HNSA Patron
Kate Forsyth
Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel at the age of seven, and is now
the award-winning & internationally bestselling author of more than 20 books for both adults
and children.
Beauty in Thorns, the extraordinary love story behind the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward
Burne-Jones's famous painting of 'Sleeping Beauty'. Other novels include The Beast’s Garden,
a retelling of ‘Beauty & the Beast’ set in the underground resistance to Hitler in Nazi
Germany; The Wild Girl, the story of the forbidden romance behind the Grimm brothers'
fairy tales; and Bitter Greens, a retelling of 'Rapunzel' which won the 2015 American
Library Association Award for Best Historical Fiction. Named one of Australia's Favourite 15
Novelists, Kate has a doctorate in fairy tale studies and is an accredited master storyteller.
2017 Conference Patron
Sophie Masson
Born in Indonesia of French parents and brought up in France and
Australia, Sophie Masson is the award-winning and internationally-published author of over 60 books
for children, young adults and adults. Her historical novel for children, The Hunt for Ned
Kelly, won the Patricia Wrightson Prize in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards in 2011,
while her alternative history novel for young adults, The Hand of Glory, won an Aurealis
Award and her historical fantasy trilogy, Forest of Dreams, has been translated into
several languages. Sophie's newest novel is Jack of Spades, a historical spy novel for
young adults, coming out with Eagle Books in 2017. Sophie is also co-founder and director of
small-press publishing house, Christmas Press, and serves on the Boards of the Australian Society
of Authors, the Small Press Network and the New England Writers' Centre. Her website is at www.sophiemasson.org
Blog: www.firebirdfeathers.com
Guest Author
Kerry Greenwood
Kerry Greenwood is the author of 59 novels and five non-fiction
books. Born, raised and still living Footscray, Kerry is the creator of the fabulous 20-book Phryne
Fisher mystery series, (Allen & Unwin); the Corinna Chapman crime series (A&U); and (with
Clan Destine Press) the Delphic Women Trilogy: Medea, Cassandra and Electra; Out
of the Black Land; Mytherotica and the two-volume Herotica.
Kerry holds both the Ned Kelly and Davitt Lifetime Achievement Awards for her crime fiction, and
wants another lifetime. She is not married but lives with an accredited Wizard and three cats,
Belladonna, Dougal and Shadow; and has no idea where she gets her ideas from.
Key Note Speakers
Lesley Williams
Lesley Williams is a respected Community elder, who grew up in
Cherbourg (an Aboriginal Community) in Queensland during the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s.
In 1964, after completing primary school she was forcibly sent out to work as a domestic servant
under the Queensland Government Protection Act and consequently had her wages and savings
controlled by the Government.
In 1991, through her research relating to the Wages and Savings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders that was held in Trust by the Queensland Government from 1890’s to the 1970’s (more
commonly known as the “Stolen Wages”) which led her to campaign for 9 years with a small team of
supporters for the return of their wages and savings.
Due to her experience and knowledge of having lived under the various Protection Acts which
included The Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Act of 1939; The Aborigines’ and Torres Strait
Islanders’ Affairs Act of 1965 and The Aborigines’ and Torres Strait Islanders’Affairs Act of 1965
to 1967. Lesley was employed in1999 as a special project officer in the Department of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
Partnership (DATSIP) to assist in the research and the reconstruction of the Queensland Aboriginal
Account and the Aborigines Welfare Fund.
It was through her efforts that the Queensland Government in May 2002, made a “Reparations” offer
of $55.4 million to all Indigenous workers who had their work and savings controlled from 1897 to
1970’s.
Her role also required her to travel throughout Queensland, including remote communities conducting
information sessions to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who had their wages and
savings controlled. Lesley also assisted the elderly to fill in their application forms and
providing updates on the process of their claims.
Lesley currently works as a Cultural Advisor in the Department of Communities Child Safety and
Disabilities Services. She has been working in this role since November 200.
Between 2006 and 2011 worked part time with Professor John Mitchell of the La Trobe collecting DNA
samples from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as part of the Genographic Project a worldwide
program funded by the National Geographic Society to study how humans have populated the planet
over the last 100,000 years.
In particular to establish that Indigenous Australians are one of the oldest living groups of
people in the world.
Speakers
[Click the photo for biographical information]
Vicky Adin 
Vicky Adin
Vicky is
fascinated by the 19th Century pioneers
who undertook hazardous journeys to
find a better life. She is especially
fascinated by the women, who needed
strength of mind as well as body to
survive, let alone flourish, in a new
country still coming to terms with its
existence. Being a genealogist in love
with history, these men and women and
their ancestors drive her stories.
Vicky Adin holds a Master degree with
Honours in English and Education. Three
words sum up her passion in life:
family, history and language. She has
combined her skills to write poignant
novels that weave family and history
together, based on real people, with
real experiences in a way that makes
the past come alive.
When not writing you will find her
reading historical novels, family sagas
and contemporary women’s stories,
caravanning or cruising, or spending
time with her children and
grandchildren. www.vickyadin.co.nz
Nicole Alexander
Nicole Alexander
“Nicole
Alexander is the bestselling author of
seven Australian historical novels; The
Bark Cutters, A Changing Land,
Absolution Creek, Sunset Ridge, The
Great Plains, Wild Lands and
River Run. Her eighth novel
will be pub. Sept. 1st 2017.
The Bark Cutters was shortlisted for an
Australian Book Industry award and
Nicole has a Masters in Literature
& Creative Writing.
Nicole’s novels, poetry, travel,
creative writing and genealogy articles
have been published internationally.
Her novels reflect a sense of
continuity and an inherent love for the
land that is steeped in authenticity.
She is praised for their rich
historical detail much of which is
drawn from the Alexander family
archives. www.nicolealexander.com.au
Maxine Alterio
Maxine Alterio
Dr
Maxine Alterio is a novelist, short
fiction writer, and an academic mentor.
She has published two novels: Ribbons
of Grace (Penguin NZ, 2007),
shortlisted for the Nielsen BookData
New Zealand Booksellers’ Choice Award,
and Lives We Leave Behind (Penguin
NZ, 2012; Editions PRISMA, France,
2013). Her short fiction collection,
Live News and Other Stories (Steele
Roberts, NZ, 2005), contains work
previously published in The NZ
Listener. A number of her
stories have won, or been placed in,
national and international
competitions. Others have been
broadcast on RNZ National. Several have
appeared in anthologies such as Penguin
25 New Fiction (Penguin, NZ,
1998); Best New Zealand Fiction
Volume 3 (Random House, NZ,
2006); and Myth of the 21st Century
(Reed, NZ, 2006). Maxine also
co-authored Learning through
Storytelling in Higher Education:
Using Reflection & Experience
to Improve Learning
(RoutledgeFalmer, UK and USA, 2003),
recognised internationally as the first
book to link the art of storytelling
with reflective learning. She has also
researched and written about the
emotional legacies of the First World
War for nurses and volunteers who
attempted to make meaning of their
experiences through the writing of
memoirs. Winner of the 2013 Seresin
Landfall Residency, Maxine’s third
novel, Wait for Me, published
by Penguin Random House, NZ, will be
released late 2017.
Alison Arnold
Alison Arnold
Alison
Arnold is an editor and writer, who
spent many years inhouse before going
freelance. She has edited many
bestsellers and award-winners in her
seventeen-year career, including Carole
Wilkinson’s Dragonkeeper,
Raimond Gaita’s After Romulus,
and Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie
Project. With Cath Crowley,
she runs writing workshops for adults.
She has taught creative writing at RMIT
and Federation University. She also
occasionally writes for the Saturday
Paper.
Josie Arnold
Josie Arnold
Josie
Arnold is the author of over 70 books
ranging from memoir to poetry to young
adult fiction. The story of her family
was made into an ABC mini-series called
‘Love Letters from the War’. Her memoir
‘Mother Superior, Woman Inferior’ tells
the story of growing up with seven
siblings in times of hardship and
humour. She is Professor of Writing at
Swinburne University and lectures in
units on the writing of history and
Australian writing and cultural change.
