festivalWRITERS
Tash Agafonoff (2025)
Tash Agafonoff is a Gippsland-based freelance writer. Her story, Dog Years, about the difficulties and joys of friendship, was included in the anthology: Someone Like Me (2025). She won the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Competition for her non-fiction essay, Sexy Nails (2021) and was longlisted for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers for her memoir-in-progress about marriage, mental health, and the breakdown of both. Tash is a long time member, and current treasurer, of the Gippsland Writers Network.
Kgshak Akec (2022)
Kgshak Akec is a South Sudanese writer, poet, and performing artist, currently residing and creating on Wadawurrung Country in Australia. Born in South Sudan, she migrated to Australia as a child and developed a love for language and storytelling after learning English at age six. Her debut novel, Hopeless Kingdom (2022), draws inspiration from her own journey of migration and explores themes of belonging, family dynamics, and the African-Australian experience, earning her the 2021 Dorothy Hewett Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and her novel was shortlisted for the prestigious 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Tom Ballard (2023)
Tom Ballard is an award-winning Australian comedian, broadcaster, actor, and writer, known for his work in stand-up comedy and as a former host on the national youth radio station, Triple J. He has performed his stand-up shows, which are often praised for being politically motivated and conscientiously funny, to acclaim around the world, winning multiple awards including the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer in 2016 and the Best Australian Show Award at the 2017 Sydney Comedy Festival. Ballard is the author of the 2022 non-fiction book, I, Millennial: One Snowflake's Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else.
Victoria Brownlee (2025)
Victoria Brownlee is an author, writer, and editor who specialises in food, travel, and lifestyle, having previously served as the Food & Drink Editor at Time Out Shanghai and writing freelance articles on European food trends. Her novels, which are often romantic comedies, include her debut Fromage à Trois (published as Escape to the Paris Cheese Shop in the UK), which was adapted into the 2024 film Savoring Paris, as well as its sequel Brioche in the Oven and the novel Eat Your Heart Out. She is currently based in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, after living in France for several years.
Anne Buist (2022)
Anne Buist is best known for her psychological thrillers, including the Natalie King series which begins with Medea's Curse. Beyond her fiction career, Buist is a Professor of Women's Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, where she has over 25 years of clinical and research experience in perinatal psychiatry. She has also co-authored the popular novels The Glass House and The Oasis with her husband, novelist Graeme Simsion, with whom she lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Caity(2023)
One of Australia’s best bookstagrammers (using the handle @literaryautumn_ ), Caity brings an inspiring aesthetic and a deep understanding of literary classics to her followers.
Vikki Conley (2023 and 2025)
Vikki Conley is a multi-award-winning Australian children's author of over a dozen books, including the 2023 CBCA Book of the Year, Where The Lyrebird Lives, and the Honour Book Amira's Suitcase. Drawing inspiration from her love of nature and her extensive experience as an intrepid traveler, journalist, and photographer, her lyrical stories celebrate wonder, adventure, and freedom while exploring themes of empathy, resilience, mindfulness, and cultural diversity. She is known for creating lively literary experiences for young readers and currently lives in Eltham, Victoria, Australia.
Vicky Daddo (2025)
Vicky Daddo is a Gippsland-based Australian writer of short fiction and novels. She is an active member of the regional writing community, and has won or been placed in numerous competitions including the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction and the Scarlet Stiletto Awards. Vicky currently serves as the President of the Gippsland Writers Network and is a Writers Victoria Regional Ambassador.
Michael Earp (2025)
Michael Earp is a non-binary writer, editor, and bookseller living in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia), with over two decades of experience as a children's literature specialist, a role that led them to be named the Australian Booksellers Association Bookseller of the Year in 2021. Their passion for inclusive storytelling is evident in their work as the editor of and contributor to anthologies like Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories and Everything Under The Moon: Fairy tales in a queerer light. Currently, they own The Little Bookroom, the world's oldest children's bookshop, and are also the Chair of the Board for QLit Victoria, the state's Queer Literature Festival.
Dan Eddy (2022)
Dr. Dan Eddy is a prolific Australian non-fiction author and sports historian, with a passion for Australian Football League (AFL) history. He is the author or co-author of over a dozen books, including biographies on football legends like Essendon's Dick Reynolds (King Richard) and Hawthorn's Peter Crimmins (Crimmo), as well as the official 150-year history of the Essendon Football Club, The Red & Black Collection. Eddy holds a Master's degree from Victoria University and a PhD from Federation University Australia, and his writing has also appeared in publications such as Inside Sport and the AFL Record.
