Harrison Christian is a writer from Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of two acclaimed nonfiction books, Men Without Country (2021), a bestseller in New Zealand, and Should We Fall to Ruin (2022). His third book, Terra Nova, is forthcoming from Ultimo Press in 2024. His nonfiction focuses on the history of the Pacific….

Fiona Kelly McGregor has published eight books, most recently the novel Iris, shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, the NSW Premier’s Award, the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal, and longlisted for the Stella Prize. Previously, Indelible ink won Age Book of the Year and was published in French by Actes-Sud. McGregor’s non-fiction includes essay collection Buried not dead,…

Rebecca Harkins-Cross is a non-fiction writer and cultural critic based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her debut book, The Headless Woman, is forthcoming with Fireflies Press. Rebecca’s essays, criticism and journalism have been published widely in journals and periodicals across Australia and the world, appearing in Meanjin, Island, Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, The Saturday Paper…

Ruby Porter is a writer, artist and PhD candidate. She tutors creative writing at universities, for festivals, and in high schools. Ruby was the winner of the Wallace Foundation Short Fiction Award in 2017, and the inaugural winner of the Michael Gifkins Prize in 2018, with her debut novel Attraction, published in 2019 by Melbourne-based…

Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu) is a writer from New Zealand. Her first book of short fiction, Ruin and Other Stories, was published in March 2023 with Te Herenga Waka University Press. She has an MA with Distinction from the International Institute of Modern Letters. In 2023 she was awarded the Michael King International Residency at Varuna…

Kate Ryan is a widely published and commended writer of adult fiction and non-fiction and children’s picture books. Her work has appeared in publications including New Australian Writing, The Sleepers Almanac, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, The Griffith Review and Best Australian Stories. Her children’s picture books were published by Penguin and Lothian. She won the…

Maame Blue is a Ghanaian-Londoner, creative writing tutor and author of the novel Bad Love, which won the 2021 Betty Trask award, and was shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize. Her short stories have been published in Not Quite Right For Us (Flipped Eye Publishing), New Australian Fiction 2020 (Kill Your Darlings), and Joyful, Joyful…

Kirsten Alexander is a writer, editor and copywriter. She lives in Melbourne with her two sons. Her editing and writing experience spans print, online and radio. She has worked in-house as an editor for companies including Text, D.W. Thorpe, Reed and Random House, and freelanced for others. She was in-house copywriter for Aesop for four…

Dr Eleanor Limprecht is the author of four novels: The Coast, The Passengers, Long Bay and What Was Left. Her fifth novel, Cul de Sac, will be released by Ultimo Press in September 2026. Eleanor’s short fiction and essays have been published various places including Best Australian Stories, Meanjin, The Saturday Paper, The Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings and The Big Issue. She’s been the recipient of…

Ellen O’Brien is a Garigal/Walkeloa writer living on Gadigal land. Ellen is the 2022 Program Officer for The Writing Zone and a junior editor at the Sydney Review of Books. She has had prose and poetry published in Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin, Overland, Rabbit, Cordite and un Magazine and was previously a facilitator for the Feminist Killjoys Reading Group.

Alice Pung is an award-winning Australian writer whose books include the bestselling memoirs Unpolished Gem (2006) and Her Father’s Daughter (2011), and the novel Laurinda (2014). She is the editor of the anthology Growing Up Asian in Australia (2008), and created the Marly books for Penguin’s Our Australian Girl series (2015). Her latest book is the novel One Hundred Days (2021).

Alison Evans is the award-winning author of three young adult novels: Euphoria Kids, Highway Bodies and Ida. Their shorter work appears in the anthologies Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Stories and Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories. They work as a children’s specialist bookseller and live on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri People.

Lili Wilkinson is the award-winning author of nineteen books for young people, including The Erasure Initiative and A Hunger of Thorns. Lili has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and is a passionate advocate for YA and the young people who read it, establishing the Inky Awards at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library…

Shivaun Plozza’s critically acclaimed debut novel, Frankie, was nominated to ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults List, highly commended at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards, and won the Davitt Award for best YA crime novel. Her second novel, Tin Heart, was nominated to ALA’s Best Fiction for Young…

J.S. Breukelaar is the author of four novels and two story collections which have won or been nominated for the Shirley Jackson, Aurealis and Ditmar Awards among others. Her most recent novel is Remedy included in the New York Times Best Horror of the Year, 2025. Her stories can be found in publications such as Apex, Lightspeed, The Dark…

Shirley Jackson award-winner Kaaron Warren published her first short story in 1993 and has had fiction in print every year since. She was recently given the Peter McNamara Lifetime Achievement Award and was Guest of Honour at World Fantasy 2018, Stokercon 2019 and Geysercon 2019.  She has also been Guest of Honour at Conflux in…

Brooke Robinson is an award-winning playwright turned novelist from Sydney. Her debut novel The Interpreter is published in June 2023 as a lead crime title with Harvill Secker/Vintage (Penguin Random House) in the UK and Commonwealth countries, where it was acquired in a six figure pre-empt as part of a two-book deal. Rights have also been sold in the US…

Originally from Ballarat, Tobias Madden worked for ten years as a dancer, touring Australia and New Zealand with musicals such as Mary Poppins, CATS, Singin’ in the Rain and Guys and Dolls. He now lives in Sydney with his husband, Daniel, and their cavoodle, Ollie. In 2019, Tobias edited and published Underdog: #LoveOzYA Short Stories….

Ben Hobson is a teacher of English and Music, and an author, based in Brisbane. In 2014 his novella, If the Saddle Breaks My Spine, was shortlisted for the Viva La Novella prize. To Become a Whale, his debut novel, was released in 2017. It was longlisted for the ABIA Debut Fiction award, and shortlisted for…

Dr Lee Kofman is an award-winning author of nine books in two languages, including The Writer Laid Bare (Ventura Press, 2022), Imperfect (Affirm Press, 2019), which was shortlisted for Nib Literary Award, The Dangerous Bride (Melbourne University Press, 2014) and Split (Ventura Press, 2019), which was longlisted for ABIA Awards. Her latest book Ruptured (LJLA,…