Zohra Aly lives in Sydney on Dharug land and has worked as a hospital pharmacist and a freelance writer. Her essays, short fiction and poetry have appeared in Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin and Island and various anthologies. She is an emerging curator/speaker for Boundless festival, the South Coast Writers Centre and WestWords.

Zohra will appear in War Fiction.

Jeff Apter is the author of more than 30 books dealing with the world of music and musicians. His subjects include AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young, Keith Urban, the Bee Gees, Jon English and Neil Finn. He spent five years on staff at Australian Rolling Stone and wrote for the magazine for 25 years.

Jeff will appear in We’re With the Band.

Caroline Baum is an author, journalist and presenter of the Life Sentences podcast. Caroline was the founding editor of Good Reading magazine, the long-term presenter of ABC TV book program Between the Lines and worked as an executive producer with ABC Radio National. Her first book, Only: A Singular Memoir, was published in 2017.

Caroline will appear in To Sing of War.

Laura Brading is a former book publishing professional and co-founder of literary book subscription WellRead. Currently she enjoys reading, writing and talking to people about books.

Laura will appear in The Work.

James Bradley is an award-winning novelist and essayist. His books include the novels Wrack, The Deep Field, The Resurrectionist, Clade and Ghost Species, a book of poetry, Paper Nautilus, and The Penguin Book of the Ocean. His latest book, Deep Water: The World in the Ocean, is published by Hamish Hamilton.

James will appear in Ways to Water.

Michelle Cahill (she/they) is a poet and novelist of Indian heritage. Her debut fiction Letter to Pessoa (Giramondo) received the NSW Premier's Literary Award for New Writing. Michelle is the artistic director of Mascara, a literary journal that has advocated for and published First Nations and CaLD writers.

Michelle will appear in Historical Fiction.

Sarah Clutton is a former lawyer, freelance writer and author. Her first novels were domestic suspense, published by Bookouture, Hachette UK. Sarah holds a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Writing) and was national recipient of the 2018 Dymocks McIntosh Commercial Fiction Scholarship.

Sarah will appear in Secrets and Justice.

Associate Professor Shady Cosgrove teaches creative writing at the University of Wollongong. Her books include Flight (Life Before Man), What the Ground Can't Hold (Picador) and She Played Elvis (Allen and Unwin). Her writing has appeared in Best Australian Stories, Anthology of Australian Prose Poetry, Dreaming Awake, The Writing Mind, Cordite, Overland, Antipodes, Southerly, Island, takahe, Eunoia Review and Spineless Wonders.

Shady will appear in Writing Craft and the Poetry Showcase.

Stuart Coupe is an Australian music journalist, band manager, promoter, publicist, music label founder, and the author of books including The Promoters, Gudinski, Roadies, Paul Kelly, and the memoir Shake Some Action. He is also known for founding the Australian crime fiction magazine, Mean Streets.

Stuart will appear in We’re With the Band.

Dr Ellie Crookes is a lecturer in English Literatures at the University of Wollongong. She specialises in the study of late-medieval Britain, Ireland, and France. Her co-edited collection Medievalism and Reception will be published by Boydell and Brewer this year, and her first monograph Joans of Arc Worldwide is under contract with Arc Humanities Press.

Ellie will appear in Reading the Classics.

Emma Darragh holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong. Her writing has appeared in numerous Australian publications, including Cordite, Westerly, Meniscus, TEXT, and The Big Issue. Emma’s debut novel-in-stories, Thanks for Having Me, is published by JOAN.

Emma will appear in Happy Families.

Winnie Dunn is Tongan-Australian writer from Mount Druitt. She is the general manager of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and the editor of several critically acclaimed anthologies including Sweatshop Women (2019) and Another Australia (2022). Winnie's debut novel is Dirt Poor Islanders (2024).

Winnie will appear in Happy Families.

Michael Earp is a non-binary writer and bookseller living in Naarm. They are the editor of Everything Under the Moon: Fairy tales in a queerer light, Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories, Out-Side: Queer Words and Art from Regional Victoria and co-edited Avast! Pirate Stories from Transgender Authors with Alison Evans.