Melissa Ashley
Melissa Ashley
Dr
Melissa Ashley is a fiction writer,
poet and academic who teaches creative
writing workshops at the University of
Queensland. Melissa is the author of
the historical fiction, The
Birdman’s Wife (Affirm Press,
2016), about the incredible life of the
nineteenth-century illustrator,
Elizabeth Gould, the wife of John
Gould, the ‘father’ of Australian
ornithology. Melissa has published
papers and articles in Hecate, Text
Journal of Creative Writing, Double
Dialogues, The Age (Spectrum), The
Lifted Brow and others. Her current
project explores the life and writing
of a seventeenth-century French author
of fairy tales.
Ngahuia te Awekotuku
Ngahuia te Awekotuku
Ngahuia
te Awekotuku was born and raised in
Ohinemutu, Rotorua. She is a veteran
cultural activist, scholar and LGTQI
advocate. As principal author of Mau
Moko : the World of Maori Tattoo
(2007), she won many
prestigious awards, including Nga Kupu
Ora-the Inaugural Maori Book of the
Decade. Her book E Nga Uri
Whakatupu : weaving legacies (2015),
focuses on traditional textiles.
Awekotuku also writes poetry and
fiction; Ruahine : Mythic Women
(2003) are crafted retellings
of popular Maori legends about heroic
women. Her most recent fiction
is Tahuri : a limited edition
(2017) about growing up Maori,
female, and different in the
1950’s-60’s. She gained a PhD in
Psychology in 1981, and retired from
professing in 2014, to undertake more
creative work.
Jackie Ballantyne
Jackie Ballantyne
Jackie
Ballantyne began writing fiction while
she was working in advertising in
Melbourne. Since then she has won
awards and commendations for her short
stories. Her first novel, 'How to Stop
a Heart from Beating' (Random House New
Zealand, 2007), was met with acclaim.
This was followed by 'The Silver
Gaucho' (The Doby Press, 2014),
subsequently shortlisted for The Rubery
Award, UK, in 2015. Jackie has recently
returned to live and write in Melbourne
after twelve years in Dunedin, New
Zealand.
Nicolas Brasch
Nicolas Brasch
Nicolas
has been a full-time writer for 20
years. He is the author of more than
400 books (mainly for children and
young adults) for many leading
international publishers, several of
which have won Australian and
international awards. He also teaches
professional writing at Swinburne
University; presents workshops and
seminars on writing and storytelling;
is the Chair of Writers Victoria; and
host of The Garret podcast.
Mandy Brett
Mandy Brett
Mandy
Brett is a senior (acquiring) editor
with Text Publishing. She has been at
Text since 2002, working across the
list: on fiction, trade non-fiction and
occasionally YA titles. Previously she
was at IAD Books, an Indigenous
publishing house in Alice Springs.
Robyn Cadwallader
Robyn Cadwallader
Robyn is
an editor and writer who lives in the
country outside Canberra. She has
published poems, prize-winning short
stories and reviews, a poetry
collection, i painted unafraid
(Wakefield Press, 2010) and a
non-fiction book about virginity and
female agency in the Middle Ages. Her
first novel, The Anchoress was
published to critical acclaim in 2015
by Fourth Estate (Aust), Faber &
Faber (UK), Farrer, Straus & Giroux
(US), and Gallimard (France). It was
awarded a Canberra Critics’ Circle
Award for fiction, was shortlisted for
the Indie Book Awards, the Adelaide
Festival Literary Awards and the ACT
Book of the Year Award, and was
longlisted for the ABIA Awards. In
response to the government’s shameful
policies on asylum seekers, Robyn
commissioned and edited a collection of
essays and analysis by prominent
lawyers and activists, We Are
Better Than This (ATF Press,
2015).
Lindy Cameron
Lindy Cameron
Lindy
Cameron is the publisher of Clan
Destine Press. CDP’s aim is to foster
new Australian genre writers and to
provide a home where already-published
authors can play in new worlds. It
publishes the ancient Greek and
Egyptian novels of Kerry Greenwood;
Australia’s first mystery novel by
Ellen Davitt; the contemporary
crime/thrillers of Jane Clifton, Sandy
Curtis, Alison Goodman, Rowena Cory
Daniells, Sarah Evans, Sandi Wallace,
Emilie Collyer, Liz Porter and Barry
Weston; and the true crime of Vikki
Petraitis, Ruth Wykes, Lindy Cameron
and Fin J. Ross.
Lindy is also a crime and specfic
writer, author of; Golden Relic,
Redback, Feedback, and the Kit
O’Malley PI trilogy. She’s also
co-author of the True Crime
collections: Killer in the Family
& Murder in the Family,
with her sister Fin J Ross; and Women
Who Kill, with Ruth Wykes.
She is currently working on a series of
historical novellas featuring
time-travelling archaeologists,
Amazons, and the great-great
granddaughter of Alexander the Great
and the Amazon Queen. Thalestris.
Lindy is a founding member and current
Vice-President of Sisters in Crime
Australia.www.clandestinepress.com.au
Anna Campbell
Anna Campbell
Queenslander
Anna Campbell has written ten
bestselling historical romances for
HarperCollins and Mills and Boon
Australia. Her work is published
internationally, including in the
United States, Germany, Russia, the
United Kingdom, Turkey and Japan. Anna
has won numerous awards for her
sweeping, emotional stories set in the
first quarter of the 19th century. Anna
is currently engaged in writing the
“Dashing Widows” series, which started
in 2015 with The Seduction of Lord
Stone. Anna lives on the
Sunshine Coast where she writes
full-time. You can find out more about
Anna on her website: www.annacampbell.com
Photo by Robyn Hill
Ella Carey
Ella Carey
Ella
Carey is the internationally
bestselling author of three novels
inspired by the discovery of courtesan
Marthe de Florian's abandoned apartment
in Paris, published by Lake Union
Publishing in the US: Paris Time
Capsule, released in 2015 and
now adapted into a feature film
screenplay, The House by the Lake,
released in March 2016 and From a
Paris Balcony, releasing in
October 2016. Paris Time Capsule
is going to be re-released with
Harlequin Australia in September 2016.
Ella has an arts degree majoring in
European history and nineteenth century
women's literature, and a music degree
in classical piano. She has traveled
extensively in Europe and has a
particular fondness for Paris. When
Ella is not hard at work writing her
fourth novel, she is either busy with
her pair of teenagers, walking her pair
of Italian greyhounds while cooking up
future books and greeting the many
people who think the dogs are whippets,
reading or dreaming of being in Paris.
For more information about Ella's books
and her writing, please visit her at https://www.facebook.com/ellacareyauthor/
or at http://www.ellacarey.com/
Deborah Challinor
Deborah Challinor
Deborah
Challinor is the author of fifteen
bestselling historical fiction novels,
two works of non-fiction about the
Vietnam War, and a young adult novel.
In 2010 she moved from New Zealand to
Newcastle, Australia, to write a series
of novels set in 1830s Sydney about
four convict girls inspired by her own
family history, but returned to New
Zealand at the end of 2014. She is
currently working on a trilogy set in
New Zealand, Sydney and Vietnam in the
1950s and 1960s.
Deborah was born and raised in Huntly,
New Zealand, and attended Huntly
College. She has a Ph.D in history from
Waikato University, wrote an opinion
column and feature articles for
newspapers, has edited special
publications and books, and taught
researching and writing historical
fiction, and general New Zealand
history, at university level for
several years. She writes fiction full
time, and her books are sold in New
Zealand, Australia, the UK, Germany,
Russia and Czechoslovakia, and in
eBook, audio and large print formats.
http://www.deborahchallinor.com
http://www.facebook.com/DeborahChallinorBooks
Lisa Chaplin
Lisa Chaplin
A born
and bred Sydney-sider, Lisa Chaplin
spent four years in beautiful Zurich,
Switzerland, gathering ideas for her
novels before returning to native soil.
