Mary-Lou Stephens
Mary-Lou Stephens was born in Tasmania, studied acting at The Victorian College of the Arts and played in bands in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney. Eventually she got a proper job - in radio, where she was a presenter and music director, first with commercial radio and then with the ABC.
She received rave reviews for her memoir Sex, Drugs and Meditation (2013), the true story of how meditation changed her life, saved her job and helped her find a husband.
Mary-Lou has worked and played all over Australia and now travels the world slowly and writes, mostly.
Her debut novel The Last of the Apple Blossom was published by HarperCollins (HQ) in 2021.
The Chocolate Factory (HarperCollins HQ) 2024.
The Jam Maker (HarperCollins HQ) 2025
Praise for The Choco
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Paula J. Beavan
I am a Hunter Valley based writer who grew up, farmed, and played along the banks of the Hunter River.
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I love the rich history of the area and often escape down the rabbit hole of research. On one such excursion I fortuitously found a family connection to a local landmark and historic figure, William Harpur, one of the founding settlers in the Hunter Valley; assistant to the Surveyor General in 1821; who established his property Oswald on the Hunter River in the mid 1820’s, and is related to my father’s great-grandfather who settled in Australia in the 1840’s.
This discovery piqued my interest in the people who lived here before me, and so I find myself setting my stories in and around the places I grew up. I was fortunate to have lived on a -
Kim Lock
Kim Lock is an internationally published author of four novels, including The Other Side of Beautiful (2021). Her writing has also appeared in Kill Your Darlings, The Guardian, Daily Life and The Sydney Morning Herald online, among others. She lives in regional South Australia with her family.
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Joanna Nell
Joanna Nell is a UK born writer and doctor. Her short fiction has won multiple awards and has been published in various journals and literary anthologies. In 2016 she was awarded a residency at The Bundanon Trust. Her bestselling debut novel The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village was published by Hachette Australia and Hodder & Stoughton (UK) in 2018.
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A former ship's doctor, Joanna now works as a GP with a passion for women's health and care of the elderly. She writes character-driven stories for women in their prime, creating young-at-heart characters who are not afraid to break the rules and defy society's expectations of ageing.
Joanna lives on Sydney's Northern Beaches, and as the mother of teenagers enjoys long walks with her -
Matthew S. Wilson
Matthew is an independent writer from Melbourne, Australia. His first book, The Devil’s in the Detail, was released in October 2012.
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You can find more of his work and short-fiction at www.matthew-s-wilson.com. For other musings, follow him on Twitter at @Matthew_SWilson. -
Sandie Docker
Australian author, Sandie Docker grew up in Coffs Harbour, and first fell in love with reading when her father introduced her to fantasy books as a teenager. Her love of Women’s Fiction began when she first read Jane Austen for the HSC, but it wasn’t until she was taking a translation course at university that her Mandarin lecturer suggested she might have a knack for writing – a seed of an idea that sat quietly in the back of her mind while she lived overseas and travelled the world.
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Now back in Sydney, Sandie writes about love, loss, family and small country towns. Sandie is also the founder and director of The Northern Beaches Readers Festival.
(head shot photo credit @ainsliecophotography) -
Johanna Craven
A lover of old stuff, folk music, and dance, Johanna Craven bases her books around little-known true events from the past, often set in bleak and beautiful places. She divides her time between Australia and the UK, and can very easily be persuaded to tell you about the time she accidentally swam with seals on Holy Island.
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Find out more at www.johannacraven.com. -
Kirsten Alexander
Kirsten Alexander is the author of three novels: Half Moon Lake (PRH, Australia & NZ, 2019; published as Lost Boy Found by Grand Central/Hachette, US & Canada 2020), Riptides (PRH, 2020) and After the Fall (Ultimo Press, 2025).
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Kirsten has worked as a nonfiction book editor, copywriter (inhouse four years for Aesop, also for Crumpler, M.L. Vintage, House + Universe), and occasional article writer (for the Age, the Daily Beast, Notebook, the Melbourne Weekly, Atticus Review and others). She’s worked as a reviewer for ABC Radio National’s The Book Show, a magazine section editor, and content manager for several websites.
She was co-founder and editor of three-volume digital journal Open Field.
Currently she works as an editor and tutor for the -
Judy Nunn
Judy Nunn (born 13 April 1945) is an Australian actress and author.
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Judy Nunn's career has been long, illustrious and multifaceted. After combining her internationally successful acting career with scriptwriting for television and radio, Judy decided in the 80s to turn her hand to prose. The result was two adventure novels for children, EYE IN THE STORM and EYE IN THE CITY, which remain extremely popular, not only in Australia but in Europe. Embarking on adult fiction in the early 90s, Judy's three novels, THE GLITTER GAME, CENTRE STAGE and ARALUEN, set respectively in the worlds of television, theatre and film, became instant bestsellers. Her subsequent bestsellers, KAL, BENEATH THE SOUTHERN CROSS, TERRITORY, PACIFIC, HERITAGE and FLOODTIDE -
Di Morrissey
Di Morrissey (born 18 March 1943 in Wingham, New South Wales) is one of Australia's most popular female novelists. She grew up in the remote surrounds of Pittwater, north of Sydney, Australia.
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Growing up she counted famous Australian actor Chips Rafferty as a close mentor and friend who helped provide for her and her mother after the death of her father as a child, sending them overseas to California to live with family.
In her later years, Di went on to become a journalist on London's Fleet Street, and worked for CBS in Honolulu, where she lived with her husband who was in the foreign service, and even had a small role in the series Hawaii Five-0, a guest role in season three, episode seven, 1970 starring as 'Alicia Anderson'.
After moving ba -
Caroline Beecham
Caroline is the author of four historical fiction novels; Maggie's Kitchen, Eleanor's Secret, Finding Eadie (published as When We Meet Again in North America) and Esther's Children, and also a novelisation, Rainbow. She has 20 years experience as a writer and producer in film and television and has worked on a documentary about Princess Diana lookalikes, a series about journeys to the ends of the earth, as well as a feature film about finding the end of the rainbow. While she has done none of these things herself, she has discovered that she loves to write and to share lesser-known histories; and in particular those of pioneering women whose lives she reimagines through fiction. Caroline studied the craft of novel writing at the Faber Acade
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Deborah Rodriguez
Deborah Rodriguez is a hairdresser, a motivational speaker, and the author of the bestselling memoir Kabul Beauty School.