Michael will appear in The Business of Publishing and Modern Fairytale.

Helena Fox is the founder of SCWC’s Young Writers Program and the mentor of the Young Writers Collective. Her debut novel, How It Feels To Float, won the 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adult Literature and the Victorian Premier’s Award. Her second novel, The Quiet and The Loud, was shortlisted for the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award for Older Readers and the ABIA Book of the Year Award for Older Children.

Helena will appear in our Young Readers & Writers Session.

Susannah Fullerton is one of Australia's best-known speakers on classic literature. She is President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, Patron of the Kipling Society, and member of several other literary societies. She is the author of several acclaimed books about Jane Austen, as well as Brief Encounters: Literary Travellers in Australia. Her popular newsletter, 'Notes from a Book Addict', reaches thousands of readers every month.

Susannah will appear in Reading the Classics.

Dr Christine Howe is a writer and academic in Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong. Her first novel, Song in the Dark, was published by Penguin, and her short works have appeared in the Griffith Review, Island, Cordite, TEXT, and Law, Text, Culture, as well as anthologies published by Spineless Wonders Press and Recent Work Press.

Chrissy wil appear in Happy Families.

Meredith Jaffé is the author of four novels for adults. Her bestselling novel, The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison, was voted in the 2023 and the 2022 Better Reading Top 100 and the 2021 Booktopia Favourite Australian Book Award Top 50. Previously, she wrote the weekly literary column for the online women’s magazine The Hoopla.

Meredith will appear in The Business of Publishing and Secrets and Justice.

Julie Janson is a Burruberongal woman of Darug nation. Her novels include Compassion (2024), Madukka the River Serpent (2022), longlisted for the Miles Franklin and Davitt Awards, and Benevolence (2020), shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis, NIB and Voss Awards. Winner of the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize 2016 and the Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2019.

Julie will appear in Historical Fiction and the Poetry Showcase.

Mitch Jennings is a writer, journalist and comedian. His debut novel A Town Called Treachery was shortlisted for the 2022 HarperCollins Banjo Prize. He has multiple fiction and non-fiction works in progress, including his second novel set in Wollongong. He has worked as a journalist at the Illawarra Mercury for the last 10 years.

Mitch will appear in Coming of Age and We’re With the Band.

Yumna Kassab is the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature. She studied medical science and neuroscience at university. Her fiction has been listed for prizes including the Miles Franklin Literary Award, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Queensland Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and The Stella Prize.

Yumna will appear in War Fiction.

Leland Kean is the Artistic Development Manager for Merrigong Theatre Company. He has over twenty-five years professional experience as a Director, Producer, Designer, Dramaturg, Curator and Arts Manager. During his decade-long tenure with the Rock Surfers he programmed and produced over 100 new Australian works and established both the Old Fitzroy and Bondi Pavilion Theatres.

Leland will appear in Wayside Chapel.

Dom Knight was one of the founding editors of The Chaser, a satirical newspaper launched in a tiny Glebe terrace in 1999. He worked on nearly all of the Chaser TV, stage and radio projects, and was only arrested once. In a belated bid for respectability, he once hosted Evenings on ABC Radio across NSW and the ABC, and is still often heard across the network. He currently co-presents the Chaser Report podcast.

Dom will appear in The News.

Malcolm Knox has won three Walkley Awards and a Human Rights Award. His novels include Summerland; A Private Man, winner of the Ned Kelly Award; Jamaica, which won the Colin Roderick Award and was shortlisted in the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards; The Life; The Wonder Lover; and Bluebird. His upcoming novel, The First Friend, will be published in September 2024.

Malcolm will appear in Coming of Age.

Suzanne Leal is the author of three novels including The Deceptions, winner of the NIB People’s Choice Prize. Her debut YA novel, Running with Ivan, is included on the Book Council of Australia's 2024 Notables List for Younger Readers and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Awards and the ARA Historical Novel Prize.