After writing twenty books, novellas or
online reads for Harlequin as Melissa
James, she quit to write historical
mainstream full-time, and caught the
eye of her dream publisher, William
Morrow Books, a division of
HarperCollins, NY. The interest in her
"Nighthawks" series of books made her
think of taking those spies into
history - and she found truth more
compelling than fiction. So many facets
of the Napoleonic Wars remained
hidden...now she brings those stories
to life. The Tide Watchers is
her first historical mainstream novel.
Sherryl Clark
Sherryl Clark
Sherryl
Clark’s first children’s book, The
Too-Tight Tutu, was published
in 1997, and she now has more than 70
published books. Her titles include
picture books, a number of Aussie
Bites, Nibbles and Chomps, and verse
novels. Her YA novels are Bone
Song, published in the UK in
2009, and Dying to Tell Me
(KaneMiller US 2011, Australia 2014).
She has written a number of historical
novels for children: Pirate X,
the Rose books as part of the Our
Australian Girl series, and Jimmy's
War, set in 1915. Her latest
historical novel (just completed) is
Ring of Black Roses, set
during the Great Plague of London in
1665. Meet Rose was
shortlisted for the NSW Premier's
History Awards and also the YABBA and
KOALA children’s choice awards. Her
books have been published in Australia
and overseas, including the USA, UK,
Spain, Mexico and China.
Sherryl teaches creative writing at
Victoria University TAFE. Her website
is at www.sherrylclark.com
Gary Corby
Gary Corby
Gary
Corby has long been fascinated by
ancient history, finding it more
exciting and bizarre than any modern
thriller. He's combined the ancient
world with his love of whodunits, to
create an historical mystery series set
in Classical Greece. Gary lives in
Sydney, Australia, with his wife and
two daughters. He blogs at A Dead Man
Fell FromThe Sky, on all things
ancient, Athenian, and mysterious.
Kay Crabbe
Kay Crabbe
Kay
Crabbe writes for children in an
easy-to-read style, following
twenty-six years working with reluctant
readers. Her interest in writing
history was fostered while researching
the educational chapter book, Patch
Parker: Son of a Convict, now
a recommended resource by the History
Teachers' Association. It took her on a
journey to Torres Strait, and back to
the tumultuous time of Federation, for
her diverse novel The Pearl-shell
Diver (Allen & Unwin) a
2016 Speech Pathology Book of the Year
(Indigenous) and 2017 Children’s Book
Council Notable Book.
Kay grew up in Sydney and moved with
her husband and children to remote
areas of Tasmania and Western Australia
before settling in far north
Queensland, a spectacular region that
led her to write a non-fiction book for
children on environmental issues, Introduced
Species in Australia,
(Macmillan) a commended
best-series-book in the Whitley Book
Awards. Kay began her writing career
with adult feature-articles for
newspapers and leisure magazines.
Gary Crew
Gary Crew
Professor
Gary Crew (University of the Sunshine
Coast) has published over 100 short
stories, novels and illustrated books.
He has a Masters of Arts (Literature;
University of Queensland) and a
Doctorate of Creative Arts (Creative
Writing; University of the Sunshine
Coast). His research and creative
outputs relate to the creative links
between fiction and nonfiction in his
novels and the creative interface
between print text and visual text in
his illustrated books. Among his many
awards, Gary has won the Children's
Book Council of Australia's Book of the
Year four times, twice for his novels,
twice for the illustrated book
category; the New South Wales Premier’s
Award, the Victorian Premier’s Award,
the American Children’s Book of
Distinction and the Wilderness
Society’s Award for Environmental
Writing.
Matt Curran
Matt Curran
Matthew
Curran has been a dark ages and
medieval reenactor for over twenty
years, initially joining the Monash
University branch of the Society for
Creative Anachronism, and then joining
other reenactment group specialising in
areas such as Viking Age Gotland and
the characters from Canterbury Tales.
As an extension of his reenactment,
Matthew does fundraising for MS
Australia under the guise of The MS
Viking; completing charity fun runs in
armour As a parent and a Scouts leader,
he is keen to guide the next generation
of reenactors and history enthusiasts.
Hanifa Deen
Hanifa Deen
Hanifa
Deen is a Melbourne-based award winning
author and social commentator of
Pakistani-Muslim ancestry who writes
narrative non-fiction.
BOOK TITLES:
- Award-winning Caravanserai: Journey Among Australian Muslims(1st Edition Allen & Unwin 1995, Revised 2nd edition Fremantle Arts Centre Press 2003))
- Broken Bangles; shortlisted -Western Australian Premier’s Award
- The Crescent and the Pen; HDB (Praeger USA 2006)
- The Jihad Seminar shortlisted for the Australian Human Rights Commission, Non-Fiction Literary Award 2008 (UWA Publishing 2008)
- Ali Abdul v. The King (UWA Publishing, 2008)
- On the Trail of Taslima,(Indian Ocean Press 2013)
- ‘My Descent into Purple’. Purple Prose anthology Liz Bryski & R.. Robertson (Fremantle Press 2016)
Barbara Gaskell Denvil
Barbara Gaskell Denvil
Barbara
Gaskell Denvil was born in
Gloucestershire, England but after
living in half a dozen different
European countries and cruising the
Mediterranean for some years, has now
moved to rural Australia.When younger
she worked in many literary capacities
and published numerous short stories
and articles, but now writes full
length novels.
Her passion for history in general and
the late English medieval in
particular, now forms the background
for her historical fiction. She has
published four historical novels - Satin
Cinnabar which is a crime
adventure actually commencing on the
Bosworth battlefield, Sumerford's
Autumn which is an adventure
mystery with strong romantic overtones,
set in the early years of the Tudor
reign, The Flame Eater set
during 1485 and Blessop's Wife
(published in Australia by Simon &
Schuster as The King's Shadow)
which is a crime/romance set in England
during 1482-3 in those turbulent years
around the death of King Edward IV.
Barbara is also an author of fantasy
and her latest publication is a
time-slip historical thriller entitled
Fair Weather. Both fantasy and
historical fiction take us into new
worlds and Barbara's books do exactly
this - being multi-layered, and rich in
both characterisation and atmosphere.
http://barbaragaskelldenvil.com/index.html
Luke Devenish
Luke Devenish
Luke
Devenish’s Ancient Rome-set historical
fiction novels, Den of Wolves
and Nest of Vipers, were
published in Australia in 2008 and
2010, and later translated into
Spanish, Serbian, Russian and Turkish
editions. His most recent historical
novel, the Australian Gothic mystery
The Secret Heiress, was
published in Australia and New Zealand
in April 2016, and reprinted in January
2017.
From 2001 to the end of 2007 Luke held
a number of key creative roles,
including Script Producer, on Neighbours,
where he oversaw 1,500 episode scripts.
Previously, he was Script Executive on
Something in the Air and, as
Assistant Commissioning Editor for
Drama with ABC TV, he worked in the
writing and development of SeaChange,
RAW FM and other series. He
has since written for Home &
Away and was Script Editor on
Nowhere Boys.
Luke Devenish is also a playwright.
Forming collaborations with theatre
practitioners in the late 80s and early
90s, his plays were staged by Kickhouse
Theatre for the Melbourne Fringe
Festival, before productions of his
work were commissioned by Playbox, the
Adelaide Festival, the Sydney Festival,
WAAPA and NIDA. In 2010 he co-adapted
(with Louise Fox) Dario Fo’s Elizabeth:
Almost by Chance a Woman for
the Malthouse. This adaptation was also
staged by Queensland Theatre Company in
2012.
Luke has taught creative writing
subjects for AFTRS, RMIT, Monash and
NIDA. Since 2013 he has lectured and
coordinated 1st Year undergraduates of
the BFA Screenwriting degree at the
University of Melbourne’s Victorian
College of the Arts.
Irina Dunn
Irina Dunn
Irina is
the Director of the ID Editing and
Publishing Consultancy, which provides
services for individual authors seeking
help with their publishing projects.
