HNSA Patron
Dr Kate Forsyth, BA (Lit.), MA (Writing) , DCA (Fairy Tales)
HNSA Conference Patron
Dr Sophie Masson, BA, M.Litt, PhD, AM
Committee
HNSA is managed by a Committee elected by a small body of active members.
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 Treasured, a novel set in WW2 Germany about looted art, 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 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. She has also worked in radio, film and television.
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 privacy complaints. 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.
ARA HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE COMMITTEE
The ARA Historical Novel Prize is administered by a sub-committee of HNSA’s management committee. Its members comprise Elisabeth Storrs, Greg Johnston and Diane Murray. Christina Donoghue is our Prize Coordinator.