Suzanne will appear in Historical Fiction and Secrets and Justice.

Bri Lee is the multi-award-winning author of Eggshell Skull, Beauty and Who Gets to Be Smart. Her journalism, essays, and short stories have been published widely, and she is the creator and editor of News & Reviews. The Work is Bri’s debut novel.

Bri will appear in The News and The Work.

Joshua Lobb is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong. His ‘novel in stories’, The Flight of Birds, was shortlisted for the 2019 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and the 2020 Mascara Literary Review Avant Garde Awards for Best Fiction.

Joshua will appear in Ways to Water.

Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist, bestselling author, filmmaker, and co-founder of Declassified Australia. He’s written for The Guardian, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and many others. His latest book is The Palestine Laboratory which won the 2023 Walkley Book Award.

Antony will appear in The News and Palestine.

Liv Lorkin is a heart-led creative, children's book author, and illustrator. She self-published her first picture book in 2021, Winter in Ballarat. Since then, she has authored five and illustrated six more books, culminating in her latest release, Sage and the Journey of Grief. Drawing from her childhood experience of losing her mum, Liv infuses her middle-grade work with authenticity and empathy.

Liv will appear in our Young Readers & Writers Session.

Anne Manne is an Australian journalist and social philosopher who has written widely on feminism, motherhood, childcare, family policy, fertility and related issues. She is a regular contributor to the Age and the Monthly. Her books include Motherhood: How Should We Care for Our Children? which was shortlisted for the 2006 Walkley non-fiction prize.

Anne will appear in The News and Crimes of the Cross.

Dinuka McKenzie is an Australian writer and the author of the Detective Kate Miles crime series, The Torrent, Taken and Tipping Point. She is the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, the Bad Sydney Crime Danger Awards, and longlisted for the Richell Prize.

Dinuka will appear in The Business of Publishing.

Catherine McKinnon’s new novel, To Sing of War (2024), is published by Fourth Estate, Harper Collins. Her novel Storyland (Fourth Estate, Harper Collins, 2017) was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the 2018 Barbara Jefferis Award, the 2018 Voss Literary Prize and was named one of ABC TV’s The Book Club’s Five of the Best in 2017. Storyland is being adapted into a play for Merrigong Theatre.

Cath will appear in Writing Craft and To Sing of War.

Judi Morison is a writer of Gamilaroi and Celtic descent. Her fiction and poetry have been published in anthologies and journals including UTS Writers’ Anthology (2019, 2020, 2021), Ace II (2020), 40: Forty Years of the UTS Writers’ Anthology (2022), Red Room Poetry and The Saltbush Review. She is the recipient of the 2022 Boundless Emerging Writers Mentorship.

Judi will appear in Yarning Poetry.

Andy Muir is an award nominated screenwriter and story researcher for the hugely successful Underbelly franchise. Branching out as an author, he was nominated for a Ned Kelly for his debut crime fiction novel Something for Nothing (2017). Involved with the BAD SYDNEY Crime Writers Festival, Andy is also an Assistant Curator working in museums.

Andy will appear in Crime Fiction.

Aunty Barb Nicholson is a Wadi Wadi Elder and Life Member of the SCWC. She directs the Ngana Barangarai (Black Wallaby) project which has collected and published writing from First Australian inmates in Junee Correctional Centre for the last twelve years, and recently oversaw the program’s introduction into Dillwynia Women’s Correctional Centre.

Aunty Barb will deliver the Welcome to Country.

Dr Sarah Nicholson is the director of the South Coast Writers Centre and founder of Heroines Festival and the Heroines Anthology. She has been a director of the National Young Writers’ Festival, an awardee of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust for Literature, a recipient of a Writer’s and Translator’s Centre of Rhodes fellowship, and an Emerging Writer in Residence for the Katherine Susannah Pritchard Writers’ Centre.

Sarah will appear in Crimes of the Cross.