She is also Director of the Australian
Writers’ Network, which
promotes a wide range of literary
events, and Director of ID Consultancy,
which provides teaching and educational
resources for migrants and refugees.
Wendy J Dunn
Wendy J. Dunn
Wendy J.
Dunn is an Australian writer who has
been obsessed by Anne Boleyn and Tudor
History since she was ten-years-old.
She is the author of three historical
novels: Dear Heart, How Like You
This?, the winner of the 2003
Glyph Fiction Award and 2004 runner up
in the Eric Hoffer Award for Commercial
Fiction, The Light in the Labyrinth,
her first young adult novel, and Falling
Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of
Daughters.
While she continues to have a very
close and spooky relationship with Sir
Thomas Wyatt, the elder, (Tom told the
story of Anne Boleyn in Dear Heart,
How Like You This?),
serendipity of life now leaves her no
longer wondering if she has been
channeling Anne Boleyn and Sir Tom for
years in her writing, but considering
the possibility of ancestral memory.
Her own family tree reveals the
intriguing fact that her ancestors –
possibly over three generations – had
purchased land from both the Boleyn and
Wyatt families to build up their own
holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s
ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns
personally.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Wendy
gained her Doctorate of Philosophy
(Writing) from Swinburne University in
2014.
Hazel Edwards
Hazel Edwards
Hazel
Edwards writes quirky,
thought-‐provoking fiction and fact
for adults and children, and has her
own e-bookstore for favourite print
books which are now e-pubs. (http://www.hazeledwards.com/shop.)
Best known for ‘There’s a Hippopotamus
on Our Roof Eating Cake’ series, now
translated into Chinese and other
media, Hazel has two grandsons for whom
she writes a story each birthday A
Youtube documentary on reactions to f2m:
the boy within a coming-of-age
YA novel about transitioning gender was
made by Kailash Studio. Outback
Ferals her YA novel set in
Darwin, is a sequel to Antarctica’s
Frozen Chosen, researched
during her 2001 Antarctic expedition.
Hazel runs book‐linked workshops on
‘Authorpreneurship’ and ‘Writing a Non
Boring Family History’.
Trail Magic; Going Walkabout for
2184 Miles on the Appalachian Trail
with her son Trevelyan is the latest
adventure memoir.
Hijabi Girl is her latest
junior chapter book, co-written with a
Muslim librarian.
A director of ASA, (Aust Society of
Authors) and a National Reading
Ambassador, in 2013 Hazel was awarded
an OAM for Literature. Her memoir Not
Just a Piece of Cake‐Being an
Author is now available.
Christopher Foley
Christopher Foley
Chris
has had a life-long passion for
history, fiction and the educative
power of the written word. In his
professional work his skills have taken
him from school teaching to corporate
IT, and from the printed to the digital
word. In academic history he has
written on identity in Roman Britain,
the problems of the source material for
late Roman and Early Medieval Britain,
and the transplantation of the British
University ideal to 19th Century
Australia. More recently he manages
www.historyclicking.com, a website and
Facebook page dedicated to his varied
historical interests. His current
fiction writing project is a cross over
between historical and science fiction
genres, in which history is the
inspiration for ‘future history’
events. The first novel in the
‘Federation’ series is due to appear in
eBook format in 2017.
Clare Forster
Clare Forster
Clare
worked in book publishing as a
publisher at HarperCollins and Penguin
Books before joining the Curtis Brown
literary agency in 2007. She represents
a diverse list of authors, including
celebrated historical novelists Maggie
Joel, Deb Challinor, Meaghan
Wilson-Anastasios, Kirsty Manning, and
Ian Townsend. She lives and works in
Melbourne.
Rachel Franks
Rachel Franks
Rachel
Franks is the Coordinator, Education
& Scholarship, at the State Library
of New South Wales, a Conjoint Fellow
at the University of Newcastle,
Australia and is at The University of
Sydney researching true crime. Rachel
holds a PhD in Australian crime fiction
and her research in the fields of crime
fiction, true crime, food studies and
information science has been presented
at numerous conferences. An
award-winning writer, her work can be
found in a wide variety of books,
journals and magazines.
Kelly Gardiner
Kelly Gardiner
Kelly
Gardiner’s most recent book is ‘1917’
(published early in 2017), a novel for
young readers set during the First
World War. Her previous books include
Goddess, based on the
remarkable life of the seventeenth
century French swordswoman and opera
singer, Julie d’Aubigny. Kelly’s
historical novels for young adults
include The Sultan’s Eyes and
Act of Faith, set during the
time of the English Civil Wars and the
Inquisition. Both books were
shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize
in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
Her books for younger readers are the
‘Swashbuckler’ adventure trilogy – Ocean
Without End, The Pirate’s
Revenge and The Silver
Swan – set in Malta during the
Napoleonic invasion, and a picture
book, Billabong Bill’s Bushfire
Christmas. Kelly has worked on
newspapers, magazines and websites, and
her articles, poems, book reviews and
travel writing have appeared in
journals, magazines and newspapers as
diverse as ‘The New York Times’, ‘Marie
Claire’, ‘New Idea’, and ‘Going Down
Swinging’. She teaches creative writing
at La Trobe University. Kelly presents
HNSA’s Imagining the Past podcast, and
is the co-host of Unladylike, a podcast
on women and writing. Learn more about
Kelly at her website. kellygardiner.com/
Kathryn Gauci
Kathryn Gauci
Kathryn
Gauci was born in Leicestershire,
England, and studied textile design at
Loughborough College of Art and later
at Kidderminster College of Art and
Design where she specialised in carpet
design and technology. After
graduating, Kathryn spent a year in
Vienna, Austria before moving to Greece
where she worked as a carpet designer
in Athens for six years. There followed
another brief period in New Zealand
before eventually settling in
Melbourne, Australia.
Before turning to writing full-time,
Kathryn ran her own textile design
studio in Melbourne for over fifteen
years, work which she enjoyed
tremendously as it allowed her the
luxury of travelling worldwide, often
taking her off the beaten track and
exploring other cultures. The
Embroiderer is her first
novel; a culmination of those wonderful
years of design and travel, and
especially of those glorious years in
her youth living and working in Greece
– a place that she is proud to call her
spiritual home. www.kathryngauci.com
Sulari Gentill
Sulari Gentill
A
reformed lawyer, Sulari Gentill is the
author of the Rowland Sinclair
Mysteries, seven historical
crime novels (thus far) chronicling the
life and adventures of her 1930s
Australian gentleman artist, and the
Hero Trilogy, based on the
myths and epics of the ancient world.
She lives with her husband, Michael,
and their boys, Edmund and Atticus, on
a small farm in the foothills of the
Snowy Mountains, where she grows French
Black Truffles and works in her
pyjamas.
Sulari has been shortlisted for the
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – Best
First Book, won the 2012 Davitt Award
for Crime Fiction, been shortlisted in
2013, 2015 and the 2016 Davitt Award,
the 2015 Ned Kelly Award, the 2015 and
2016 Australian Book Industry Award for
Best Adult Book, the NSW Genre Fiction
Award, commended in the FAW Jim
Hamilton Award and offered a Varuna
Fellowship. In 2014, Sulari
collaborated with National Gallery of
Victoria to write a short historical
fiction which was produced in audio to
feature in the Fashion Detective
Exhibition, and thereafter published by
the NGV. She was an Ambassador of 2015
Emerging Writers’ Festival and the
inaugural Eminent Writer in Residence
at the Museum of Australian Democracy.
She remains in love with art of
writing.
Robert Gott
Robert Gott
Robert
Gott was born in the small Queensland
town of Maryborough in 1957, and lives
in Melbourne. He has published many
books for children, and is also the
creator of the newspaper cartoon The
Adventures of Naked Man. He is
also the author of The Holiday
Murders and The Port Fairy
Murders. This novel is the
fourth in the William Power series of
crime-caper novels set in 1940s
Australia, following Good Murder,
A Thing of Blood, and Amongst
the Dead.
