the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Book Review, Westerly, Kill Your Darlings and more. She co-hosts James and Ashley Stay at Home, a podcast about writing, creativity and health. |
Claudine Tinellis
Claudine is a Sydney-based writer, one-time corporate lawyer and the editor of Coastal Chef: Culinary Art of Seaweed & Algae in the 21st Century (Harbour Publishing House, 2014). She is currently working on her debut novel and since 2018 has hosted and produced popular podcast Talking Aussie Books. Her podcast currently attracts a global audience with hundreds of people tuning in each week to hear from new and upcoming Australian authors. Claudine loves making connections with fellow writers and readers. Through her podcast and memberships of Writing NSW, the Australian Society of Authors and Romance Writers of Australia, Claudine has established a wide-reaching network of readers and writers who are passionate about Australian stories. To find out more about Claudine and her podcast, you can visit her website at: www.claudinetinellis.com |
Emma Viskic
Emma's critically acclaimed Caleb Zelic series has been published world-wide. Her debut novel, Resurrection Bay, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and an unprecedented three Davitt Awards. Resurrection Bay was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious Gold Dagger and New Blood Awards, and the USA’s Barry Award. And Fire Came Down was winner of the 2018 Davitt Award for Best Novel and Darkness For Light received the 2020 Davitt Reader’s Choice Award. Formerly a classical musician, Emma’s musical career ranged from performing with José Carreras, to playing at an engagement party that ended in a brawl. She learned Auslan in order to create the character of Caleb Zelic, who is profoundly deaf. Emma is currently working on the fourth Caleb Zelic novel, Those Who Perish. |
Lauren Chater
Lauren is an Australian novelist living on Gadigal land. Lauren is the bestselling author of The Lace Weaver, Well Read Cookies and Gulliver's Wife. She is a passionate storyteller who loves exploring the hidden side of history and celebrating women's achievements. Her latest novel is Gulliver's Wife. |
Patti Miller
Patti grew up on Wiradjuri land in central western NSW. She is the author of nine books, including Australia’s best-selling life writing texts, Writing Your Life, The Memoir Book and Writing True Stories (A&U) as well as a novel Child (A&U) and five memoir/narrative non-fiction books, The Last One Who Remembers (A&U), Whatever The Gods Do (Random House), the critically acclaimed The Mind of a Thief, (UQP) long and short-listed for a number of prizes, winner of the 2013 NSW Premier’s Prize for History, Ransacking Paris (UQP) and The Joy of High Places (NewSouth). She writes personal essays and articles and is published regularly in national newspapers, magazines and literary and art journals. She has been teaching life writing around Australia since the first course at Varuna Writers Centre in 1991, and gives workshop in Paris and London. She gives, talks, seminars and workshops around Australia. Her latest book, True Friends, will be released by UQP March 2022. For more information see: http://lifestories.com.au/ |
RWR McDonald
R.W.R. McDonald (Rob) is an award-winning author, a kiwi living in Melbourne with his two daughters and one HarryCat. His debut novel, The Nancys, won Best First Novel in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards, as well as being a finalist in the Best Novel category. It was shortlisted for Best First Novel in the 2020 Ned Kelly Awards, and Highly Commended for an Unpublished Manuscript in the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. Nancy Business is his second novel and was released on 1 June. |
Christine Sykes
Christine is the author of two books. Published in 2021, her memoir, Gough and Me, explores the impact on her life when Gough Whitlam moves into her street in Cabramatta in 1957, when she is eight years old. Living in a fibro house built by her truck-driver father, Christine experiences the transformative power of education reforms fought for and implemented by Whitlam. Her novel, The Changing Room, received the fiction award from the Society of Women Writers NSW. The Changing Room was inspired by her work with the women’s charity Dress for Success Sydney (DFSS). DFSS provides a clothing and support service for women entering the workforce. Christine was a community worker in Fairfield and served as a Senior Public Servant for 30 years. Now retired, she lives with her partner in the Illawarra. |
Sandie Docker
Australian author, Sandie Docker grew up in Coffs Harbour, and first fell in love with reading when her father introduced her to fantasy books as a teenager. Her love of women’s fiction began when she first read Jane Austen for the HSC, but it wasn’t until she was taking a translation course at university that her Mandarin lecturer suggested she might have a knack for writing — a seed of an idea that sat quietly in the back of her mind while she lived overseas and travelled the world. Now back in Sydney, Sandie writes about love, loss, family and small country towns. Her debut novel, The Kookaburra Creek Café, was released in 2018, The Cottage At Rosella Cove in 2019, the German edition of The Kookaburra Creek Cafe - Das kleine Café der großen Träume, was released in Jan, 2020, and her third novel, The Banksia Bay Beach Shack, was released in March, 2020. Sandie’s latest novel, The Wattle Island Book Club will be available in August. |
Alan Baxter
Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark fantasy. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, where he lives with his wife, son, hound and other creatures. The author of more than twenty books including novels, novellas, and three short story collections (so far) you can find him online at www.alanbaxter.com.au or find him on Twitter @AlanBaxter and Facebook. Feel free to tell him what you think. About anything. |
