The Board would like to announce that Linda Funnell has been elected Chair of the New South Wales Writers’ Centre.

Linda has extensive experience in the publishing industry and has worked as a publisher, editor and literary agent. From 2000 to 2010 she was a publisher with HarperCollins and published award-winning fiction and non-fiction as well as popular bestsellers. Her list included the authors Steven Carroll, Geraldine Brooks, Belinda Alexandra and Colleen McCullough. She is currently a freelance editor and publishing consultant, and co-editor of the online book review the Newtown Review of Books.

‘I have had a long association with the Writers’ Centre,’ says Linda, ‘and it’s an honour to be entrusted with the role of Chair. I’ve been a member of the Centre for many years and have regularly attended events here as a publisher, as a guest speaker and, more recently, as a tutor. I’d like to pay tribute to the work of my predecessors as Chair, Bronwen Ginges and Susanne Gervay, and to acknowledge the terrific job done by the Centre’s hardworking staff. The Centre has an important role in assisting writers’ development at all stages of their careers and in providing resources to help writers reach their readers in a publishing landscape that is undergoing profound change. There are exciting times ahead.’

Welcome, Linda.