Anne Gracie
Anne Gracie
Anne
Gracie spent her childhood and youth on
the move, thanks to her father's job
which took them around the world. The
gypsy life taught her that humor and
love are universal languages and that
favorite books can take you home,
wherever you are.
Anne started her first novel while
backpacking solo around the world,
writing by hand in notebooks. Published
by Harlequin, Berkley USA and Penguin
Australia, her regency-era romances are
national bestsellers in the USA, have
won many awards, have been translated
into more than eighteen languages and
include Japanese manga editions (which
she thinks is a hoot). A passionate
advocate of universal literacy, Anne
also writes books for adults just
learning to read. www.annegracie.com
Alison Green
Alison Green
Alison
Green is the visionary CEO behind
Pantera Press, an innovative publishing
boutique that combines philanthropy and
business concepts with the goal of
social benefit by investing in the next
generation of talented Australian
writers and working to help close the
literacy gap.
Sydney-based Alison is a director of
the New South Wales Writers’ Centre,
sits on the Australian Publishers
Association Trade Committee, the
Australian Publishers Association’s
Independent Publishers Committee and is
a past member of the SJWF Writers’
Festival Committee.
Alison was recently named one of the
Australian Financial Review's 100 Women
of Influence 2016, was selected as one
of the top 20 leaders in philanthropy
in 2013 and 2015 for the USA, EU and UK
study tour, and in 2015 was accepted
into the prestigious Leadership
Strategies in Book Publishing
course at Yale University.
Tim Griffiths
Tim Griffiths
Tim's
debut novel Endurance was published by
Allen & Unwin in 2015. Endurance
tells the story of the great Australian
photographer and adventurer Frank
Hurley through his own eyes from the
Mawson and Shackleton expeditions to
the Great War.
Tim has lived most of his life in
Sydney working as a lawyer and with his
wife raising four children. He was a
presenter at the 2016 Sydney Writers
Festival and a speaker at the
Australian Museum Trailblazer talks in
April 2016.
Although he has not had adventures on
the scale of a Hurley, he has enjoyed
introducing his children to sailing,
diving , bushwalking and cross country
skiing,
Tim recently moved to Port Moresby
where among other projects he is
researching his next book the story of
the 1922 expedition by Hurley and
McCulloch up the Fly River into then
unknown Papua.
He has a passion for Australian
history, a fascination with the effect
of photography on the oral and written
traditions of story telling and an
abiding interest in the crossover
between the worlds of fiction and non
fiction.
Pamela Hart
Pamela Hart
Pamela
Hart is an award-winning historical
novelist who is published by Hachette
Australia and Piatkus UK. Her most
recent book is A Letter from Italy,
set in 1917. As Pamela Freeman, she
also writes fantasy novels and
children’s books, including historical
non-fiction. Pamela has published over
30 books and won numerous awards,
including the NSW Premier’s History
Prize for her novel The Black Dress.
Cheryl Hayden
Cheryl Hayden
Cheryl
Hayden is a former journalist and
public servant and currently a PhD
candidate at Flinders University,
researching and writing the life story
of an exiled Elizabethan English
Catholic working for Spain. Her first
novel, A Christmas Game, followed a
similar theme, taking the rebels’ stand
in a disastrous Cornish rebellion.
Libby Hathorn
Libby Hathorn
Libby
Hathorn is an award-winning author of
more than fifty books mainly for
children and young people. Translated
into several languages and adapted for
stage and screen, her work has won
honours in Australia, United States,
Great Britain and Holland. She wrote
Way Home illustrated by Greg Rogers
which won the Kate Greenaway Award UK;
her first YA novel Thunderwith was made
a movie by Hallmark Hall of Fame; and
her opera libretto Grandma’s Shoes won
her an AWGIE.
Libby was a National Ambassador for the
National Year of Reading in Australia
in 2012, and was an Australia Day
Ambassador for more than 20 years,
visiting country towns to celebrate
Australian literature, especially
poetry. In 2003 she won the Centenary
Medal; and in 2014 the Alice Award
given to an Australian woman writer
‘who has made a distinguished and long
term contribution to Australian
literature.’
Her most recent novel is Eventual Poppy
Day (Harper Collins), shortlisted for
SWW Biennial Awards 2016, and most
recent picturebooks are Incredibilia
(Hardie Grant Egmont) shortlisted
Queenland Premier’s Awards, 2016; A
Soldier a Dog and a Boy (Hachette)and
Outside (Hardie Grant Egmont) a Notable
Book with CBCA, 2015, soon to be a
children’s opera with music by Elena
Katz Chernin. www.libbyhathorn.com
Greg Johnston
Greg Johnston
Greg has
written in one form or another most of
his life. He has published three novels
and is working on a novel set in the
cane fields of Far North Queensland
from the 1920s to 1940s. He works as a
bookkeeper, so half the day is spent in
the company of numbers and half in the
company of letters.
Kim Kelly
Kim Kelly
Kim
Kelly has penned six works of
Australian historical fiction,
including the acclaimed Wild
Chicory and Jewel Sea.
Noted for a style that is ‘colourful,
evocative and energetic’ (Sydney
Morning Herald) and for her
‘impressive research’ (Daily
Telegraph), Kim’s writing
shines a light on forgotten corners of
the past, exploring Australian cultural
iconography with humour and heart. ‘Why
can’t more people write like this?’
said the Melbourne Age.
Born and raised in Sydney, today Kim
lives on a small rural property in
central New South Wales just outside
the tiny gold-rush village of
Millthorpe, where the ghosts are mostly
friendly and the verandah posts nicely
preserved. Kim is also a respected book
editor with twenty years’ experience in
the Australian publishing industry, and
is a literary consultant for Varuna,
The National Writers House.
Her seventh novel will be published in
2017.
Website: https://kimkellyauthor.com/
Meg Keneally
Meg Keneally
Meg
Keneally started her working life as a
junior public affairs officer at the
Australian Consulate-General in New
York, before moving to Dublin to work
as a sub-editor and freelance features
writer.
On returning to Australia, she joined
the Daily Telegraph as a general news
reporter, covering everything from
courts to crime to animals' birthday
parties at the zoo. She then joined
Radio 2UE as a talkback radio producer.
In 1997 Meg co-founded a financial
service public relations company, which
she sold after having her first child.
For more than ten years, Meg has worked
in corporate affairs for listed
financial services companies, and
doubles as a part-time SCUBA diving
instructor. She is co-author with Tom
Keneally of The Soldier’s Curse
and The Unmourned, the first
two books in The Monsarrat Series. She
lives in Sydney with her husband and
two children.
Natasha Lester
Natasha Lester
Natasha
Lester’s latest book, A Kiss from
Mr Fitzgerald, was published
by Hachette Australia in 2016 with
another historical novel to follow in
2017. Prior to becoming a writer,
Natasha worked as a marketing executive
for ten years, including stints at
cosmetic company L'Oreal, managing the
Maybelline brand, before returning to
university to study creative writing.
She completed a Master of Creative Arts
as well as her first novel, What Is
Left Over, After, which won
the T.A.G. Hungerford Award for
Fiction. Her second novel, If I
Should Lose You, was published
by Fremantle Press. The Age newspaper
has described Natasha as "a remarkable
Australian talent”.
My website address is: www.natashalester.com.au
Eleanor Limprecht
Eleanor Limprecht
Eleanor
Limprecht is the author of two novels:
Long Bay, based on the true
story of an abortionist imprisoned for
manslaughter in 1909 who gave birth to
a daughter in prison, and What Was
Left, which was shortlisted
for the ALS Gold Medal. Eleanor also
writes short fiction, book reviews and
essays. She was published in the Best
Australian Stories 2015. She
teaches creative writing at UTS and
lives in Sydney.
