2026 Keynote – Chris Hammer
Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, author of the internationally bestselling Martin Scarsden series: Scrublands, Silver, Trust and Legacy. Chris has also written two non-fiction books The River (2010) – winner of the ACT Book of the Year – and The Coast (2012).
Scrublands was an instant bestseller upon publication in 2018, topping the Australian fiction charts.In the UK it was named the Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2019 and won the prestigious UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award.
Chris’s books are well known for their atmospheric Australian settings, a range of colourful characters, intricate plots, descriptive language and emotional depth.
His upcoming book Full Circle is his first stand-alone thriller, releasing in September later this year.
Aaron Lamb
Aaron Lamb, a storyteller from childhood, hails from the gritty terraces of an industrial town in South East England. His adventurous spirit has led him to trek the wilderness of Norway and Finland, live in eastern Cambodia, run ultra-marathons and host a cabaret show in London’s West End.
He has self-published 5 novels with his latest book Cults, Coffee and Close Encounters outsold George Orwell and Margaret Atwood for 24 hours on Amazon earlier this year, launching him into rare and elite company.
He has lived in the hills for 13 years with his partner and two sons and can be found writing his sixth book at the Patch General store.
Andra/Destiny Davin
Andra/Destiny Davin has a split author personality and writes under two names. She is a sensualist and a romantic who loves creating sinfully sexy heroes for heroines who often veer from the mainstream in their desires.
When not arm-wrestling her Muse over plot lines, or who gets to wear the stilettos, they can both be found working on the latest slow stitching embroidery project. They see this as a lot like writing – you start with something that’s only a rough idea and watch it grow until, hopefully, it’s something fabulous.
Andra/Destiny lives in Melbourne with her awesome new husband and hopes her adult children aren’t too traumatized by having a mother who writes smutty stories.
Anne Freeman
Anne Freeman writes contemporary fiction about women stuck in life and the extraordinary ways they shake themselves loose. Her stories are engaging, and sometimes funny, with thrilling adventures, sexy escapades and friendships that uplift.
Anne is the author of three novels. Her latest, The Time After Now, will be released by Hawkeye Publishing in August 2026. It is an Own Voices portrayal of disability examining the ripple effects of decisions made in our youth.
Her novels and short stories have been recognised in many literary competitions, including the Boroondara Open Short Story Competition (First Place), the Romance Writers of Australia Valerie Parv Award, the Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize, the Grindstone Literary International Novel Prize, the Queensland Writers’ Centre Adaptable Program, the CYA Writers & Illustrators Competition, and the Somerset Book Awards for Literary & Contemporary Fiction.
Anne is an experienced MC and facilitator who has hosted numerous book launches, author conversations and panel discussions. She has also presented writing workshops extensively, including for the Queensland Writers’ Centre and Writers Victoria.
Bilvy J Lee
Bilvy J Lee is an Australian artist and author in his 30s.
His freelance work centres around emote art, character illustrations and 2D vtubers. In his free time he writes and creates his own webnovels and webcomics, and has an online store where he sells his own art and merchandise. Their non-monetised hobbies include crochet, cross stitching, nail art (polygel and gel), and polymer clay sculpting.
Bilvy loves bright colours, bold lineart, smooth gradients, and stories hinged upon their characters. His favourite genres are romance, thriller, and horror, often those in a historical or pre-modern setting.
Charisse Ede
Charisse Ede has more than 30 years’ experience as a journalist and communications
strategist. She has covered major national and international stories in Australia and the
UK across politics, crime, entertainment and sport, including Olympic and Commonwealth games.
Charisse has a Masters in Writing and Literature and now
shares her expertise as a strategic communications manager.
Claire Thomas
Claire Thomas is a writer from Naarm/Melbourne.
Her first novel was Fugitive Blue, which won the Dobbie Literary Award for women writers, and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her second novel, The Performance, also longlisted for the Miles Franklin, was internationally published to critical acclaim, and shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in 2022.
Claire holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne and has worked as a mentor, lecturer, supervisor and teacher for many years.
On Not Climbing Mountains was written with the support of residency at the Foundation Jan Michalski in Montricher, Switzerland. It was recently shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards 2026 in the Fiction Book Award category.