Sarah Epstein (2023)
Sarah Epstein is an award-winning Australian author, illustrator, and designer who resides in Melbourne. She is best known for her young adult psychological thrillers, including her multi-award-winning debut novel Small Spaces, which has been translated into multiple languages and optioned for film, and her second novel, Deep Water. Her other works include the contemporary YA series, Leftovers, and the YA thriller Night Lights.
Clementine Ford (2022)
Clementine Ford is a bestselling feminist writer, columnist, broadcaster, and public speaker based in Melbourne. She is best known for her outspoken advocacy on women's rights and social issues, with her debut work being the highly successful feminist manifesto Fight Like a Girl. Her other notable non-fiction books include Boys Will Be Boys: Power, Patriarchy and the Toxic Bonds of Mateship, her memoir How We Love, and I Don't: The Case Against Marriage. Ford won the Matt Richell Award for Best New Writer of the Year at the ABIAs in 2017.
Scot Gardner (2022 and 2023)
Scot Gardner is a critically acclaimed author, primarily known for his engaging and authentic young adult fiction that often explores themes of identity, mental health, and belonging with a blend of gritty realism and dark humor. Before becoming a full-time novelist, he held a variety of jobs, including counselor and youth worker, and his writing career gained momentum after attending a writing workshop with John Marsden. His works, such as The Dead I Know (winner of the CBCA Book of the Year Award for Older Readers) and Burning Eddy, have been shortlisted for numerous prestigious awards in Australia. He currently lives in rural Victoria.
Nikki Gemmell (2025)
Nikki Gemmell is a best-selling author renowned for her distinctive, lyrical writing style, which often incorporates the second-person narrative and explores themes of female sexuality and independence. Her work, translated into 22 languages, gained international acclaim with the controversial 2003 novel The Bride Stripped Bare, an explicit exploration of female desire, and includes the memoir After and her most recent novel, the contemporary literary thriller Wing (2024), which is an incendiary exploration of female friendships and gender dynamics. Born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Gemmell is also a columnist for the Weekend Australian Magazine, and her contribution to literature has been critically praised, with a French literary magazine once naming her among the fifty most important writers in the world.
Lisa Habermann (2025)
Lisa Habermann is a screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist, who gained recognition as the screenwriter for the 2021 independent drama We All Lie My Darling, directed by Pierre-Nicolas Panasci. The film is a character-based ensemble piece set in inner Sydney, focusing on a group of five friends navigating new life experiences, exploring their sexuality, and finding love.
Jemimah Halbert-Brewster (2022 and 2023)
Jemimah Halbert-Brewster is a writer, editor, book reviewer, and occasional artist who runs the website Oddfeather Creative, a self-described "word-nerd corner of the internet." She has a focus on speculative fiction writing and is known for reviewing books in various genres, including for publications like ArtsHub, The AU Review, and Aurealis Magazine. Halbert-Brewster also co-hosts a podcast called Tome & Tome Again and curates a newsletter called The Brew, which features what she calls "curated cosy nonsense."
Amy Han (2025)
Amy Han is a writer, storyteller, and the founder of Words of a Feather, a creative studio based in Melbourne that offers workshops for writers of all ages. She has published four books of fiction and personal essays, including her latest novel, The Yard Sale at Story House (2024), and a collection of personal essays, Play & Other Life Lessons, inspired by ten years of parkour training. Her writing has appeared in various online and print publications and has been recognised in local and national writing awards.
Brionadh Hassett (2025)
Bri Hassett is a fiction writer and an occasional artist who works from Gunaikurnai Country. Her writing is often influenced by her surroundings in Gippsland and her heritage as the child of Irish immigrants, leading to themes of dualities, faeries, and mystical landscapes. Beyond her creative writing, which has been featured in publications like Locative Magazine and the anthology Out-Side: Queer Words and Art From Regional Victoria, she is also the secretary of Q-Lit, Victoria's LGBTQIA+ Festival of Words.
Eliza Henry-Jones (2023)
Eliza Henry-Jones is an author and freelance writer who lives on a flower farm on Wurundjeri land in the Yarra Valley of Victoria, Australia. She is the author of several novels for both adults, including her debut In the Quiet (2015) and Salt and Skin (2022), and young adult readers, such as P is for Pearl. Her work has been widely published and listed for numerous awards, including the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, and she holds qualifications in psychology, alcohol and other drugs, and grief, loss and trauma counselling.
Ben Hobson (2023)
Ben Hobson is an author based in Brisbane, who originally hails from Gippsland, Victoria. Before writing, he pursued music, graduating from QUT and touring with the ska/rock/hardcore band Sounds Like Chicken. His debut novel, To Become a Whale (2017), was longlisted for the ABIA Debut Fiction award, followed by the literary thriller Snake Island (2019) and the Australian Western The Death of John Lacey (2023). In addition to writing novels, he runs a monthly online book club called Ben's Book Club and hosts the podcast Burgers, Beers and Books, often interviewing other authors.