Juliet Marillier
Juliet Marillier
Juliet
Marillier was born and educated in
Dunedin, New Zealand, and now lives in
Western Australia. Her historical
fantasy novels and short stories for
adults and young adults have been
translated into many languages and have
won a number of awards including the
Aurealis Award (four times), the
American Library Association’s Alex
Award, the Prix Imaginales and the Sir
Julius Vogel Award (three times.)
Juliet’s novels and short stories
combine history, folkloric fantasy,
romance and family drama. Her lifelong
love of myths, legends, folklore and
fairy tales is a major influence on her
writing. Juliet’s eighteen novels
include the six-book Sevenwaters
series, set in early medieval Ireland;
the Bridei Chronicles, based on Pictish
history; the Viking duology Wolfskin
and Foxmask, and the
Shadowfell series. She is currently
working on the Blackthorn & Grim
series for adult readers, combining
elements of history, fairy tale and
mystery. The first Blackthorn &
Grim novel, Dreamer’s Pool,
was published by Pan Macmillan
Australia and Penguin USA late in 2014.
As well as writing full-time, Juliet
acts as a mentor to developing writers
and presents workshops on the writer’s
craft. She is a member of the Committee
of Literary Advisors at the Katharine
Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre, and
is a regular contributor to the
award-winning blog, Writer
Unboxed. Her website is at http://www.julietmarillier.com/.
Juliet is represented by Russell Galen
of the Scovil
Galen and Ghosh Literary Agency.
When not writing, Juliet is active in
animal rescue. She shares her house
with a small pack of waifs and strays.
Juliet is a member of the druid order
OBOD (The
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.)
Isolde Martyn
Isolde Martyn
Isolde
Martyn enjoys setting her stories in
turbulent times such as the Wars of the
Roses or the French Revolution. Her
first novel won top awards in the USA
and Australia. Her earlier career was
in academia and she was a senior book
editor with Reader’s Digest General
Books before taking up writing full
time. She is the vice-chair and
co-founder of the Plantagenet History
Society of Australia and a former
chairperson of the NSW Richard III
Society. Her eighth novel and latest
novel, Troubadour is set in
France in 1209. www.isoldemartyn.com
Elise Mc Cune
Elise Mc Cune
Elise
McCune is an Australian,
Melbourne-based writer. Born in New
South Wales, Australia, Elise moved to
Perth, Western Australia where she
raised her two children. She worked for
ten years in the Western Australian
Museum. Allen & Unwin published her
first novel Castle of Dreams in April
2016.
A poignant, luminous novel about two
sisters, about a mother and daughter, a
loved granddaughter, the past that
separates them and the healing that
comes with forgiveness.
Intricately plotted, with uncovered
secrets, it is a dual narrative story
set in two time periods: far north
Queensland during WW2 and in
contemporary times. Richly evocative
with twists and turns and narrative
lyricism, it is an absorbing story of
love, betrayal and mystery.
Allen & Unwin recently sold the
rights for Castle of Dreams to
Norwegian publisher Cappelen Damm.
Elise can be reached on Facebook,
Twitter
and through her blog, www.elisemccune.com
Kate Mildenhall
Kate Mildenhall
Kate
Mildenhall is the author of Skylarking,
published by Black Inc. in 2016. She is
a writer and teacher. She has taught in
schools, at RMIT University and State
Library Victoria, and has volunteered
with Teachers Across Borders delivering
professional development to Khmer
teachers in Cambodia. Skylarking is her
debut novel, and is based on the true
story of Kate and Harriet, best friends
growing up on a remote Australian cape
in the 1880s, and the tragic event that
befalls them.
Skylarking was named in Readings
bookstore’s Top Ten Fiction Books of
2016 has been longlisted for Debut
Fiction in The Indie Book Awards 2017.
Kate lives with her partner and two
young daughters in Hurstbridge,
Victoria, and is currently working on a
new novel.
Diane Murray
Diane Murray
Diane is
an Interior Architect and Writer who
designs offices by day but writes and
reads Historical Fiction at night. Her
recent novel, Printer’s Ink,
the biography of Australian newspaper
pioneer Marion Leathem and the
accompanying exegesis, Unreal
Truths: The Lies in Every Story
investigate the impact of historical
biography on the writer’s unconscious
mind and the intriguing psychological
transferences which occur between a
writer and her subject. Printer’s
Ink is due for publication in
2017. Previously a former Deputy Chair
of the NSW Writer’s Centre, Diane has
been on the executive committee of the
HNSA since 2014. Diane was awarded her
PhD in 2016.
Belinda Murrell
Belinda Murrell
Belinda
Murrell has been fascinated with
history and writing since she was a
child. Now she is a bestselling,
internationally published children’s
and Young Adult author currently
writing her 28th book. These include
The Sun Sword fantasy trilogy as well
as the popular Lulu Bell series for
younger readers. She is also known for
her collection of historical timeslip
novels including The Sequin Star,
The River Charm, The Locket of
Dreams, The Forgotten Pearl, The
Ruby Talisman and The
Ivory Rose, which have been
recognised by various awards, including
Honour Book KOALAS 2013, shortlisted in
the KOALA and YABBA children’s choice
awards for the last six years, CBCA
Notable List and highly commended in
the PM’s Literary Awards. Belinda’s
latest book is The Lost Sapphire,
set in Melbourne during the 1920’s.
Belinda comes from a very literary
family, with a history of Australian
writers stretching back 180 years. Her
great-great-great-great grandfather
James Atkinson published his book on
Australia in 1826, while his wife
Charlotte published the first
Australian children’s book A
Mother’s Offering to her Children,
in 1841. Belinda’s brother, Nick
Humphrey and sister, Kate Forsyth are
both best selling authors. Belinda’s
website is www.belindamurrell.com.au
Rachel Nightingale
Rachel Le Rossignol
Rachel
Nightingale has been writing since the
age of 8 (early works are safely hidden
away). She holds a Masters degree and
PhD in Creative Writing. Winning the
Mercury Short Story competition (Junior
Section) at the age of 16 fuelled her
desire to share her stories with the
world. Since then her short stories
have been published in several journals
and exhibited twice as part of the
Cancer Council Arts awards. Her play,
No Sequel, won the People’s Choice
Award and Judge’s (First) Prize at
Eltham Little Theatre’s 10 Minute Play
competition in 2014, whilst the play
Crime Fiction has been performed twice
as part of the International Short and
Sweet play competition. Her second
passion after writing is theatre, and
she has been performing onstage and
working backstage for rather a long
time. She co-wrote and performed in the
2012-2015 version of the hugely popular
Murder on the Puffing Billy Express, a
1920s murder mystery set on the iconic
Dandenong Ranges train. Her novel, Harlequin’s
Riddle will be released in
2017 by Odyssey Books. This is the
first book of the Tarya Trilogy, which
was inspired by a quote by Broadway
actor Alan Cumming about that moment
before you step onstage and enter a
different world – a moment when
anything is possible…
Julian Novitz
Julian Novitz
Julian
Novitz is a lecturer in writing at the
Swinburne University of Technology. He
is the author of Little Sister
(Vintage, 2012), Holocaust Tours
(Vintage, 2006) and My Real Life
and Other Stories (Vintage,
2004) and his work has been published
in The Penguin Book of Contemporary
New Zealand Stories, Best New
Zealand Fiction, The
Sydney Review of Books, Wet
Ink, Landfall, The
NZ Listener and Sport.
He has won the Hubert Church Award for
Best First Book of Fiction, the
Katherine Mansfield Award for Short
Fiction, was a recipient of the Buddle
Findlay Frank Sargeson Residential
Writing Fellowship and was shortlisted
for the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story
Prize. He is currently the reviews
editor for Antic: New Writing (www.anticmagazine.com.au).
Wendy Orr
Wendy Orr
Wendy
Orr is an internationally published and
award-winning author of approximately
forty books for children and adults.
Nim’s Island and Nim at
Sea, have also become feature
films, starring Jodie Foster and
Abigail Breslin (Nim’s Island) and
Bindi Irwin (Return to Nim’s Island.)
