DIRECTOR - SARAH NICHOLSON

Founder of The Neo-Perennial Press and Director of Heroines Festival, Sarah has an academic background in teaching literature, philosophy, creative arts, gender and religious studies. She is a past 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 the 2017 Emerging Writer in Residence for the Katherine Susannah Pritchard Writers’ Centre. 

COMMITEE OF MANAGEMENT

Chair: Annette Loughlin-Smith 

Over 30 years experience in media, marketing, communications and management largely in the not-for-profit sector. Annette has coached individuals and businesses, and facilitated workshops / strategic sessions in the areas of branding, marketing, strategic planning, team building, etc . She has self-published a journal and facilitated workshops on journaling and building a creative brand for artists and writers. 

Deputy Chair: Judi Morison 

Board member since 2014. Gomeroi woman. Retired academic, currently studying Creative Writing. Writer of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. Ngana Barangarai (Black Wallaby) member, editorial assistant and transcriber for the Dreaming Inside anthologies since 2014. Leader SCWC's 2021 Emerging Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Writers Mentoring Program, SCWC Indigenous Program Coordinator in 2015. Judi was a lecturer and tutor at the University of Wollongong 2001-2017. 

Secretary: Cartia Wollen  

BA English and Drama UON, BA Honors Interior Architecture UNSW, Diploma Photography and Publishing NT, President of the Coledale Soccer Club, Director of the Illawarra Nature School and Director of Design by Wollen. 

Stella Thorndike 

Stella Thorndike is a senior and highly-experienced Executive Assistant, with over 16 years’ experience supporting senior executives in private, public, tertiary and not for profit sectors, including project management, managing budgets, creating cross-functional working solutions implementing efficient administrative systems. She has event management experience from large-scale corporate events and international meetings to intimate fundraising events. 

Dr (Hon) Aunty Barbara Nicholson 

Elder of the Wadi Wadi people, Poet, Honorary Fellow at the Law Faculty, UOW. Aunty Barbara has a Degree in English Literature, Phd UOW (law), Lecturer UOW and UNSW, Initiator and Project Leader of the Ngana Bangarai Project, former president of of Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee, nominated for Social Justice medal, mentor and advisor to students, former member UOW’s Human Research Ethics Committee, former executive member Link-Up NSW Aboriginal Corporation. 

Genevieve Quirk  

Genevieve has a Bsc University of Queensland, DULF University of Paris, MEnvLaw Australian National University is a PhD candidate at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security. Genevieve worked internationally as a policy advisor on issues related to the law of the sea including in the EU and at the UN. Genevieve has worked for international NGOs, UNESCO, Ericsson and curated community marine conservation exhibitions. She is passionate about the power of the written word and the contribution of the SCWC to the writers of the region. 

Emily Gray 

Emily has a Bachelor of Laws (USyd), Bachelor of Arts (English Lit), First Class Honours (USyd). She has worked as a Solicitor, Inner City Legal Centre (2018-current), Industrial Officer, Australian Services Union, 2016-2018, Researcher, Amnesty International, London (2011-2013), Parliamentary Legal Officer, British House of Lords (2009-2011), Convenor of the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (2007-2009), Policy Officer, Australian Human Rights Commission (2006-2008) and Board Member, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (2008-2009).    

Samson Soulsby 

Samson is the Program Coordinator at Merrigong Theatre Company and an English Literature PhD candidate. He has worked professionally as a conference organiser for specialised events in governance and law, and has several years of experience teaching primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of English literature and creative writing at University of Wollongong. He is an active member of local arts and community spaces. 

Peter Frankis 

Peter has worked at a senior level in the Commonwealth and NSW public service for nearly thirty years. He has masters qualifications in public sector management and international relations. He has published two collections of short stories. After retiring to the Illawarra, Peter has continued to write and his poetry has been published in various print and on-line journals and his first book of poetry Shorely was published by Ginninderra Press.  

Jane Kriegel 

Jane holds a BAppSci, a LLB with Honours and a LLM with Merit from the Australian National University. She is admitted to the Bar of the High, Federal and ACT Supreme Courts. She worked as a senior solicitor in a large national law firm before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a foreign policy expert and diplomat. She has a special interest in Australia’s relationship with its Pacific neighbours and was posted to Solomon Islands immediately following its civil war. At DFAT she also worked on protecting Australia’s interests during conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, as well as growing Australia’s diplomatic relationships with India, Nepal, the EU and World Trade Organisation. She has also resided in the UK and USA.  

She has volunteered as a policy adviser to Transparency International in Solomon Islands and the Benevolent Society in Sydney. She began writing non-fiction more than 12 years ago and has undertaken various writing courses. She completed a life writing course at the Faber Writing Academy at Allen & Unwin in Sydney and was published in Faber’s The Anthology 2019. She is currently writing about wars in the Pacific. As well as reading and writing, she loves art and animals.