Siobhan O'Brien is an author, journalist and communications professional. She has written a number of books, including A Life by Design: The Art and Lives of Florence Broadhurst, and has worked for many media outlets notably the Sydney Morning Herald, Vogue, Indesign and Monument. When she is not writing, she is fronting her band, Minnie and The Moonrakers.

Siobhan will appear in the workshop Stories Behind the Storyteller.

Sara Saleh is an award-winning writer/poet, human rights lawyer, and the daughter of migrants from Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon. Sara made history as the first poet to win both the Australian Book Review's 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize and the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2020. Her poetry collection The Flirtation of Girls released in 2023. Songs for the Dead and the Living is her first novel.

Sara will appear in Palestine, War Fiction and the Poetry Showcase.

Kirli Saunders (OAM) is a proud Gunai Woman, award-winning author, multidisciplinary artist and consultant who creates to connect to make change. Kirli has partnered with global organisations including Google, Fender, Sydney Opera House, Qantas and Spotify, Mecca and Aesop to celebrate stories and cultivate change. Her books among others include Bindi, Kindred and Returning (Magabala).

Kirli will appear in Yarning Poetry and the Poetry Showcase.

Erin Shiel has had poems published in journals and anthologies such as Mascara, Meanjin, Cordite and Australian Love Poems. Her work has been shortlisted for the University of Canberra's Vice-Chancellor's Poetry Prize (2018) and the Blake Poetry Prize (2008). In 2022 she won the South Coast Writers Centre Poetry Award.

Erin will appear in the Poetry Showcase.

Roger Simpson is one of Australia’s leading writers and producers. He has created twenty series for television including the highly acclaimed telemovie series Halifax f.p. and its sequel, Halifax Retribution. Roger is the winner of twelve awards for writing including nine Australian Writers Guild AWGIE Awards. The final book in his Halifax series, Unblessed, will be released later this year.

Roger will appear in Crime Fiction.

Nicole Smede is a multi-disciplinary artist of Worimi and European descent, living and creating on Wodi Wodi Country. Her work has been broadcast on national and international radio, reimagined in music, visual and sound pieces, and published in journals, anthologies and publications. She is the Artistic Director - First Nations for Red Room Poetry.

Nicole will appear in the Poetry Showcase.

Samson Soulsby is a queer writer, poet, editor, and academic living on Wadi Wadi Country. His research interests include monstrosity, folklore, and speculative fiction. His poetry and short fiction have featured in Red Room Poetry’s Admissions anthology, the South Coast Writers Centre Legacies anthology, and Baby Teeth Journal.

Samson will appear in Modern Fairytale.

Alana Valentine is one of Australia's most acclaimed playwrights. She is the author of more than 20 published works, including two books of non-fiction. Alana's plays include Wayside Bride (Belvoir), Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan (co-written with Christos Tsiolkas), Wudjang: Not the Past (Bangarra, co-written with Stephen Page) and Barbara and the Camp Dogs (Belvoir, cowritten with Ursula Yovich).

Alana will appear in Wayside Chapel.

Dr Lauren A. Weber is Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Wollongong. She served as the Research Assistant on the Shakespeare Reloaded team from 2018-2022. Her research is focused on the teaching and learning of literature, empathy, and writing. Her other research interests include alternative education, neurodiverse education, and Shakespeare and contemporary culture.

Lauren will appear in Reading the Classics.

Anne-Marie Te Whiu is an Australian-born Māori living on unceded Wangal Land. She is a poet, editor, cultural producer, festival director and weaver. She most recently edited Woven, published by Magabala Books in partnership with Red Room Poetry.

Anne-Marie will appear in Yarning Poetry and the Poetry Showcase.

Kell Woods is an Australian historical fantasy author. Her debut novel After the Forest was published simultaneously by Tor (US), Titan Books (UK) and Harper Voyager (AU & NZ) in October 2023. Kell studied English literature, creative writing and librarianship, and has worked in libraries and museums for the past thirteen years.

Kell will appear in Modern Fairytale.