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She spent five years teaching at and later directing the Kabul Beauty School, the first modern beauty academy and training salon in Afghanistan. Rodriguez also owned the Oasis Salon and the Cabul Coffee House.
She currently lives in Mexico. -
L.J.M. Owen
Dr L.J.M. Owen has escaped dark and shadowy days as a public servant to explore the comparatively lighter side of life: murder, mystery and forgotten women's history. An Australian author, archaeologist and librarian with a PhD in palaeogenetics, L.J. speaks five languages and has travelled extensively through Europe and Asia.
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L.J. is the Festival Director of the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, a celebration of literature and literacy in southern Tasmania.
In addition to writing and festival directing, L.J. is a panellist, interviewer, workshop provider and public speaker. Rare moments of free time are spent experimenting with ancient recipes…under strict feline supervision.
The Great Divide
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Karen Viggers
Karen Viggers was born in Melbourne, Australia, and grew up in the Dandenong Ranges riding horses and writing stories. She studied Veterinary Science at Melbourne University, and then worked in mixed animal practice for seven years before completing a PhD at the Australian National University, Canberra, in wildlife health from which she published numerous scientific papers.
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Since then she has worked on a wide range of Australian native animals in many different natural environments.
She lives in Canberra with her husband and two children. She works part-time in veterinary practice, provides veterinary support for biologists studying native animals, and writes most days. Karen’s first novel, The Stranding, was published by Allen & Unwin in 200 -
Pip Williams
Pip was born in London, grew up in Sydney and now calls the Adelaide Hills home. She is co-author of the book Time Bomb: Work Rest and Play in Australia Today (New South Press, 2012) and in 2017 she wrote One Italian Summer, a memoir of her family’s travels in search of the good life, which was published with Affirm Press to wide acclaim. Pip has also published travel articles, book reviews, flash fiction and poetry.
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Tania Blanchard
Tania lives in Sydney with her husband and three children. Coming from a family with rich cultural heritage with a German mother and Italian father, stories have always been in her blood. Following a career in physiotherapy, it was only when she had her family that she decided to return to her passion of writing.
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Her debut novel is The Girl from Munich, the story she has always wanted to write, inspired by the fascinating stories told by her German grandmother, and she is currently working on the sequel, set in Australia in the 1950s.
Tania is excited to have found her light bulb moment, her love for writing historical fiction. She looks forward to delving further into her interests of history and family stories to enrich and bring to life -
Janet Gover
Janet Gover was born in Melbourne, Australia. When she was very small, her family moved to a small country town in Queensland. She studied Journalism and Politics at Queensland University. She went on to forge a path in television journalism, she worked as a reporter and producer of news and other factual TV programmes in Australia, Hong Kong and the UK. Today matched with a Englishman, she lives in West London and works as a consultant, implementing high end digital systems in TV stations and production facilities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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Janet Gover published her first short story, called The Last Dragon, in 2002, and since then she published some short stories. In 2007 she won the Romantic Novelists' Association's Elizabeth Go -
Robbi Neal
Robbi Neal's first book SUNDAY BEST, a memoir was developed as part of the HarperCollins/Varuna awards program and published by HarperCollins in 2004. AFTER BEFORE TIME, which told stories of indigenous life in a remote community, was published in 2016. THE ART OF PRESERVING LOVE, a story that spanned 25 years from 1905 to 1930 was published in 2018 under the pen name Ada Langton.
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Robbi also paints and is currently working towards an exhibition scheduled for 2022 at Redot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore. She is a mama of five wonderful humans (you're welcome world).
She has lived in country Victoria, Australia, for most of her life and lives only a few of blocks from where her novel THE SECRET WORLD OF CONNIE STARR (2022) is set. She loves to w -
Zoe Boccabella
Zoë Boccabella is an Australian author of both non-fiction and fiction. Her books have been much acclaimed, selected for literary and popular awards and sold internationally. Zoë’s migrant ancestry and handed-down recipes influence her writing, along with subtropical Brisbane, where she was born and lives, as well as travels in Europe and Australia. With a degree in literature, film and sociology and a Master of Philosophy, she’s worked as a researcher, writer and media advisor for several levels of government, the police service, universities and freelance. Zoë also loves to cook, especially dishes from generations of women and men in her family and their varied cultural pasts, ingredients and spoken stories shared over the kitchen table.
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Mirandi Riwoe
Mirandi Riwoe is a Brisbane-based writer. She has been shortlisted for Overland's Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, the Josephine Ulrick Short Story Prize and the Luke Bitmead Bursary. She has also been longlisted for the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize and CWA (UK) dagger awards. Her work has appeared in Review of Australian Fiction, Rex, Peril and Shibboleth and Other Stories. Her first novel, She be Damned, will be released by Legend Press (UK) in 2017. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT).
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Sally Colin-James
Following a globally successful corporate career in communications and event management, Sally Colin-James returned to creative writing, gaining an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship to complete a Doctor of Philosophy in professional writing. Her novel One Illumined Thread won the 2020 HNSA Colleen McCullough Residency Award, the 2020 Varuna PIP Fellowship Award, the Byron Bay Writers Festival Mentorship Award, and a placement with the Australian Writers Mentoring program. Her work was shortlisted from over 2000 entries across 54 countries for the international 2021 First Pages Prize.
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Anne Brinsden
As far back as Anne can remember she has loved stories. Mostly, she would read them. But if there were no stories to read, she would make up her own. She lives in the western suburbs of Melbourne now with a couple of nice humans, an unbalanced but mostly nice cat and a family of magpies. But she lived all of her childhood in the Mallee in northern Victoria before heading for the city and a career as a teacher. She received the 2017 Albury Write Around the Murray short story competition, judged and presented by Bruce Pascoe; and was highly commended in the 2018 Williamstown Literary Festival short story competition. Wearing Paper Dresses is her first novel. Find out more at: www.annebrinsden.com
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Christine Wells
Christine Wells is a former corporate lawyer who exchanged contracts and prospectuses for a different kind of fiction.