Declan Fry
Declan Fry (he/him) is a writer, essayist, and poet. Born on Wongatha country in Kalgoorlie, Declan Fry has written for The Guardian, Saturday Paper, Overland, Australian Book Review, Liminal, Sydney Review of Books, Cordite, Kill Your Darlings, Westerly and elsewhere.
His Meanjin essay ‘Justice for Elijah or a Spiritual Dialogue with Ziggy Ramo, Dancing’ received the 2021 Peter Blazey Fellowship. He has been shortlisted for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize and the Pascall Prize in criticism. His latest work appears in Another Australia (Affirm) and in The Cambridge Companion to the Australian Novel.
He lives on unceded Wurundjeri country with his partner and their cat, Turnip.
Donna Urquhart
Donna Urquhart is a passionate runner who had a lifelong dream to take on an extraordinary adventure. She began running seriously in her thirties, after becoming a mum, and has since completed over 50 ultramarathons, including representing Australia at World and Asia championships and conquering gruelling events like the 240-kilometre Coast to Kosciuszko ultramarathon.
Donna is also an associate professor at Monash University and a pain scientist with over two decades of experience as a researcher and physiotherapist. She is fascinated by pain-how it works and how we can effectively manage it.
Fleur Blüm
Fleur Blüm, a Melbourne-based writer, performer, and musician, crafts fiction with a romantic twist, infused with feminist themes. Balancing light and dark, she adds humour to narratives exploring topics like abusive relationships.
Fleur’s first novel, Sophie’s Path, a branching narrative romance novel, was published in 2018. Fleur has published 11 novels, three poetry collections, and has appeared in several anthologies and collections. Her new novel, Burning For You, the third in a series of queer paranormal romances, is due to be released in November 2026.
Garth Nix
Garth Nix OAM has been a full-time writer since 2001, but has also worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve.
Garth’s books include the Old Kingdom fantasy series; SF novels Shade’s Children and A Confusion of Princes; the Angel Mage fantasy novels; and a Regency romantasy, Newt’s Emerald. He has also written several novels for children including the Keys to the Kingdom series. He is also the author of more than sixty published short stories. More than seven million copies of Garth’s books have been sold around the world, they have appeared on multiple international bestseller lists and his work has been translated into 42 languages. His upcoming book Massif is his first foray into adult science fiction with a brilliant and poignant stand-alone story. Massif releases in September 2026.
He has won multiple Aurealis Awards, the ABIA Award, Ditmar Award, the Mythopoeic Award, CBCA Honour Book, and has been shortlisted for the Lodestar Award, the Locus Awards, the Shirley Jackson Award and others. In 2025, Garth was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for ‘services to literature’.
(Photo credit: Wendy McDougall)
George Ivanoff
George Ivanoff is a Melbourne author who’s written more than 100 books for kids and teens, including Monster Island, the interactive You Choose series, the RFDS Adventures, the OTHER WORLDS series, the Gamers trilogy, and the non-fiction Survival Guides; as well as a ton of school readers and educational books.
George’s books and stories have been shortlisted for numerous awards and he’s even won a few of them.
George drinks too much coffee, eats too much chocolate and watches too much Doctor Who. He has one wife, two children and an uncontrollable imagination.
Ilsa Evans
Ilsa Evans is an Australian author who lives in a partially-renovated house in the
Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, along with assorted pets and an ever-expanding
colony of uninvited possums.
As well as social commentary, particularly on gender issues, Ilsa has published sixteen books that range from memoir and light fiction to more serious subject matter such as euthanasia and family break-ups. Her last book (released in March 2023) is Family Baggage. Two earlier novels,
Broken and Sticks & Stones, tell the story of an abused woman and are largely
based on the findings of a PhD on the long-term effects of domestic violence.
There’s also ‘The Nell Forrest Murders’ series, set in the fictional county town of
Majic and detailing the exploits of a rather reluctant, and slightly inept, sleuth.
Jaclyn Crupi
Jaclyn Crupi is a book editor, author, event moderator, awards judge and bookseller. She is the Fiction Editor at News & Reviews and the curator of the event series Body of Work and Eat the Book. Jaclyn has worked in publishing and bookselling since 2002. She has a Bachelor of Arts (English and Cinema Studies) from Melbourne University and a Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing from RMIT.