Troy Hunter (2025)
Troy Hunter is a Melbourne-based author of adult and Young Adult (YA) crime fiction who also works as a marketing and communications consultant. His debut YA crime novel, Gus and the Missing Boy (2024), was shortlisted for the 2024 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction and the sequel, Gus and the Burning Stones, was published in 2025. An admitted lover of Agatha Christie, Hunter was invited to speak at the 2025 International Agatha Christie Festival, where he presented on "And Then There Were Teens: Portrayal of Teenagers in Christie." He is also the co-host of the Queer Writes Sessions podcast.
Ashley Kalagian Blunt (2025)
Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the number one bestselling author of the psychological thriller Dark Mode, which was released in multiple territories and languages and shortlisted for the 2024 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel, the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year, and the Danger Award for Best Crime Debut. Her earlier books include How to Be Australian, a memoir, and My Name Is Revenge, a collection of fiction and essays, and she co-hosts the podcast James and Ashley Stay at Home with James McKenzie Watson, where they discuss writing, creativity, and health. Originally from Canada, she lived and worked in South Korea, Peru, and Mexico before moving to Australia, and her writing has appeared in various publications including the Sydney Morning Herald and Griffith Review. Her latest novel is Cold Truth.
Ben Langdon (2023)
Ben Langdon writes fiction for both young adults and adults, often blending the ordinary with the extraordinary in the neo-pulp and superhero genres. His published works include the YA novel The Miranda Contract and the collaborative novel The Adventures of Charlie Conti: Small Sacrifices. He was awarded The Roderick Centre Fellowship for Remote and Regional Writers and a Varuna Residential Fellowship for his crime fiction novel Harlow. In addition to his writing, he is the Director of The Gippsland Writers Festival.
Vanessa Len (2025)
Vanessa Len is an internationally bestselling author of Chinese-Malaysian and Maltese heritage, and an educational editor who has worked on various learning programs. She is best known for her young adult urban fantasy series, which began with her debut novel, Only a Monster, a story that flips the hero-monster trope on its head. This novel won the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel and has been translated into multiple languages. Len is a graduate of the Clarion Workshop in San Diego and currently resides in Melbourne, Australia.
Siang Lu (2025)
Siang Lu is an award-winning author, whose second novel, Ghost Cities, a sprawling and satirical narrative on diaspora and the absurdity of modern life, won The Miles Franklin Award in 2025. His debut, the award-winning satirical oral history The Whitewash (which won the ABIA Audiobook of the Year), established his reputation for an audacious and humorous literary style. Based between Brisbane, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Lu is also known for co-creating The Beige Index, an online project that charts racial representation in Hollywood films.
Elli Marney (2025)
Ellie Marney is a New York Times bestselling and multi-award-winning author of crime thrillers for teens and adults, including the Aurealis Award-winning None Shall Sleep, the Every series, and The Killing Code. Known for her meticulous research, she has interviewed law enforcement personnel, autopsy specialists, and former spies to gather details for her pulse-pounding novels, which have been published in multiple countries and optioned for television. Marney also co-founded the #LoveOzYA campaign to promote Australian young adult literature.
RWR McDonald (2022 and 2025)
R.W.R. McDonald (Rob) is an award-winning New Zealand author based in Melbourne, Australia, best known for his crime series featuring amateur detective club "The Nancys." His debut novel, The Nancys won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel and was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award. The sequel, Nancy Business, continued the acclaimed series, which has been praised for its blend of humor, heart, and gripping mystery. McDonald, who has also written the picture book Happy Millionth Birthday and Rainbow Street, is a creative writing tutor and co-host of the Queer Writes Sessions (QWS) Podcast.
James McKenzie Watson (2023)
James McKenzie Watson is an award-winning Australian author and nurse who focuses his fiction on themes of health and rural Australia. His novel, Denizen, a gothic thriller exploring mental health and isolation in regional New South Wales, won the prestigious 2021 Penguin Literary Prize and was shortlisted for the 2023 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut. Beyond his writing, Watson co-hosts the James and Ashley Stay at Home podcast with fellow author Ashley Kalagian Blunt, a show that features discussions and interviews with writers, artists, and health professionals about writing, creativity, and navigating life with chronic illness.