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Undergoing life-saving brain surgery as a 2 year old made her want to be a brain surgeon when she grew up. However, a love of the humanities, particularly English history and literature, not to mention the fact she wasn’t great with blood, made her revise that plan.
Christine had always been interested in the law and after winning a half-scholarship to Bond University in a high school moot competition, she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a solicitor. Having completed her Bachelor’s degree, Christine worked for city law firms advising on capital raising and mergers and acquisitions.
While still working as -
Jackie French
Jackie is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator and the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2014-2015. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors, and writes across all genres - from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction. In her capacity as Australian Children’s Laureate, ‘Share a Story’ will be the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term.
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Catherine Meyrick
Catherine Meyrick is an Australian writer of romantic historical fiction. Her stories weave fictional characters into the gaps within the historical record – tales of ordinary people who are very much men and women of their time, yet in so many ways are like us today. These are people with the same hopes and longings as we have to find both love and their own place in a troubled world.
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Catherine lives in Melbourne, Australia but grew up in Ballarat, a large regional city steeped in history. Until recently she worked as a customer service librarian at her local library. She has a Master of Arts in history and is also an obsessive genealogist. When she is not writing, reading and researching, she enjoys gardening, the cinema and music of all s -
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Debra Oswald
Debra Oswald is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She is a two-time winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award and author of the novels Useful (2015), The Whole Bright Year (2018) and The Family Doctor (2021). She was creator/head writer of the first five seasons of the successful TV series Offspring.
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Her stage plays have been performed around the world and published by Currency Press. Gary's House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Award. Debra has also written four plays for young audiences—Dags, Skate, Stories in the Dark and House on Fire. She has written three Aussie Bites books and six children's novels, including The Redback Leftovers.
Her television credits include award-winning -
Mary-Anne O'Connor
Mary-Anne O'Connor nee Best grew up in Wahroonga in the Bushland Shire of Hornsby-Kuringai, northern Sydney. The youngest of six children, her childhood was spent exploring the local bush and playing music with her siblings and close neighbours. An avid reader, she devoured her mother Dorn's extensive library and was often found trying to finish a chapter by torchlight late at night. She also began to fill every blank piece of paper in the house with stories and drawings of her own and dreamt of becoming a writer one day.
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When she was twelve her father Kevin Best left his established career in the stock-market to become one of Australia's best-loved artists. The perseverance and ultimate triumph she witnessed during those years left her insp -
Tea Cooper
Tea Cooper writes Australian contemporary and historical fiction. In a past life she was a teacher, a journalist and a farmer. These days she haunts museums and indulges her passion for storytelling.
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Esther Campion
Esther Campion is from Cork, Ireland and currently lives in north-west Tasmania. She attended North Presentation Convent in Cork and has degrees from University College Cork and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
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Esther and her Orcadian husband have lived in Ireland, Scotland, Norway and South Australia. They have a grown-up daughter in Adelaide and the two youngest at home in Tassie with an over-indulged chocolate Labrador and two horses, which Esther firmly believes are living proof that dreams really can come true. -
Minnie Darke
Minnie Darke writes smart, contemporary stories about love ... of all kinds.
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Her first novel Starcrossed - about a journalist who manipulates an astrology column for her own romantic ends - was published in over 25 international territories.
The Lost Love Song - composed in a slightly more melancholy key - tells the story of a haunting melody that finds its way home, all by itself, to the heart of the person who inspired it.
With Love from Wish & Co takes you deep into the world of a professional gift-buyer. It begins on the day Marnie Fairchild is wrapping two gifts: one for her best client's wife, and one for his lover. What could possibly go wrong?
Three Juliets brings together themes of motherhood, daughterhood, love, loss and dressmakin -
Rosalie Ham
Rosalie Ham was born, and raised in Jerilderie, NSW, Australia. She completed her secondary education at St Margaret's School, Berwick in 1972. After travelling and working at a variety of jobs (including aged care) for most of her twenties, Rosalie completed a Bachelor of Education majoring in Drama and Literature (Deakin University, 1989), and achieved a Master of Arts, Creative Writing (RMIT, Melbourne) in 2007. Rosalie lives in Brunswick, Melbourne, and when she is not writing, Rosalie teaches literature. Her novels have sold over 50,000 copies.
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Fiona McIntosh
Fiona writes best selling historical adventure-romance alongside the heroic-romantic, often brutal, fantasy she built her career upon. She lives in Australia but frequently roams the world meticulously researching the locations and gathering material for her historical novels that have international settings. Her books are published worldwide and in various languages.
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Her most recent historical fiction has gathered such a following that she is now hosting a tour in 2014 to Paris and Provence so eager readers can walk in the footsteps of her characters.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. -
Debra Oswald
Debra Oswald is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She is a two-time winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award and author of the novels Useful (2015), The Whole Bright Year (2018) and The Family Doctor (2021). She was creator/head writer of the first five seasons of the successful TV series Offspring.
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Her stage plays have been performed around the world and published by Currency Press. Gary's House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Award. Debra has also written four plays for young audiences—Dags, Skate, Stories in the Dark and House on Fire. She has written three Aussie Bites books and six children's novels, including The Redback Leftovers.
Her television credits include award-winning -
Jackie French
Jackie is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator and the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2014-2015. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors, and writes across all genres - from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction. In her capacity as Australian Children’s Laureate, ‘Share a Story’ will be the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term.
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Jane Caro
Jane Caro wears many hats; including author, lecturer, mentor, social commentator, columnist, workshop facilitator, speaker, broadcaster and award-winning advertising writer. Jane runs her own communications consultancy and lectures in Advertising Creative at The School of Communication Arts at UWS. She has published three books: The Stupid Country: How Australia is dismantling public education co-authored with Chris Bonnor (2007), The F Word. How we learned to swear by feminism co-authored with Catherine Fox (2008), and Just a Girl (UQP, 2011). She has also appeared on Channel 7’s Sunrise, ABC’s Q&A and ABC’s The Gruen Transfer.
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Amanda Hampson
Melbourne-based author, Amanda Hampson has been writing professionally for more than 30 years and is the award-winning author of nine novels: The Olive Sisters, Two for the Road, The French Perfumer, The Yellow Villa, Sixty Summers, Lovebirds, The Tea Ladies, The Cryptic Clue and The Deadly Dispute.
