Our People

The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) is driven by the passion and dedication of its people. Managed by a management committee elected by our active members, HNSA brings together a diverse group of individuals who share a love for historical fiction.

To improve depth, breadth and innovation in our programs, the HNSA Committee has also established a Program Advisory Panel to assist in using principles of diversity and inclusion.

HNSA Patrons

Dr Kate Forsyth

HNSA Patron
BA (Lit.), MA (Writing) , DCA (Fairy Tales)

Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel aged seven, and has sold more than a million copies since. Her novels include The Blue Rose, a story of impossible love set in Revolutionary France and Imperial China; Beauty in Thorns, a reimagining of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ set amongst the passions and scandals of the Pre-Raphaelites; Bitter Greens, a reimagining of ‘Rapunzel’ which won the 2015 ALA Award for Best Historical Fiction; and The Wild Girl,  the story of the forbidden romance behind the Grimm brothers’ famous fairy tales. Kate also has a doctorate in fairy tale studies and is an accredited master storyteller. 

Sophie Masson

HNSA Conference Patron
BA, M.Litt, PhD, AM

Sophie Masson AM is the award-winning author of over 60 books. Her historical novels include War and Resistance (Scholastic Australia, 2019), Black Wings (The Greystones Press, 2018) and Jack of Spades (Eagle Books 2017), shortlisted for the 2018 Davitt Awards. Sophie is also a founding partner and Publishing Director of acclaimed boutique publisher, Christmas Press. A former Chair of the ASA and current Chair of the New England Writers’ Centre, Sophie received an AM award in the Order of Australia this year, for significant service to literature as an author, publisher and through service to literary organisations.

Executive Committee

Elisabeth Storrs 

Chair and Program Director
BA (Lit) LLB, Retired FCIS, FCSA, MAICD

Elisabeth is the award winning author of the ‘A Tale of Ancient Rome’ saga which has been endorsed by Ursula Le Guin, Kate Quinn and Ben Kane. Now she is hurtling centuries forward to write Fables & Lies, a novel set in WW2 Germany about the Aryan Myth, bizarre Nazi archaeology, and the race to save the Trojan Gold in the fall of Berlin.

Over the years she has worked as a solicitor, corporate lawyer, corporate governance consultant and legal writer. She is the former Deputy Chair of the Writing NSW and the founder of the HNSA.

Greg Johnston 

Treasurer
B.Pharm, BA

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.

Dr Diane Murray

Danks Design Group, MA (Writing), PhD (Creative Writing, Media and Communications) (Swinburne)

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. 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.

Committee Members

Lucy Watson

BA (History, English)

Lucy Watson studied English and History at the University of Melbourne (with an exchange to the University of Edinburgh to further study history). After a decade of writing and performing sketch, scripted and stand-up comedy (including several Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows), she began work on For All The Gold, her first completed historical novel manuscript. She has been published in online magazines and newspapers including The Age, Time Out, In Batmania (now By The Nylex) and Collider, and spent well over a decade working as a copywriter and marketing manager in the brewing, hospitality and media industries. Also a trained actor and singer, Lucy has performed in plays at the Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe Festivals, and worked in radio, film and television. Now living in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria, over the past few years she has played lead roles in Legally Blonde, Mamma Mia! and We Will Rock You with the Kyneton Theatre Company, hosted the Romsey Carols, come runner-up in Castlemaine Idyll, and performed at markets and events around the region.

Cecilia Rice - HNSA Committee member

Cecilia Rice

BA (Hons) LLB

Cecilia studied law and drama at UNSW majoring in film, and wrote a thesis on the adaptation of David Williamson’s plays to film. As a solicitor, she has practised in the private and public sectors, worked in broadcasting regulation & media policy and currently as an accredited mediator in the investigation and conciliation of human rights matters. As a student of Legal History, Cecilia became interested in the truths and fictions of our past, including the early court cases and proclamations concerning our First Nations People. She started writing novels and non-fiction. Cecilia lives in Sydney with her family. Apart from legal and technical publications a memoir for her disabled sister, Always Liza to Me was published by Allen & Unwin in 2009.

Program Advisory Panel

To improve depth, breadth and innovation in our programs, the HNSA Committee has established a Program Advisory Panel to assist in using principles of diversity and inclusion. We are grateful for the invaluable contribution of the panel members below.

  • Tim Darcy Ellis (BA BSc, MHSc) is a writer, business owner and formerly a professional archaeologist. His critically acclaimed debut, ‘The Secret Diaries of Juan Luis Vives’ is a fast-paced and meticulously researched historical novel. Tim is passionate about bringing his love of history, archaeology and philosophy together: and to express it by writing great fiction. For further information:

  • Kelly Gardiner writes historical fiction for all ages. Her latest series is The Firewatcher Chronicles. Her other books include Goddess, based on the life of Mademoiselle de Maupin; 1917: Australia’s Great War, shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Young People’s History Prize and Asher Award; the Swashbuckler pirate trilogy; and a picture book, Billabong Bill’s Bushfire Christmas. Her young adult novels Act of Faith and The Sultan’s Eyes, were both shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, while Act of Faith was shortlisted for the ASA’s Barbara Jefferis Award. A former journalist, Kelly teaches creative writing at La Trobe University. For further information:

  • 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 teaches creative writing within the university sector in Australia. For further information:

  • 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. For further information:

  • Rebecca Lim is an award-winning Australian writer, illustrator and editor and the author of over twenty books, including Tiger Daughter (a CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers and Victorian Premier’s Literary Award-winner), The Astrologer’s Daughter and the bestselling Mercy. Her work has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Queensland Literary Awards, Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award and Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, shortlisted multiple times for the Aurealis Awards and Davitt Awards, and longlisted for the Gold Inky Award and the David Gemmell Legend Award. She is a co-founder of the Voices from the Intersection initiative to support emerging young adult and children’s authors and illustrators who are First Nations, People of Colour, LGBTIQA+ and/or living with disability, and co-editor of Meet Me at the Intersection, a groundbreaking anthology of YA #OwnVoice memoir, poetry and fiction.

  • Rachel Bin Salleh is descended from the Nimunburr and Yawuru peoples of the Kimberley. Rachel is passionate about First Nations peoples telling their stories and started at Magabala Books in the 1990s. In 2014, Rachel became Magabala’s Publisher and wrote her first book Alfred’s War (2018).  For further information:

  • Indrani Ganguly is from a Bengali Indian background. She lives in Brisbane, Australia with her Dutch-Australian husband, son, daughter, grandson and two beagles.   

    Indrani’s publications comprising both academic and creative works include a book based on her Ph.D. thesis, The Social History of a Bengal Town (1987), an anthology of poetry, prose and fiction titled In My Father’s House (2015) and a historical novel The Rose and the Thorn (2019) focusing on the role of so-called ordinary women in  India’s national movement for independence. She is now working on the sequel which continues the story in post-Independence India and explores some Australia-India connections. For further information:

  • Sienna Brown is a novelist and film maker born in Jamaica and now living in Sydney. Her debut novel, Master of My Fate (Penguin Random House, 2019), won the MUD Literary Prize for best debut novel at the Adelaide Writers’ Week and was a finalist in the inaugural $60,0000 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Before turning to fiction, Brown worked as a film director/editor. A highlight is her SBS documentary My Bush Wedding about the Aboriginal artist Gordon Syron. She has also won numerous awards for her educational videos. Brown has a BA in directing from the Australian Film Television and Radio School and technical experience in all aspects of screen media. She also has experience in public engagement and events management, having worked ten years for Sydney Living Museums.