Her newly released book Dragonfly
Song is a novel in verse and
prose of an outcast girl who becomes a
bull-leaper in Bronze Age Crete.
Catherine Padmore
Catherine Padmore
Dr
Catherine Padmore was awarded her PhD
in creative writing in 2002, and she
has taught literary studies and
creative writing at La Trobe since
2005. Her first novel, Sibyl’s
Cave (Allen and Unwin, 2004)
was shortlisted for The
Australian/Vogel Award and
commended in the first book category of
The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize
(south-east Asia and south Pacific
region). Catherine has been awarded two
retreat fellowships at Varuna, the
Writers’ House, and in 2014 she was
short-listed for their Publisher
Introduction Program. She has
novels-in-progress about Amy Dudley and
Levina Teerlinc. Her short creative
works have been published in Island,
The Journal of Australian Writers
and Writing, The Big Issue, The
Australian, Dotlit, Antithesis
and in the anthology Reflecting on
Melbourne (Poetica Christi,
2009). Catherine’s scholarly work has
been published in Australian
Literary Studies, TEXT, JASAL, Life
Writing and Lateral, with
chapters in Telling Stories:
Australian Life and Literature
1935-2012 (MUP, 2013) and Expanding
the Canon of Early Modern Women’s
Writing (CSP, 2010).
Andrew Peters
Andrew Peters
Dr
Andrew Peters is a Wurundjeri academic,
writer and sports fanatic at Swinburne
University. He has been awarded for his
contributions to Indigenous education
and his dedication to developing and
maintaining links between Swinburne and
the Indigenous community. His most
recent project is a documentary on
Wurundjeri women and sport with
Professor Josie Arnold. He is also a
big Karaoke fan.
Gillian Polack
Gillian Polack
Dr
Gillian Polack is a Medieval historian
and has PhDs in both History and
Creative Writing. Her study of how
history and fiction interface (History
and Fiction) was published in 2016. Her
current research is mainly on how genre
narratives operate. She has also been a
reviewer, critic and non-fiction writer
and an award judge. Gillian has five
novels published (Ms
Cellophane/Life through Cellophane
was a Ditmar finalist) and has one
forthcoming. Sixteen of her short
stories are in print and she has edited
two anthologies (Baggage was a
Ditmar finalist) and an historical
cookbook. One story won a Victorian
Ministry of the Arts award and three
more were listed as recommended reading
in international lists of world’s best
stories. She has received two writing
fellowships at Varuna, arts grants, and
a Ditmar award for her work. www.gillpolack.livejournal.com
Twitter: @GillianPolack
Felicity Pulman
Felicity Pulman
Felicity
Pulman is an award-winning author of
numerous novels for children, teenagers
and adults, many of them inspired by
historical events both here in
Australia and in the UK. Ghost Boy
has a flashback to the grisly past of
Sydney’s Quarantine Station in 1881,
and there is a special Ghost Boy
tour at the QS for students studying
the novel. Ghost Boy is also
in pre-production for a movie. A
Ring Through Time tells the
story of a doomed romance from the time
of the second penal settlement on
Norfolk Island. Her medieval crime
series for YA and adults, The Janna
Chronicles, is set in the 1140s during
the turbulent and treacherous civil war
between King Stephen and the Empress
Matilda. The Shalott trilogy (for
teenagers) plus I, Morgana and
The Once and Future Camelot
(adult fiction) are a rewriting and
reinterpretation of Arthurian legend,
with a glimpse into the (imagined) life
of the poet, Marie de France. Felicity
has many years experience talking to
both adults and children about
researching and writing her novels, and
conducting workshops in a variety of
genres.www.felicitypulman.com.au
Greg Pyers
Greg Pyers
Greg
Pyers grew up in the small Victorian
town of Daylesford. As a boy, he read
the books of Gerald Durrell, and many
years later, worked at Durrell’s famous
Jersey Zoo. Greg went on to write 160
natural history books and three novels
for children. An avid reader of
historical fiction, Greg was motivated
to write historical novels after
reading the superb Wolf Hall.
The Unfortunate Victim is his
second novel for adults.
Christopher Raja
Chris Raja
Christopher
Raja migrated from Kolkata to Melbourne
in 1986. He has lived and worked in
Alice Springs since 2004. His writings
(short stories and essays) have
appeared in numerous publications. His
co-authored play (with Natasha Raja) –
‘The First Garden’ – was performed in
botanical gardens around Australia and
published by Currency Press in 2012.
His debut novel – The Burning
Elephant (published by
Giramondo, 2015) was written under a
New Work grant awarded by the
Literature Board of the Australia
Council. He has been twice shortlisted
for the Northern Territory Writers
Centre’s Chief Minister’s Book of the
Year award. In 2016, Chris appeared at
the Ubud writer’s festival in Bali and
The Burning Elephant was
launched in China at the 9th annual
international conference of the Asia
Pacific Writers and Translators,
Guangzhou.
Paddy Richardson
Paddy Richardson
Paddy
Richardson is the author of two
collections of short stories, Choices
and If We Were Lebanese
and six novels, The Company of a
Daughter, A Year to Learn a Woman,
Hunting Blind, Traces of
Red, Cross Fingers and Swimming
in the Dark. She has had her
work published overseas; A Year to
Learn A Woman (‘Der
Frauenfanger’) Hunting Blind (‘Komm
Spiel Mit Mir’) and Traces of
Red (‘Deine Schuld’) have been
published by the German publishers
Droemer Knaur and ‘Swimming in the
Dark’ has been published by
MacMillans, Australia. Hunting
Blind, Traces of Red, Cross
Fingers and Swimming in
the Dark have all been
finalists in the Ngaio Marsh Award.
Paddy has been awarded three Creative
New Zealand Awards, the University of
Otago Burns Fellowship in 1997, the
Beatson Fellowship in 2007 and the
James Wallace Arts Trust Residency
Award in 2011 and in 2012 represented
New Zealand at both the Leipzig and
Frankfurt Book Fairs. She is an
experienced teacher of creative
writing, has been a speaker at many
writing festivals and is a mentor for
both NZSA and the Whitireia Creative
Writing Programme.
Paddy lives in Broad Bay, Dunedin, and
is presently working on her new novel,
Cheerio Old Son, which is set
during the first world war.
Pamela Rushby
Pamela Rushby
Pamela
Rushby is the author of over 200 books
for children and young adults, as well
as children's TV scripts,
documentaries, short stories and
freelance journalism. Pam has been an
advertising copywriter, pre-school
teacher, and producer of educational
television, audio and multimedia. She
has won several awards, including the
NSW Premier's Ethel Turner Prize, four
CBCA Notable Books – and a bag of gold
coins at a film festival in Iran! Pam
believes the strangest, most riveting,
heart-breaking, laugh-out-loud stories
aren't fiction. They're real. They come
from history. And she loves tripping
over unusual incidents from history –
and then writing about them. Her
website is www.pamelarushby.com
Justin Sheedy
Justin Sheedy
Justin
Sheedy is the author of five books and
whether they be
don’t-read-on-the-bus-hilarious or
cry-in-every-chapter-heroic, he is
passionate to share OUR Australian
stories. His Australian World War II
historical fiction trilogy began with
Nor the Years Condemn (2011)
followed by Ghosts of the Empire
(2013) and now concludes with his
latest release, No Greater Love.
Sheedy’s saga brings to vivid life a
stunning true story in our ANZAC
tradition yet one which until now
remained untold in Australian
historical fiction: the story of how
our nation’s best-and-brightest youth
volunteered for the most dangerous job
of World War II, crossing the planet to
become the pilots and aircrew who flew
against the might of Nazi tyranny.
Given the ‘best and brightest’ fact
upon which his saga is based Sheedy
hopes his readers will fall in love
with his characters, their ensuing loss
ramming home for the reader the
anti-war message that he intends.
He lives in Sydney where he enjoys
connecting with his readers at his
regular book signings, via his Facebook
page and blog at Crackernight.com.