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A runaway bestseller, The Tea Ladies won the 2024 Danger Awards for Best Crime Fiction and was Shortlisted for 2024 Davitt Awards Best Adult Crime & 2024 Ned Kelly Awards Best Fiction.
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Nicole Alexander
Nicole Alexander is the author of eleven novels: The Bark Cutters, A Changing Land, Absolution Creek, Sunset Ridge, The Great Plains, Wild Lands, River Run, An Uncommon Woman, Stone Country, The Cedar Tree and The Last Station.
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The Limestone Road will be published March 2025.
Awards: The Bark Cutters - short-listed for an Australian Book Industry Award.
Non-fiction includes;
Poetry: Divertissements: Love. War. Society. - a Anthologies: Dear Mum / Great Australian Writers
Nicole lives in north-west NSW, Australia -
Fleur McDonald
After growing up on a farm near Orroroo in South Australia, Fleur McDonald’s first job was jillarooing in the outback. She has been involved in agriculture all her life, including helping manage a 8000-acre station for twenty years. Today Fleur and her energetic kelpie, Jack, live in Esperance, Western Australia,
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Fleur is the author of 23 bestselling novels and two children's books.
Fleur chats about her daily writing life on her blog http://fleurmcdonald.com,
Facebook - Fleur McDonald Author
Instagram @fleurmcdonald
Tiktok @fleurmcdonaldauthor -
Fiona McCallum
** Please be aware Fiona is not active on this site. She can be best found on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/fionamccallu... **
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Fiona McCallum spent her childhood years on the family cereal and wool farm outside the small town of Cleve on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
Fiona now lives in Adelaide and works full-time as a novelist. She writes "heart-warming journey of self-discovery stories" - often with a rural setting, sometimes with a romantic thread and sometimes without. Her tales tie together her love of animals and fascination with the journey people go on to find what really makes their heart sing and then follow their true passions to find happiness, even if it means taking risks and facing seemingly impossible obstacles. It -
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Tea Cooper
Tea Cooper writes Australian contemporary and historical fiction. In a past life she was a teacher, a journalist and a farmer. These days she haunts museums and indulges her passion for storytelling.
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Catherine Greer
Hello, I'm Catherine Greer. Thank you for being here, and for taking the time and care to share your thoughts on the books that I write with love and put out into the world. If you're a reader and / or a writer, you'll know that it takes years to write and bring a book into the world -- and our greatest hope is to find readers who enjoy resonate with a story.
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My debut YA novel was sophisticated and felt very Atwood-esque, based on her compelling poem "Siren Song". I'm sorry that I didn't redeem the main character, Annie, who is an unreliable narrator and also a girl living with quite a lot of pain. I love her still, and all she went through in Love, Lie, Repeat.
My new novel is for adult women like me. It's called The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe, -
Victoria Purman
Victoria Purman is an Australian bestselling author.
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If you want to know more about her and her books, visit www.victoriapurman.com or follow her on facebook at Victoria Purman Author or on twitter @VictoriaPurman. -
Esther Campion
Esther Campion is from Cork, Ireland and currently lives in north-west Tasmania. She attended North Presentation Convent in Cork and has degrees from University College Cork and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
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Esther and her Orcadian husband have lived in Ireland, Scotland, Norway and South Australia. They have a grown-up daughter in Adelaide and the two youngest at home in Tassie with an over-indulged chocolate Labrador and two horses, which Esther firmly believes are living proof that dreams really can come true. -
Cassie Hamer
Cassie Hamer has a professional background in journalism and PR, but now much prefers the world of fiction over fact. She has published four novels, which focus on the dark side of suburbia.
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Cassie lives in Sydney with her terrific husband, three, mostly-terrific daughters, and a labradoodle, Charlie, who is the least demanding member of the family. In between making school lunches and walking the dog, Cassie is also working on her next novel but always has time to connect with other passionate readers via her website – CassieHamer.com – or through social media.
You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. -
Sandie Docker
Australian author, Sandie Docker grew up in Coffs Harbour, and first fell in love with reading when her father introduced her to fantasy books as a teenager. Her love of Women’s Fiction began when she first read Jane Austen for the HSC, but it wasn’t until she was taking a translation course at university that her Mandarin lecturer suggested she might have a knack for writing – a seed of an idea that sat quietly in the back of her mind while she lived overseas and travelled the world.
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Now back in Sydney, Sandie writes about love, loss, family and small country towns. Sandie is also the founder and director of The Northern Beaches Readers Festival.
(head shot photo credit @ainsliecophotography) -
Minnie Darke
Minnie Darke writes smart, contemporary stories about love ... of all kinds.
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Her first novel Starcrossed - about a journalist who manipulates an astrology column for her own romantic ends - was published in over 25 international territories.
The Lost Love Song - composed in a slightly more melancholy key - tells the story of a haunting melody that finds its way home, all by itself, to the heart of the person who inspired it.
With Love from Wish & Co takes you deep into the world of a professional gift-buyer. It begins on the day Marnie Fairchild is wrapping two gifts: one for her best client's wife, and one for his lover. What could possibly go wrong?
Three Juliets brings together themes of motherhood, daughterhood, love, loss and dressmakin -
Angie Faye Martin
Angie Faye Martin is a writer and editor of Kooma, Kamilaroi and European heritage. With a Bachelor of Public Health from the Queensland University of Technology and a Masters of Anthropology from the Australian National University, Angie spent many years working in policy roles in state and federal government before launching Versed Writings in 2019. Her work has been published in Meanjin, Garland, The Saltbush Review and The Rocks Remain. She is a member of the First Nations Australia Writers Network and accredited with the Institute of Professional Editors. Melaleuca is her debut novel.
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Madeleine Cleary
Madeleine's debut novel, The Butterfly Women (29 April 2025, Affirm Press), inspired by her family history, was chosen as Dymocks Fiction Book of the Month. Her writing was shortlisted for The Australian Fiction Prize in 2024. She holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne and an associated honours degree from RMIT University. Oblivious to her history, Madeleine completed her studies a block from her family’s brothel in Juliet Terrace, which inspired her debut novel. Madeleine served as an Australian diplomat in China. Before joining the public service, Madeleine spent five years working in bookshops, where she met her husband. Madeleine is from Naarm/Melbourne and lives at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges.
