BRIAN FALKNER
Brian Falkner loves telling stories, either in his books, or standing in front of an audience. He is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than twenty books for children and young adults. His books have been published in over twelve countries in seven different languages. His latest book is a science fiction adventure called ‘Andromeda Bond in Trouble Deep’.
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KATHRYN HEYMAN
Kathryn Heyman received the Wingate award for outstanding historical research (for The Accomplice). Her other historical works include Captain Starlight’s Apprentice (Inspired by the bushranger Jessie Elizabeth Hickman) which was adapted into a ten part radio serial for the BBC, with an audience of over two million. For the BBC she also wrote Moonlite’s Boy, using the letters and journals of the bushranger ‘Captain Moonlite’.
Kathryn Heyman taught Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and is now the director of the Australian Writers Mentoring Program.
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KAYTE NUNN
Kayte Nunn is a former book and magazine editor, and the author of five previous novels, including the international bestselling The Botanist’s Daughter, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant and The Silk House. The Botanist’s Daughter was the 2020 winner of the Winston Graham Historical Fiction Prize. The Last Reunion is based on the experiences of the Women’s Auxiliary Service (Burma) during the Second World War. Kayte lives in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.
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MARY LOU LOCKE
A retired professor of U.S. Women’s history, Mary Louisa Locke became an indie author in 2009 with the publication of Maids of Misfortune, the first book in her US Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery Series, which is based on her research on late nineteenth century working women in the far west. With over three-quarters of a million books now sold, she has twenty novels and shorter works in this historical mystery series, the latest being Entangled Threads. Locke has spoken frequently on how to self-publish successfully, most recently at the 2017 and 2021 HNS North America Conferences.
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JOCK SERONG
Jock Serong is the author of five novels and the founding editor of Great Ocean Quarterly. His non-fiction work appears regularly in Australian media such as The Monthly and Sydney Morning Herald. Jock’s latest novel is The Burning Island, the second volume in a historical trilogy about true events in Bass Strait’s Furneaux Islands in the early nineteenth century.
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BONNIE WILDE
Bonnie Wildie is an archivist, librarian and historian, with extensive experience as an educator in the information science and cultural heritage sector. She is passionate about communicating history and heritage to the broader community. She seeks new and innovative methods that might challenge traditional notions of historical research and information access.
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SOPHIE MASSON
Born in Indonesia of French parents Sophie Masson AM is the award-winning author of over 70 books, for children, young adults and adults, many of which are in the historical novel genre. These include the bestselling award-winner The Hunt for Ned Kelly (Scholastic Australia, children’s) and the genre-bending Forest of Dreams (Penguin/Random House, adult).
Forthcoming in 2022 is Sydney under Attack(Scholastic Australia, children’s) Sophie is also a founding partner and publishing director of award-winning small publisher, Christmas Press, a children’s/YA specialist, which has published historical novels for children, by established and emerging authors, under its Eagle Books imprint.
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ANNE GRACIE
Anne Gracie has been published by Berkley (PenguinRandomHouse USA) for the last 20 years. A national bestseller in the USA, her books have also been translated into eighteen languages, and include Japanese manga editions. Anne writes historical romance set in the Regency-era, and generally writes in series. Her latest book is The Scoundrel’s Daughter, with The Rake’s Daughter coming in August.
Anne blogs, is on social media, and also blogs fortnightly with the WordWenches, a group of seven best-selling historical authors from the USA and the UK — and Australia.
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PAULA MORRIS
Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whatua) is the author of the story collection Forbidden Cities (2008); the long-form essay On Coming Home (2015); and eight novels, including Rangatira (2011), winner of best work of fiction at both the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards and Ngā Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards. Her most recent book is False River (2017), a collection of stories and essays around the subject of secret histories. She teaches creative writing at the University of Auckland, sits on the Māori Literature Trust, Mātātuhi Foundation, and New Zealand Book Awards Trust, and is the founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature. Appointed an MZNM in the 2019 New Year Honours, she currently holds the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship.
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Linda FUnnelL
Linda Funnell is co-editor of the Newtown Review of Books, a free online book review founded with Jean Bedford in March 2012. For ten years she was a publisher with HarperCollins, and prior to that Random House. Currently she is a freelance editor and publishing consultant. The authors she has worked with include Colleen McCullough, Geraldine Brooks, Diane Armstrong, Louis Nowra, Karen Brooks and Steven Carroll. Linda has taught courses in publishing, editing and writing for UTS, the ASA and Writing NSW.
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MELISSA ASHLEY
Melissa Ashley is the author of historical fiction The Bee and the Orange Tree and The Birdman’s Wife, which won the Queensland Literary Awards fiction prize and the Australian Booksellers Association Booksellers’ Choice Award. She has published a collection of poetry, The Hospital for Dolls. Melissa lives in Brisbane with her family.
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MEG KENEALLY
Meg Keneally is the author of The Wreck and Fled. With Tom Keneally, she is co-author of the four-book Monsarrat Series of historical murder mysteries. With Leah Kaminsky she co-edited Animals Make Us Human. Her next historical novel, The Last Queen, will be out in 2022.
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KIM KELLY
Kim Kelly is the author of twelve novels. Among them are the bestselling The Blue Mile and critically acclaimed Wild Chicory. Her latest, The Rat Catcher: A Love Story, was longlisted for the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Kim is also a well-known book editor. She has a Master of Creative Writing from Macquarie University, for which she was awarded the Fred Rush Convocation Prize for writing and literature, and she is currently in the early stages of PhD research into Australian historical fiction. Originally from Sydney, Kim now lives in central west NSW, on Wiradjuri Country.
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JACQUI NEWLING
Dr Jacqueline (Jacqui) Newling is a social historian who interprets history through the lens of food. She has a Le Cordon Bleu Master’s degree in Gastronomy and a PhD in history, and is the author of award-winning ‘Eat your history, stories and recipes from Australian kitchens’ (NewSouth Publishing and Sydney Living Museums) and is ‘the cook’ in The Cook & the Curator’ food heritage blog. Jacqui takes a hands-on approach to food history and heritage, with food and identity at the core. She has hosted numerous workshops on the social meaning of historical cookbooks and recipes, forgotten culinary arts, and food memory. For further information:
ROANNA GONSALVES
Roanna Gonsalves is the award-winning author of the acclaimed collection of short fiction The Permanent Resident (UWAP) published in India as Sunita De Souza Goes To Sydney (Speaking Tiger). Her writing has been compared to the work of Alice Munro and Jhumpa Lahiri. Her four-part radio series On the tip of a billion tongues, commissioned and broadcast by ABC RN’s Earshot program, is an acerbic portrayal of contemporary India through its multilingual writers. She works as a lecturer in Creative Writing at UNSW, Sydney. For further information:
Kathryn gauci
Kathryn Gauci is a critically acclaimed international, historical fiction author who produces strong, colourful, characters and riveting storylines. She is the recipient of numerous major international awards for her works of historical fiction. Kathryn 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. She now lives 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. It has since been followed by more historical novels, set in both Greece and Turkey. Code Name Camille, written as part of The Darkest Hour Anthology: WWII Tales of Resistance, became a USA TODAY Bestseller in the first week of publication. The Secret of the Grand Hôtel du Lac became an Amazon Best Seller in both German and French Literature, and The Poseidon Network received The Hemingway Award 2021 – 1st Place Best in Category – Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA).