Cath Moore (2022)
Cath Moore is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and academic, born in Guyana and of Irish/Afro-Caribbean heritage, who was raised in Australia and has also lived in Scotland and Belgium. She is an award-winning screenwriter who holds an MA in screenwriting and a PhD in Danish screenwriting practices, and she has contributed to publications like The Age, The Huffington Post, and SBS Life. Her debut novel, Metal Fish, Falling Snow, which explores themes of identity, grief, and mixed heritage, won multiple accolades including the 2021 Victorian and Queensland Premiers' awards and the Prime Minister's Award for YA literature.
No Promises (2023)
No Promises is a dynamic alt-country duo hailing from South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, fronted by the songwriting and vocal talents of Janine Garvey and Eric Collier. The pair formed their collaborative project in 2020 after discovering a strong artistic connection during the COVID-19 lockdown, quickly releasing their debut, Acoustic Sessions Vol.1, followed by their second album, The River, in 2022. Known for their prolific songwriting, masterful storytelling, and beautifully blended harmonies, No Promises blends the raw honesty of country and Americana with the energy of rock, showcasing Garvey's powerhouse vocals and Collier's blues-infused guitar work.
Alli Parker (2025)
Alli Parker is a Japanese-Australian author and screenwriter known for her background in script editing and co-ordinating on various Australian television series, including Jack Irish and Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries. Her critically and commercially successful debut historical fiction novel, At the Foot of the Cherry Tree (2023), is a novelization of the true story of her grandmother, Australia's first Japanese war bride. She currently lives on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation and is also the author of the novel Until the Red Leaves Fall.
Alice Pung (2022)
Alice Pung OAM is an acclaimed Australian author, journalist, and lawyer whose work explores themes of migration, identity, and the Asian-Australian experience. Born in Footscray, Victoria, shortly after her Chinese-Cambodian parents arrived in Australia as refugees, she grew up in the Western suburbs of Melbourne. Her notable works, which are studied internationally, include the award-winning memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father's Daughter, and the young adult novel Laurinda. A qualified lawyer, Alice Pung also works as a legal researcher focusing on minimum wage and pay equity and is an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Melbourne's Janet Clarke Hall.
Graeme Simsion (2022)
Graeme Simsion is a New Zealand-born Australian author, best known for his international bestselling debut novel, The Rosie Project (2013), which was initially developed as a screenplay and won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. Before becoming a full-time fiction writer, Simsion was an IT consultant, and only made a career change to writing fiction around the age of fifty. He continued the Don Tillman series with sequels The Rosie Effect and The Rosie Result, and has also co-authored Glass House and Oasis with his wife, Anne Buist, a psychiatrist. His novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into numerous languages.
Mark Smith (2025)
Mark Smith is based on Victoria's Surf Coast, and draws on his diverse background as a former teacher, outdoor educator, and surf instructor in his writing. He is widely recognised for his young adult fiction, particularly The Winter Trilogy, which begins with the critically acclaimed novel The Road to Winter (a popular teaching text in schools across Australia) and whose sequel, Wilder Country, won the 2018 Australian Indie Book Award for YA. Smith has also garnered awards for his short fiction and expanded into adult fiction with the psychological thriller, Three Boys Gone, which explores the profound moral dilemma faced by a teacher after a tragedy on a school trip. His work consistently addresses themes of environmental issues, social justice, and the resilience and loyalty of young people.
Alison Stuart (2023)
Alison Stuart is an author of historical romance and historical mysteries, residing in Melbourne, Victoria. She is known for her historical romances set in the Victorian goldfields, such as The Postmistress, and for the popular Harriet Gordon mystery series, which she writes as A.M. Stuart and which is set in Singapore in 1910. Before becoming a full-time writer, Stuart had a varied career as a lawyer across different fields, including the military and emergency services, and her personal experiences, including having lived in Africa and Singapore, often influence the settings and historical periods of her compelling, well-researched stories.
Ella Ward (2025)
Ella Ward is a Melbourne-based author, who has worked in advertising for many years and is known for her contributions to publications like Marie Claire and The Sydney Morning Herald. Her published works include the memoir 27 Letters to my Daughter (2022/2023) and her debut novel, the time-travel love story The Cicada House (2025).
Wulgunggo Ngalu (2022, 2023 and 2025)
Wulgunggo Ngalu Learning Place, which means 'which way together' in Gunai Kurnai language, is a statewide, culturally appropriate residential diversion program located in Gippsland, Victoria, established as a key initiative of the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement. The program provides Koori men, who are on a Community Correction Order, a voluntary opportunity to live on-site for three to six months to learn new skills, reconnect with their culture, and participate in activities to address their offending behaviour. Shaun Braybrook, a proud Kuku-Yalanji man, is the General Manager of the facility and has been working in the corrections system with Koori men for over 20 years, having been awarded the Australian Corrections Medal for his dedication to using Aboriginal cultural identity as a crucial strength for community development.