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Catherine Greer
Hello, I'm Catherine Greer. Thank you for being here, and for taking the time and care to share your thoughts on the books that I write with love and put out into the world. If you're a reader and / or a writer, you'll know that it takes years to write and bring a book into the world -- and our greatest hope is to find readers who enjoy resonate with a story.
Buy books on Amazon
My debut YA novel was sophisticated and felt very Atwood-esque, based on her compelling poem "Siren Song". I'm sorry that I didn't redeem the main character, Annie, who is an unreliable narrator and also a girl living with quite a lot of pain. I love her still, and all she went through in Love, Lie, Repeat.
My new novel is for adult women like me. It's called The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe, -
Kayte Nunn
Kayte is the author of seven novels, including the international bestsellers The Botanist's Daughter, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant, The Silk House and The Last Reunion.
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The Botanist's Daughter was awarded the 2020 Winston Graham Historical Fiction Prize, and was selected as the National English Honour Society's Common Reader for 2023/4..
Her books have been described as, 'sensitive, atmospheric and often heartbreaking' (Who Weekly), offering 'compelling storytelling' (Australian Women's Weekly), and 'deliciously immersive' (The Daily Telegraph).
Kayte's novels are available worldwide in English, and have been translated into ten languages.
Born in Singapore, raised in the US and the UK, she now lives in Northern NSW, Australia. -
Christine Courtenay
Christine Courtenay (nee Gee) was born in north-eastern Victoria in 1954 and grew up on a cattle property before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University. In 1975 she co-founded Australian Himalayan Expeditions, which offered trekking trips to the Himalayas, and became a world leader in adventure travel. In 1989 she created her own marketing company and was engaged by several pioneering tourism projects. She also worked alongside acclaimed authors, world-renowned mountaineers and polar explorers. Christine served as the Nepalese honorary consul-general in NSW from 1987, and as Nepal attaché during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and was a founding director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation. She was awar
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Tricia Stringer
Tricia Stringer is a bestselling and award-winning author. Among others, her books include commercial fiction titles Table For Eight, The Model Wife and The Family Inheritance, the rural romances A Chance of Stormy Weather and Come Rain or Shine and historical sagas Heart of the Country, Dust on the Horizon and Jewel in the North, set in the 19th Century Flinders Ranges. Tricia lives in the beautiful Copper Coast region of South Australia, often exploring Australia's diverse communities and landscapes, and shares this passion for the country and its people through her authentic stories and their vivid characters.
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For behind the scenes info and special giveaways, sign up to Tricia's newsletter at http://www.triciastringer.com
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Shirley Barrett
Shirley Barrett is best known for her work as a screenwriter and director. Shirley's first film, Love Serenade won the Camera D'Or (Best First Feature) at Cannes Film Festival in 1996. The script for her film South Solitary won the Queensland Premier's Prize (script) 2010, the West Australian Premier's Literary Prize (script) 2010, and the West Australian Premier's Prize 2010. Rush Oh! is Shirley's first novel. She lives in Sydney, Australia.
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Saman Shad
I am a writer, journalist, editor and playwright and have been involved with storytelling for a number of years now.
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My debut novel, The Matchmaker was released in January 2023. In addition to this, I am working on a number of projects across the page, screen and stage including The Disposables on ABC Me and The Marriage Agency that premiered at the Kings Cross Theatre at the end of 2022.
I was a scriptwriter for a BBC radio series Silver street for five years. I also had an afternoon play on BBC Radio.
Upon moving to Australia I created a few radio programs for the ABC and established my career as a journalist.
I am a regular writer for several publications including the Guardian, SMH, news.com.au and SBS, where I have recently completed -
Melissa Ashley
Melissa Ashley is a writer, poet, birder and academic who tutors in poetry and creative writing at the University of Queensland. She has published a collection of poems, The Hospital for Dolls, short stories, essays and articles.
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What started out as research for a PhD dissertation on Elizabeth Gould became a labour of love and her first novel, The Birdman’s Wife. Inspired by her heroine, she studied taxidermy as a volunteer at the Queensland Museum.
Melissa was born in New Zealand and moved to Queensland at the age of eight; she lives in Brisbane with her two children. -
Sophie Green
Sophie Green is an author and publisher who lives in Sydney. In her spare time she writes about country music on her website, Sunburnt Country Music.
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Sophie's debut novel, THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB, was a Top Ten bestseller and was shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards for General Fiction Book of the Year 2018, and longlisted for both the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year 2018 and the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2018.
Sophie Green is internationally published and THE SHELLY BAY LADIES SWIMMING CIRCLE, THURSDAYS AT ORANGE BLOSSOM HOUSE, THE BELLBIRD RIVER COUNTRY CHOIR and WEEKENDS WITH THE SUNSHINE GARDENING SOCIETY were also Top Ten bestsellers. -
Gail Holmes
Gail Holmes grew up in Scotland, the youngest of seven children and the only girl. She graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering and a Master of Business Administration. She moved to London to join an international energy company and had an international career there for twenty-three years as a project manager and commercial manager. During this time Gail also married and had five children. She moved to Australia in 2013. Her creative writing journey began when she was a working mum with very young children in Shanghai, China. Unable to get back to sleep one night, Gail started writing short stories about living in Shanghai. As this writing habit continued to grow, she attended short courses at the
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Tess Woods
Visit www.tesswoods.com.au
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Facebook and Instagram - look for Tess Woods Author
Email Tess at tess@tesswoods.com.au -
Meredith Jaffe
Meredith Jaffé is the author of four novels for adults— The Tricky Art of Forgiveness (2022), The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison (2021), The Making of Christina (2017) and The Fence (2016.) Her bestselling novel, The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison, was voted in the 2021 Booktopia Favourite Australian Book Award Top 50 and the 2022 Better Reading Top 100. She also writes for children.
