Irma Gold is an award-winning author, podcaster and full-time freelance book editor. Her debut novel, The Breaking, won or was shortlisted for a number of awards, and her second novel, Shift, will be out March 2025. Her acclaimed short fiction collection is Two Steps Forward, and her short fiction has been widely published in literary journals, […]

Candice Fox is the author of eleven crime novels and the winner of three prestigious Ned Kelly Awards. She has also co-written seven New York Times bestsellers with James Patterson, the world’s bestselling thriller writer. Candice’s novels Crimson Lake and Redemption Point were adapted into a major ABC TV series called Troppo. A meticulous researcher, Candice has interviewed a serial killer on […]

Renée Otmar has over three decades’ experience as a writer and editor. She has been a judge for several prizes and awards, including the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize, Australia’s richest prize for historical fiction. She has worked in-house with multinational publishing giants in academic and trade publishing, and as a freelance / consulting writer […]

Chris Phillips has over twenty years experience as a writer, script producer and script editor for network television and streaming services. Chris has worked on a diverse range of family-oriented programs from Heartbreak High to McLeod’s Daughters. Chris Script Produced Fox8’s multi-platform YA, comedy drama series, SLiDE. Chris’ feature film, Six Weeks in Heaven was […]

Anna Downes is an actor-turned-author who grew up in Sheffield, UK and now lives on the NSW Central Coast with her family. She studied Drama at the University of Manchester before spending three years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her internationally bestselling debut novel, The Safe Place, was published simultaneously in […]

Dr Rosie Dub is the author of Flight (Harper Collins) and Gathering Storm (Penguin) which is being adapted for screen. She’s writing The Alchemy of Story, about the developmental potential of story for individuals and communities. Rosie is facilitator of Centre for Story, a platform for reimagining the world through story. Her PhD explored the […]

Simmone Howell’s YA novels are highly awarded and internationally published. Her first, Notes from the Teenage Underground won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Her most recent, Take Three Girls, a collaborative novel with Fiona Wood and Cath Crowley, was awarded the 2017 CBCA’s Book of the Year for Older Readers, and selected for the White Ravens International Youth […]

Fiona Murphy is an award-winning writer, editor and arts critic. She has been widely published, including in The Guardian, ABC, The Saturday Paper, Griffith Review, The Big Issue. In 2021, her memoir, The Shape of Sound was released in Australia, New Zealand, UK and North America. It was highly commended in the Victorian Premier’s Literary […]

Saman Shad is an editor, journalist and teller of stories. Her writing credits span mediums, including radio scriptwriting for the BBC in the UK and the ABC in Australia, and playwriting, with works commissioned by theatres in London and Sydney. She is a regular writer for several publications, including The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and SBS. She has also worked […]