Stephanie Smee
Stephanie Smee
Stephanie
Smee is a literary translator into
English of all things literary and
French. She happily traded in a legal
career for a return to her linguistic
calling and made her literary
translation début with a new English
translation of 19th century
French children’s author, the Countess
de Ségur’s Fleurville Trilogy
(Simon & Schuster (Aust), 2010).
The Trilogy includes the
perennially popular Sophie’s
Misfortunes.
Her subsequent translations of the
Countess’ works include the cheeky Monsieur
Cadichon: Memoirs of a Donkey (2011),
A Room at Guardian Angel Inn (2012)
and its sequel, General Dourakine
(2013).
Her new translation of Jules
Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff, a
thrilling historical adventure tale set
in pre-revolutionary Russia, was
published in 2016 by Eagle Books, an
imprint of Christmas Press.
Forthcoming publications include the
first translation into English of
Swedish children’s author, Gösta
Knutsson’s much-loved tales of Pelle
No-Tail, the cat who had his tail
bitten off by a rat. They will be
published by Piccolo Nero, the
children’s imprint of Black Inc.
Stephanie is enjoying herself
enormously translating these cheeky
works with her Swedish mother,
Ann-Margrete.
Stephanie’s translation from French of
Françoise Frenkel’s extraordinary tale
of survival in Vichy France will also
be published in 2017 by Vintage.
Elisabeth Storrs
Elisabeth Storrs
Elisabeth
Storrs has long had a passion for the
history, myths and legends of the
ancient world. She graduated from
University of Sydney in Arts Law,
having studied Classics. Her curiosity
piqued by an Etruscan sarcophagus
depicting a couple embracing for
eternity, she discovered the little
known story of the struggle between
Etruscan Veii and Republican Rome and
the inspiration to write the Tales of
Ancient Rome Saga.
Elisabeth lives with her husband and
two sons in Sydney, and over the years
has worked as a solicitor, corporate
lawyer and corporate governance
consultant. She is the former Deputy
Chair of the NSW Writers’ Centre and
one of the founders of the Historical
Novel Society Australasia. www.elisabethstorrs.com
Alison Stuart
Alison Stuart
Born in
Africa in the dying days of the British
Empire, at the age of ten Alison Stuart
moved to Australia. After a long and
varied career as a lawyer, including
stints with the military and fire
services, Alison turned to her first
passion, history. Most of her stories
have an English Civil War setting and
several of them have been shortlisted
for international awards. She is loved
by her readers for her ability to
breathe life into the dry bones of
history, particularly a lesser known
period of history such as the civil
war.
Lucy Treloar
Lucy Treloar
Lucy
Treloar was born in Malaysia and
educated in Melbourne, England and
Sweden. A graduate of the University of
Melbourne and RMIT, Lucy is a writer,
editor, mentor and creative writing
teacher, and has worked in Cambodia,
where she lived for a number of years,
as well as Australia.
Lucy’s debut novel Salt Creek
(Pan Macmillan) was published in 2015
to critical acclaim, and has since won
an Indie Book Award (Best Debut) 2016
and the ABIA Matt Richell Prize (2016),
and been shortlisted for the Miles
Franklin Award among others. In 2014
Lucy won the Commonwealth Short Story
Prize (Pacific Region).
Lucy’s short fiction has appeared in
Sleepers, Overland,
Seizure, and Best
Australian Stories, and her
non-fiction in a range of publications.
She is currently working on her second
novel – a contemporary fiction set in
the US.
lucytreloar.com Twitter:
@LucyTreloar Facebook: Lucy
Treloar Author
Alan Tucker
Alan Tucker
Alan
Tucker began writing for publication 25
years ago. For 20 of those years he
juggled (almost) full time work with
his writing career. He wrote four
illustrated Australian history books,
including the award-winning Too
Many Captain Cooks and Iron
in the Blood. In
2001, Scholastic Australia, asked Alan
to write an Australian historic fiction
as part of the new My Australian
Story series: The Bombing
of Darwin won the 2003 NSW
Premier’s Young People’s History award.
His most recent publication, Australia’s
Great War: 1916, is
his 7th Australian historic
fiction. He retired from teaching five
years ago and now reads and writes
full-time.
Ariella Van Luyn
Ariella Van Luyn
Dr
Ariella Van Luyn is currently a
lecturer in writing at James Cook
University and will be taking up a
position of lecturer in writing at the
University of New England from July
2017. Ariella is the author of an
historical novel, 'Treading Air,' and
several short stories published in
literary journals such as 'Southerly,'
'Overland' and 'Voiceworks.' Her
research interests include historical
fiction, oral history, community
narratives, regional writing and
practice-led research methodologies.
Gabrielle Wang
Gabrielle Wang
Gabrielle
Wang is an award winning children’s
author and illustrator whose books are
a blend of Chinese and Western culture
with a touch of fantasy. She has twice
won the Aurealis Award for Best
Children’s Long Fiction and her novels
have been named Notables in the
Children’s Book Council of Australia
Awards. Her first novel, The Garden
of Empress Cassia was listed
on the USBBY Outstanding International
Books Honour List. Gabrielle has
published fifteen novels with Penguin
Books Australia including Little
Paradise, an historical
fiction YA romance novel based on her
parents' relationship during World War
2. This book was Highly Commended in
the Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
She has also written two of the girls -
the Poppy books and the Pearlie books -
in the highly popular Our
Australian Girl series.
Her upcoming middle grade novel,
Hushing Wood will be published
by Penguin Random House in 2017. www.gabriellewang.com
Glenice Whitting
Glenice Whitting
Glenice
Whitting was born in Melbourne
Australia during the Second World War.
At the age of fifty, returning to study
as a mature age student, she obtained
her VCE, which led to a BA at Monash
University, a MA in Creative Writing at
the University of Melbourne and a PhD
at Swinburne University. She spent
three years as an online editor and
columnist at Suite101.com, and her
ebook Inspiring Women is
available online. Her published works
include biographies, interviews,
reviews, plays and numerous short
stories. Her play, Hair Today, Gone
Tomorrow, was produced during
the 2002 Fertile Ground New Play
Festival. Her first novel, Pickle
to Pie won the Ilura Press
International Fiction Quest. Her second
novel, Something Missing,
about two countries, two women and lies
that lead to truth was published by
MadeGlobal Publishing December 2016.
Arnold Zable
Arnold Zable
Arnold
Zable is an acclaimed Australian
writer, novelist, storyteller, and
human rights advocate. His books
include Jewels and Ashes,
The Fig Tree, Café
Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven,
Sea of Many Returns, and Violin
Lessons, a book of stories
spanning the globe. His most recent
book is The Fighter. His
work-in-progress, Refugium,
tales marking the 500th anniversary of
the Venetian Ghetto, was published in
Venice in January, 2017. He is the
author of numerous essays, columns,
features, stories, and works for
theatre, and is co-author of Kan
Yama Kan, a play in which
asylum seekers tell their stories. His
stories and novels have a strong basis
in both contemporary and historical
events. He has a doctorate from the
School of Creative Arts, Melbourne
University, and has been a guest
lecturer, and writer in residence, both
internationally and at a range of
Australian Universities. Zable has
worked in many community and
cross-cultural projects, and conducted
workshops for a range of groups
including asylum seekers, refugees,
immigrants, the homeless, the deaf,
problem gamblers, aged care residents,
and survivors of the Black Saturday
bushfires using story as a means of
self-understanding. In recent years, he
has conducted annual workshops for
Cambodian writers. He is immediate past
president of PEN Melbourne, an
ambassador of the Asylum Seeker
resource centre, a patron of Sanctuary,
and has recently completed a term as
Vice Chancellor's fellow at Melbourne
University. In 2013 he was awarded the
Voltaire prize for human rights
advocacy and the advancement of freedom
of expression. He is a part time
research fellow at the Melbourne
Refugees Studies Program, and an
honourary fellow of the School of
Culture and Communication, Melbourne
University.