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She is the former Festival Director of StoryFest, held on the NSW South Coast, and regularly facilitates at other writers’ festivals, literary lunches and author events. In a previous life, she wrote the weekly literary column for the online women’s magazine The Hoopla. Her reviews, author interviews, feature articles and opinion pieces have appeared in -
Amanda Hampson
Melbourne-based author, Amanda Hampson has been writing professionally for more than 30 years and is the award-winning author of nine novels: The Olive Sisters, Two for the Road, The French Perfumer, The Yellow Villa, Sixty Summers, Lovebirds, The Tea Ladies, The Cryptic Clue and The Deadly Dispute.
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A runaway bestseller, The Tea Ladies won the 2024 Danger Awards for Best Crime Fiction and was Shortlisted for 2024 Davitt Awards Best Adult Crime & 2024 Ned Kelly Awards Best Fiction.
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Kyra Geddes
Born in Adelaide, with German-Italian heritage, Kyra Geddes spent her infancy on the South Australian opal fields before moving to Sydney. Following a successful career in marketing, Kyra returned to university to study English and pursue her life-long dream of writing, earning the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Academic Excellence. THE STORY THIEF is her debut novel and the culmination of almost a decade of research and writing. When not at her desk, Kyra can often be found visiting one of Sydney's many art galleries or daydreaming about future travel with her husband and two children.
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Deborah Challinor
Born in Huntly, she holds a PhD in New Zealand history from the University of Waikato. Challinor has worked as a fulltime writer and historian since 2000.
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Primarily known for her historical novels, Deborah Challinor’s first published books were non-fiction history books, including the best-selling Grey Ghosts: New Zealand Vietnam Vets Talk About Their War (Hodder Moa Beckett, 1998).
Her first historical novel, Tamar, was published in 2002 and has been reprinted six times. Tamar is set in Auckland, Hawke’s Bay and South Africa and covers the period from 1879 until the Boer War. The series continues with White Feathers (2003) and Blue Smoke (2004).
Union Belle (2005) tells the love story of a young woman caught up in the 1951 waterfront strike, -
Kate Horan
Author | Domestic Suspense
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I write stories about complicated families with dark secrets. -
Pat Backley
Pat Backley is English, but decided to become a Kiwi when she was 59. She now lives in Auckland New Zealand.
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She wrote and published her first book just before her 70th birthday and having discovered her passion, she now intends to write till she dies! -
Susan Duncan
Susan Elizabeth Duncan was an Australian author, journalist and editor of The Australian Women's Weekly and New Idea.
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Darry Fraser
Hello, and thank you for visiting. I live and work in South Australia on an island not unlike the fictional but very beautiful Australis Island (which is featured in some of my earlier stories).
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Part of my writing journey is from places I've lived - Central Australia to Australis Island (AKA Kangaroo Island) and from places I haven't lived, but have been fascinated by, historical Australia on the mighty River Murray in the 19th century.
I'm delighted to have you with me. -
Peta Miller
Peta Miller has been in the book trade for over twenty years, in both publishing and retail. When not writing, she works part-time at Berkelouw Books in Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast.
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In November 2018, Peta received the Charlotte Waring Barton Award for her unpublished manuscript, "Sing Us Home", the prize being a mentorship with a HarperCollins author. After development, this manuscript has become The Ship's Midwife which is her debut novel. -
Belinda Alexandra
Belinda Alexandra has been published to wide acclaim in Australia and internationally. She is the daughter of a Russian mother and an Australian father and has been an intrepid traveller since her youth. Her love of other cultures is matched by her passion for her home country, Australia, where she is a volunteer carer for the NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES).
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Belinda is also an ambassador for the World League for the Protection of Animals (Australia) and lives in Sydney with a menagerie of adored pets.
Join Belinda's community of readers at facebook.com/BelindaAlexandraAuthor -
Helene Hanff
Helene Hanff (April 15, 1916–April 9, 1997) was an American writer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is best known as the author of the book 84 Charing Cross Road, which became the basis for a play, teleplay, and film of the same name.
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Her career, which saw her move from writing unproduced plays to helping create some of the earliest television dramas to becoming a kind of professional New Yorker, goes far beyond the charm of that one book. She called her 1961 memoir Underfoot in Show Business, and it chronicled the struggle of an ambitious young playwright to make it in the world of New York theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. She worked in publicists' offices and spent summers on the "straw hat" circuit along the East Coast of the Unite -
Margot Shepherd
Margot Shepherd is a British author who was born in Yorkshire where she spent her childhood. She now lives in rural Sussex with her husband and Springer Spaniel, Genni. When she’s not writing she works in medical research at the University of Surrey. She writes about family relationships with a particular emphasis on women and science from a female point of view.
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Ethel Turner
Born in England in 1870, Ethel Turner came to Australia with her mother and sisters when she was 10 years old. She showed a great love of literature while at school and in her late teens launched a literary and social magazine in Sydney with her sister Lilian Turner. Ethel kept diaries for a remarkable 62 years, recording the details of her full and eventful life. In January 1893 she recorded in her diary, "Night started a new story that I shall call Seven Little Australians." Later that year, she finished the book, parcelled it up and sent it off to a publisher in Melbourne. Since then the book has sold over 2 million copies in the English language and has been reprinted over 50 times. It has been translated into at least 11 languages, per
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Kathy George
Kathy George is an award-winning writer of short stories and fiction. She is the author of "Sargasso", "Estella" and "The Scent of Oranges". Kathy lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her family.
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Rod Stewart
In the Sixties and Seventies, Rod Stewart was a jet-setting bon vivant and blond sex symbol with a grizzled-yet-buoyant voice. He tasted fame with Jeff Beck Group and then the Faces, but Stewart's most significant commercial success came as a solo artist. After garnering initial critical acclaim for his unerring choice of cover material, Stewart in the late Seventies began to lean toward self-mocking (or just plain cheesy) material. Although he didn't exactly maintain exacting quality control, Stewart's self-mocking charm and seemingly effortless singing have consistently kept him popular.
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The son of a Scottish shopkeeper, Stewart was born and raised in London. After a short stint as an apprentice to a pro soccer team, he joined a series of -
Marion Lennox
Writing romance sounds fascinating. Huh?
