Gavin Aung Than - Perth
Gavin Aung Than is a New York Times bestselling cartoonist based in Perth, Western Australia. He is the creator of cartoon blog, Zen Pencils, which turns motivational quotes into comic stories. He is also the brilliance behind, Super Sidekicks, the middle grade graphic novel series. His debut picture book Baa Baa Black Belt (Scholastic Aus) is out now in Australia and NZ.
Paul Hardisty - Perth
From 2017 to 2023, Paul E Hardisty was the Australian Institute for Marine Science CEO. He has written two textbooks on environmental sustainability, several peer-reviewed journal articles, and six novels. His most recent work, The Forcing, paints a picture of the near future after facing the affects of climate change.
Derek Pugh & Richard Creswick
Based in Darwin, Dr Derek Pugh OAM is an educator and award-winning author. His work spans multiple genres including history, science, adventure travel, and YA fiction. Today, he continues to write about Northern Territory settlement history and was the presenter of Twenty To The Mile (2023), an acclaimed documentary.
Hannah Kent - Adelaide
Hannah Kent's first novel, the multi award winning international bestseller, Burial Rites, was translated into over 30 languages and is being adapted for film. Hannah is also the co-founder of Kill Your Darlings, and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Qantas Magazine and LitHub.
Mem Fox - Adelaide
Mem Fox has written more than 40 books for children, including the bestselling and much-loved picture books Possum Magic and Where is the Green Sheep? Other books by Mem include Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Hunwick’s Egg, Hello Baby!, A Giraffe in the Bath, Koala Lou, Baby Bedtime and Roly Poly.
Frances Whiting - Brisbane
Frances Whiting is one of Australia's best known and favourite columnists. For more than twenty years her weekly Sunday Mail column has engaged readers in the highs, lows and the wonderful of the every day. She is also an award-winning journalist and Senior Feature writer for Q Magazine in the Courier Mail.
Jack Carty & Natasha Carty - Brisbane
Jack and Natasha Carty are a wonderful husband and wife duo from Brisbane, Australia. In 2022, The Carty’s embarked on their newest collaboration together – a beautiful collection of children’s books inspired by their two young children. The first book in their instalment, Time to Rest, was released in February 2024.
Nikki Mottram - Regional
Nikki Mottram is the author of Crows Nest (UQP, 2023). She has a psychology degree from The University of Queensland and has worked in London and Australia protecting and promoting the welfare of children at risk of harm. She uses her background in child protection in her crime fiction.
Rory H Mather - Regional
Rory Mather is a passionate young children’s author who writes his books with the hopes of engaging young readers and strengthening their connection to the art of reading.
David Gillespie - South East
David Gillespie is a lawyer and the best-selling author of the Sweet Poison books, a series about how we are all poisoning ourselves with sugar. He followed those up with Big Fat Lies and Toxic Oil both of which target the dangers of seed oils in our diet.
Anna Downes - Central Coast
Anna Downes grew up in Sheffield, UK. She studied drama at Manchester before winning a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and moving to London to pursue an acting career. In 2009 she left to go travelling with her Australian partner and now lives on the Central Coast with her husband and two children.
Tony Park - Regional
In the course of a wonderfully diverse career, Tony Park has worked as a journalist, press secretary, PR consultant and freelance writer. Such a variety of roles provided Tony with the ideal background for his current work as one of Australia's leading fiction authors.
Hayley Scrivenor - South Coast
Hayley Scrivenor is a former Director of Wollongong Writers Festival. Originally from a small country town, Hayley now lives and writes on Dharawal country and has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales. Dirt Town is her first novel.
James Bradley - Sydney
James Bradley is a writer and critic. His books include the novels Wrack, The Deep Field, The Resurrectionist, and Clade and Ghost Species. In 2012 he won the Pascall Prize for Australia’s Critic of the Year, and he has been shortlisted twice for the Bragg Prize for Science Writing and nominated for a Walkley Award. He lives in Sydney.
Amanda Hampson - Melbourne
Amanda Hampson grew up in rural New Zealand. She has lived in London and Sydney, and now lives in Melbourne. Writing professionally for more than 20 years, she is the author of The Olive Sisters, Two for the Road, The French Perfumer, The Yellow Villa, Sixty Summers, Lovebirds, and the bestselling cosy crime novel The Tea Ladies.
Victoria Devine - Melbourne
Victoria Devine is transforming the way millennials think about money. With a background in behavioural psychology and two chart-topping podcasts, She's on the Money and The Property Playbook, Victoria understands what makes her generation tick and knows how to make hard-to-understand concepts fun, fresh and relatable.
Lisa Ireland - Regional
After working for many years as a teacher (and a brief stint as a professional, Lisa Ireland is now a full-time writer. Lisa lives with her husband in a small town in Gippsland, Victoria. When not writing, she spends her days mentoring aspiring authors, drinking coffee and playing minion to her incredibly spoiled dog, Lulu.
Jack Heath
Jack Heath is a bestselling author of a large catalogue of fiction books that are predominately crime and mystery. Jack’s stories have been shortlisted for multiple literary awards and adapted for screen media. He is driven by his mission to ignite the love of reading flame in adults and children.
Samantha Faulkner
Samantha Faulkner writes poetry and short stories published nationally and internationally. Samantha is a proud Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal woman, from Badu and Moa Islands
Kate Kruimink
Kate Kruimink is a writer from southern Lutruwita. Her first novel, A Treacherous Country, won the 2020 Vogel/Australian's Literary Award. It was shortlisted in the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction and longlisted in the UK for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
Yvette Poshoglian
Yvette Poshoglian is a bestselling children’s author who has written many wildly popular series that young readers adore. In Yvette’s huge catalogue of books, she has also dabbled in Australian historical fiction.