Pamela Cook
Pamela is an author, podcaster and teacher. Her stories feature complex women and fraught family relationships. She has had four novels published with Hachette Australia, Blackwattle Lake, Essie’s Way, Close To Home and The Crossroads and published her first independent title, Cross My Heart in 2019. Her latest release All We Dream is a revised edition of Essie’s Way. Pamela is the co-host of Writes4Women, a podcast focusing on women and writing, and a Writer Ambassador for Room To Read, a not-for-profit organization that promotes literacy and gender equality in developing countries. An experienced teacher, she has taught writing courses and workshops for the last fifteen years. When she’s not writing she wastes as much time as possible riding Rio, her handsome quarter horse. |
Aunty Barbara Nicholson
Aunty Barbara Nicholson is a Wadi Wadi Elder from the Illawarra who holds a degree in English Literature (Newcastle) and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (UOW). She initiated the Ngana Barangarai (Black Wallaby) project which has collected and published writing from First Australian inmates in Junee Jail for the last nine years. Dreaming Inside: Voices from Junee Correctional Centre Volume 9 is a unique collection of the authentic voices of its contributors. |
Simon Luckhurst
Simon has had plays broadcast on Radio National and performed in Sydney and Melbourne. His work as a journalist has been published in the national press. He has had two novels published as well as the non-fiction Eddie’s County, described by John Pilger as one of the most authentic Australian books of his lifetime. He is currently the coordinator of the Ngana Barangarai (Black Wallaby) project. He also writes and produces the Ear-Movies podcast. |
Holden Sheppard
Holden is an award-winning author born and bred in Geraldton, Western Australia. His debut coming-of-age novel Invisible Boys (Fremantle Press, 2019) won several accolades including the 2019 West Australian Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer and the 2018 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. In 2020, Invisible Boys was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and the Readings YA Book Prize, and was named a Notable Book by the Children's Book Council of Australia. The book is currently in development as a television series. Holden's novella Poster Boy was a winner of the 2018 Novella Project competition. His creative work has been published in Griffith Review, Westerly, page seventeen, Indigo Journal and the Bright Lights, No City anthology, and he has written articles for 10 Daily, the Huffington Post, the ABC, DNA Magazine and FasterLouder. In his spare time, Holden is a gym junkie and plays footy (AFL) socially. He lives in Perth with his husband. |
Allison Tait
Allison Tait (A.L. Tait) is the internationally published bestselling author of middle-grade adventure series The Mapmaker Chronicles and the Ateban Cipher. Her new novel The Fire Star (A Maven & Reeve Mystery) is out now! Book two of the Maven & Reeve Mystery series is due for release in 2021. A multi-genre writer, teacher and speaker with many years’ experience in magazines, newspapers and online publishing, Allison is the co-host of the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast. She lives on the south coast of NSW (Australia) with her family |
Sue Whiting
Sue Whiting has worked in publishing for two decades. She is a children’s book editor, mentor and writing coach, and the author of numerous books for children and young adults, including the bestselling Missing, the award-winning A Swim in the Sea and a number of CBCA Notable Books, Sue's latest novel for readers 10+, The Book of Chance was recently shortlisted for the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. As a storyteller and schools’ performer, Sue has informed, inspired and entertained thousands of kids across the country. Join her in her adventures in story at https://suewhiting.com |
Rory H. Mather
Rory likes lasagne, karaoke, potatoes, dogs, and picture books…but doesn’t think they necessarily go together. He is the author of picture books Vlad’s Bad Breath (Larrikin House 2020), Easter Hat-astrophe (Scholastic 2021), Vlad’s in Love (Larrikin House 2021) and the newly released Get Back in Your Books (Scholastic 2021) plus some other titles that are coming soon. Rory lives in sunny Queensland with his wife Georgia and their fur babies Hugo and Cooper. |
Dinuka McKenzie
Dinuka McKenzie is an Australian writer and crime-fiction tragic. Her debut crime-fiction manuscript Flood Debris won the 2020 Banjo Prize and will be published by HarperCollins Australia in February 2022. Her unpublished manuscript Taken was longlisted for the 2020 Richell Prize. She is represented by Alex Adsett Literary. When not writing, Dinuka works in the environmental sector and volunteers as part of the team behind the Writers’ Unleashed Festival. She lives in Southern Sydney with her husband, two kids and their pet chicken. To find out more visit https://dinukamckenzie.com/ |
Sal Gallaher
Sal Gallaher is a writer and photographer from Sydney on a creative journey. With a Danish background and experience living in several countries Sal has a passionate and down-to-earth writing voice that takes on everyday issues and jazzes them up with a vivid imagination. Sal is featured on Short Fiction Break with some of her short stories and is also inclued in the 2019 FAW anthology Webs of Life. She is currently working on a romance suspense novel as well as a couple of children’s picture books that she hopes to find a publisher for in 2021. |
Sylvia Vago
Sylvia is an emerging writer and member of FAW Sutherland. She has been writing and publishing short stories and is currently writing her memoir. Her many hats include editor, literacy consultant, judge of the Schools creative writing competition. (SPARK) and coordinator of the picture book competition |