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I'm a writer. I'm boring. Day after day I sit behind a word processor making up people in my head. Why do I do it? I love it. My husband, Dave, gets up in the morning, puts on a suit and heads out into the ice and cold of Ballarat's winter. (Sadly I live in one of the tiny parts of Australia that qualifies as cold.) I make myself another cup of coffee, head up to my study, choose what music I want and sit and daydream. And I get paid for doing it. Hooray!
My first attempt at writing romance, 'Dare To Love Again', a Medical Romance, was published by Harlequin Mills and Boon in 1990. It still stands today as a monument to my family's ability to survive on cheese sandwiches and spaghetti.
Since then I've w -
Helen Signy
I'm an Australian writer who grew up in England – or, depending how I feel that day, an English writer who lives in Australia. I spent much of my youth travelling the world before becoming a print journalist in Asia and then in Sydney. Most of my writing these days involves science communications for academics, governments and not-for-profits, but I have never lost my passion for telling an amazing story. Maya’s Dance is my first foray into fiction.
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Diane Armstrong
Diane was born in Poland and arrived in Australia in 1948.
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At the age of seven she decided to become a writer. Her first article, about teaching at a Blackboard Jungle school in London, was published in The Australian Women's Weekly in 1965. Diane subsequently became a freelance journalist, and over three thousand of her investigative articles, personal experience stories, profiles and travel stories have been published in newspapers and magazines such as Readers Digest, Vogue, The Bulletin, Harper's Bazaar, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend, and The Age. Her articles have also appeared in major publications in the UK, Canada, Poland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Holland and South Africa.
Over the years she has received numerous -
Emma Pei Yin
Emma Pei Yin is an Australian-Chinese writer and editor. Her debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake, has been published globally, translated into multiple languages and was longlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize (2025).
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She is also the founder of yinfluence editorial, an agency that works with PoC, queer and neurodivergent writers, connecting them with editors and mentors who understand the stakes of telling stories from the margins.
She has been featured in The Canberra Times, The Australian, Mekong Review, Being Asian Australian, The Hong Kong Review, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar & more.
Emma is working on her second novel with her extremely barky dachshund, lady, by her side. -
Alexandra Almond
Alexandra writes mostly cosy fantasy, with a bit of contemporary romance on the side. Her debut novel THOROUGHLY DISENCHANTED won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel 2024.
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She lives and works on Bunurong land in Melbourne (Naarm) with her tennis-ball obsessed Labrador, Captain. Before turning her hand to writing, previous roles included stablehand, clown, HR assistant, flower buyer, procurement manager, cleaner and human-centred designer, which is her current day job. She might have included footballer on that list if the AFLW had arrived three decades earlier; and if she had any ability. She likes trains, books, dogs and cups of tea. Her favourite colour is green. -
Michelle Upton
Michelle Upton is the author of 'Emergency Exit Only' and 'Terms of Inheritance' published by HarperCollins Australia. She would like to acknowledge the Quandamooka people and the Quandamooka Country on which her novels were written.
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Michelle writes short stories and novels that examine our darkest fears and shine a light on hope and possibility.
Born in Birmingham, England, Michelle emigrated to Australia in 2006 and is now proud to call herself Australian.
Michelle has a Bachelor (Hons) degree in Literature with Psychology, and before having children she was a primary school teacher.
'Terms of Inheritance' was shortlisted for the 2021 Banjo Prize and both of her novels were shortlisted for the Queensland Writers Centre's Adaptable: Turning th -
Jo Dixon
Jo writes stories full of imperfect characters dealing with unsettling situations, and making fatal mistakes. There is intrigue and mystery, the moodiness and underlying threat of the wild environment, and provocative twists and turns.
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Jo lives in rural Tasmania, where she wrangles an ever-growing collection of animals, and is attempting to transform blackberry-infested paddocks into beautiful gardens. She's learned to be somewhat useful at lambing (thank you YouTube), to plant trees, and to grow raspberries and rhubarb. She can also (sometimes) recall the botanical names of perennials and know which ones the wallabies will devour and which ones they ignore. -
Maryrose Cuskelly
Maryrose Cuskelly is a writer of fiction and non-fiction.
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She is the best-selling author of The Cane (Allen & Uwin 2022), shortlisted for best debut in the 2023 Davitt Awards.
In 2019, her book Wedderburn: A True Tale of Blood and Dust (Allen & Unwin, 2018), was longlisted for Best Debut and Best True Crime in the 2019 Davitt Awards.
In 2016, she was awarded the New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing (non-fiction) for her essay on the 1972 abduction and murder of Marilyn Wallman.
She is the author of Original Skin: Exploring the Marvels of the Human Hide (Scribe 2010) and The End of Charity: Time for Social Enterprise (Allen & Unwin 2008) co-written with Nic Frances, and winner of the Iremonger Award for Writing on Public Issues.
Her -
Fiona Schneider
I write epic historical love stories that stir the soul, transporting readers into the secrets and conflicts of World War Two.
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Across dual timelines, each novel unfolds with heart, courage, and emotional depth, creating an immersive journey into the past and a passion that lingers long after the final page.
If you've ever held a treasured object in your hand or stood in a place steeped in history, you'll understand the pull of the past. It's as if voices from long ago whisper through time, their secrets waiting to be uncovered.
As a writer of dual timeline novels, I’m fascinated by the interplay between past and present: how a forgotten item or an old building can open a doorway to another era, connecting lives across time.
Set in Europe, my b -
Lilly Sommers
Kaye Bennett was born on 17 November 1957 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. She spent much of her childhood in New South Wales. She reads a great deal, and although she will read anything - mystery, thrillers and horror - romance is her favorite. She has had a varied career that has included working in the Department of Justice in Brisbane and working as a clerk with the Commonwealth government. To survive a series of mind-numbing jobs, she turned to writing. She then sold a number of short stories to Australian magazines, and when she won a local short story contest, suddenly her name was in the newspaper, and she dreamed of becoming a full-time writer. She has always had an interest in history, and she started writing historical romances a
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Madeleine Cleary
Madeleine's debut novel, The Butterfly Women (29 April 2025, Affirm Press), inspired by her family history, was chosen as Dymocks Fiction Book of the Month. Her writing was shortlisted for The Australian Fiction Prize in 2024. She holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne and an associated honours degree from RMIT University. Oblivious to her history, Madeleine completed her studies a block from her family’s brothel in Juliet Terrace, which inspired her debut novel. Madeleine served as an Australian diplomat in China. Before joining the public service, Madeleine spent five years working in bookshops, where she met her husband. Madeleine is from Naarm/Melbourne and lives at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges.
