This month, our Spotlight shines on Judith Daley: a wonderfully active long-time member of the NSW Writers’ Centre. Judith is a retired public servant and, in her retirement, has taken up occasional ‘acting’. ‘I’ve called it “acting” because I don’t know what else to call it, but I think what I do is the furthest […]

Norm Neill’s poetry has appeared in journals including Five Bells, Blue Dog and Social Alternatives, and in edited anthologies. The Robin Gibson Gallery exhibited 16 of his poems responding to paintings by Jacqueline Balassa in 2010. His poem World Cup Final came second in the 2009 Inner City Life competition. Norm has had more than […]

Many years ago, Jane Messer rented a cubby-hole at the NSW Writers Centre to write in. She’s been a fan of the Centre ever since. She is also a lecturer in creative writing at Macquarie University, Department of English, and is a former Directer of the Australian Society of Authors. Her books include Hopscotch, Provenance […]

Emma Ashmere’s first novel, The Floating Garden, has just been published by Spinifex Press. Set in 1920s Sydney, it tells the forgotten story of the people whose houses were demolished when the Harbour Bridge was built. A thoroughly modern Australian love story, it is also about the universal themes of resilience, the hidden price of […]

David Blissett has won multiple awards for short fiction, including the Rolf Boldrewood Literary Awards 2012, the Bundaberg Writers Short Story Award 2010, Hawkesbury River Writers Short Story Competition 2010 and the FAWNS Super Short Story Competition 2011. His work was featured in the Award Winning Australian Writing Anthology in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He […]

“I started reading fantasy at an early age and I love the sense of wonder they evoke. It isn’t bound by modern conventions and can be as otherworldly or familiar as the author wants it to be.” – Mitchell Hogan

Amanda Ortlepp has recently published her first book, Claiming Noah, with Simon & Schuster Australia. It is a story about parenthood, biology and love, set in the inner west of Sydney, where Amanda lives and works. She has attended several courses at the NSW Writers’ Centre and took part in the Mentorship Program where she […]

Monica Lizama was born in Chile, and writes children’s books from a dog’s point of view.   She has a degree in Primary Education from Universidad de Chile, where she worked until she came to live in Sydney with her four children. She also has a Graduate Certificate in Writing from University of Technology, Sydney. She […]

Rosamund Dallow was born in Napier, New Zealand, and moved to Australia in 1966. Her writing career includes several pieces published in Dance Australia, many short stories submitted for competitions, prolific letter writing — some were published in the Sydney Morning Herald. She has published her first novel, Broken Rhythms, a generational saga based on […]