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Liz Foster
Liz Foster was born and raised in England. She has lived in Sydney since 1991. Following a career in marketing, she began writing creative fiction seven years ago – editing the fifty page Australian Tax Office guide was the tipping point. The Good Woman’s Guide to Making Better Choices is her first novel.
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Liz is passionate about smart and heartfelt book club fiction - creating character driven, page-turning, uplifting stories in quirky Australian settings, with big themes that resonate.
When she’s not writing she’s peppering her family with questions about plot and character scenarios, listening to podcasts, reading out loud and boring the dog senseless. -
Julie Bennett
Julie Bennett fell in love with words at a very young age and soon after leaving school began a career in libraries. In her late twenties she decided to follow her dream to write for a living and, after graduating university, became a journalist. In 2004 she launched a public relations company, which she still manages today. Julie lives with her wonderful husband, Bruce and their gorgeous kelpie cross cattle dog, Riley, within walking distance of the Sydney Opera House where she performed as a child extra back in 1973, the year it opened. 'The Lost Letters of Rose Carey' is Julie’s second novel. Her debut 'The Understudy' was published by Simon & Schuster in 2022.
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Praise for The Understudy
'This piece of Australian historical fiction rings ma -
Ellen Read
Multi Award Winning, multi genre author, Ellen Read, is the author of The Thornton Mysteries – cosy murder mysteries set in Australia. Ellen also writes ghost stories and thrillers. Her latest book is a fantasy, based on the Triple Goddess of Celtic mythology and soon to be published by Serenade Publishing.
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When she’s not writing, she’s reading, painting or taking photographs.
Ellen loves to read fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. She particularly loves history and stories of ancient myths and legends. Authors such as Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart, Robert Graves, Edgar Allan Poe, and Victoria Holt have influenced her work.
www.ellenread.com
https://linktr.ee/ellenreadauthor -
Kim Kelly
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‘Why can’t more people write like this?’ – The Age
‘colourful, evocative and energetic’ – Sydney Morning Herald
Kim Kelly is author thirteen novels. Among them are the bestselling, The Blue Mile, and critically acclaimed, Wild Chicory. Her novella, The Rat Catcher, was longlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize, and her latest, Ladies' Rest and Writing Room, was awarded the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Prize.
Also a well-known book editor, Kim has a Master of Creative Writing from Macquarie University, for which she earned the Fred Rush Convocation Prize for writing. She is currently undertaking a PhD in literature at Macquarie. -
Lenny Bartulin
Lenny Bartulin is the author of Death by the Book aka A Deadly Business (2008). His poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including HEAT, Meanjin, and New Australian Stories. His latest novel is The Black Russian.
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Lenny Bartulin was born in Hobart in 1969 and lives in Sydney. -
Michael Veitch
Michael Veitch spent much of his youth writing and performing in television sketch comedy programs, before freelancing as a columnist and arts reviewer for newspapers and magazines. For four years he presented Sunday Arts, the national arts show on ABC television, and produced two books indulging his life-long interest in the aircraft of the Second World War, Flak and Fly. He lives in Hobart, where he presents ABC radio.
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Books:
Hailing from a family of journalists, Veitch wrote Flak – True stories from the men who flew in World War II published in 2006 by Pan Macmillan and later, Fly: True stories of courage and adventure from the airmen of World War II published by Penguin Australia in August 2008. A third book, The Forgotten Islands, explor -
Sonya Heaney
Sonya Heaney began her professional life aged eight, as the Changeling in Queensland Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After many more years of hard work, even more blisters, and plenty of pretty tutus, one too many injuries forced her out of her pointe shoes.
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Between then and now she has worked in a posh Dublin hotel (that didn’t last long), pulled pints in London pubs (that lasted years), taught English in Korea (her apartment was broken into and her computer was stolen – along with many half-finished manuscripts), and worked on costumes backstage in various theatres (it was always chaos).
Sonya holds a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing, and spent years putting it to use in nonfiction fields before turning her hand to romance.
After -
Lynne Stringer
Lynne Stringer has been passionate about writing all her life, beginning with short stories in her primary school days. She began writing professionally as a journalist and was the editor of a small newspaper (later magazine) for seven years, before turning her hand to screenplay writing and novels. Lynne currently works as a professional editor and proofreader. She lives in Australia with her family.
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Meg Keneally
Meg Keneally started her working life as a junior public affairs officer at the Australian Consulate-General in New York, before moving to Dublin to work as a sub-editor and freelance features writer. On returning to Australia, she joined the Daily Telegraph as a general news reporter, covering everything from courts to crime to animals' birthday parties at the zoo. She then joined Radio 2UE as a talkback radio producer.
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In 1997 Meg co-founded a financial service public relations company, which she sold after having her first child. For more than ten years, Margaret has worked in corporate affairs for listed financial services companies, and doubles as a part-time SCUBA diving instructor. She lives in Sydney with her husband Craig and child -
C.A. Wright
C.A. (Claire) Wright is a fantasy author from Newcastle, Australia.
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Her debut novel Skysong was shortlisted for the 2024 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel and named in Audible Australia’s Best of 2024 Sci-Fi & Fantasy audiobooks.
When she’s not writing, reading or working as a freelance editor, she can be found spending time with her husband, baking, birdwatching, and eating/drinking delicious things. -
Cassandra Pybus
Cassandra Pybus is ARC Professorial Fellow in the School of History and Classics at the University of Tasmania. She is the author of many books including Community of Thieves and The Devil and James McAuley, winner of the 2000 Adelaide Festival Award for non-fiction.
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Gayle Kennedy
Gayle Kennedy is from the NSW Ngiyaampaa nation. Her poetry collection Koori Girl Goes Shoppin’ was shortlisted in 2005 for the David Unaipon Award, and she won the award in 2006 with Me, Antman & Fleabag. She’s published eleven children’s books and articles and poems in national and international publications.
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