Jaclyn has written numerous books for both children and adults. Her book, Garden Like a Nonno, was shortlisted for an Indie Book Award and longlisted for an Australian Book Industry Award. Jaclyn’s latest book, Planting for Native Birds, Bees and Butterflies, was shortlisted for an Indie Book Award and an ABIA. Her most recent children’s book, The ABC Kids Guide to Loving the Planet, won the Environment Award for Children’s Literature. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, SBS Voices, The Canberra Times, PIP Magazine and Frankie, as well as the anthology Family.
Jane Rawson
Jane Rawson is the author of essay collection Human/Nature: On life in a wild world, novels A history of dreams, From the wreck and A wrong turn at the Office of Unmade Lists, a novella, Formaldehyde, and the non-fiction book The Handbook: surviving & living with climate change.
You can read her essays in Living with the Anthropocene; Fire, Flood, Plague; and Reading like an Australian Writer.
She is the Managing Editor at Island magazine and co-edited Breathing space, a collection of reflections and projections on nature in Tasmania.
Karen Comer
Karen Comer is an author, freelance editor and speaker. She teaches a ten-month online writing course and offers mentoring and editing to writers at all stages of their career. She has worked in educational publishing and was the editor for children’s art magazine BIG.
Karen’s latest book is Once Upon Tomorrow, published by Hachette in April 2026. A YA verse novel, it focuses on the future, libraries, climate change, fairytales and family.
Her young adult verse novel, Grace Notes won the CBCA’S Book of the Year for Older Readers 2024 and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adults and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Ethel Turner’s Prize for Young People’s Literature 2024. Her middle-grade verse novel, Sunshine on Vinegar Street won the Queensland Literary Awards for the Children’s Book Award 2024 and was a CBCA notable for Younger Readers.
Karen hopes to introduce more readers to the lyrical wonders of verse novels.
Kate Mildenhall
Kate Mildenhall is the author of three novels – SKYLARKING (2016), THE MOTHER FAULT (2020) and THE HUMMINGBIRD EFFECT (2023). THE HUMMINGBIRD EFFECT was longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize and shortlisted for the 2024 ABIA literary Fiction Book of the year. In 2024 she released her first children’s book TO STIR WITH LOVE illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, shortlisted for the 2025 Indie Book Awards and the 2025 ABIA Children’s Book of the Year and Notable in the CBCA Book Awards for Early Readers.
For the past six years she has co-hosted The First Time podcast interviewing hundreds of writers including Tim Winton, Helen Garner, Richard Flanagan, George Saunders & Charlotte Wood.
Her fourth novel – THE HIDING PLACE – was published in October 2025.
Kate lives on Wurundjeri lands in Hurstbridge with her partner and two children.
Kelly Lefevre
Kelly Lefevre has written, script produced, and script edited over six-hundred and fifty hours of television and feature films.
A multiple award winner and nominee, In 2014 Kelly was awarded the Foxtel Fellowship in Recognition of an Outstanding and Significant Body of Work.
Kelly Co-Created two seasons of the SBS series The Circuit – winner of 2 Chicago Film Festival HUGO Awards for Best Mini Series, and the Human Rights Reconciliation Award. Her credits include The Code, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Mr. and Mrs. Murder, City Homicide, The Black Balloon, Prisoner, The Merger, and Under The Vines. She is often quite tired.
Kerryn Mayne
Kerryn Mayne is an author, former wedding photographer and current police officer. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she is writing about it or preparing an endless stream of snacks for her children. Kerryn lives in the Melbourne suburbs with her husband, four children and a highly suspect lovebird. She only owns 12 copies of The Hobbit (for now).
Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is her debut novel, released in February 2023. Lenny Marks was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly debut crime award, Indie Booksellers Award, International Thriller Writers 2024 Best New Novel award and an ABIA award for Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year 2024. Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder won the debut fiction award at the 2024 BAD Crime Sydney awards.
Joy Moody Is Out Of Time is her second novel and was released with Penguin Random House Australia in February 2024.
Kerryn is still in disbelief that she is a real life, actual, published author.
Kirstie Bedford
Kirstie Bedford is an award-winning travel writer, editor, crime fiction writer and podcaster with three decades of experience in the media industry.
She is a trained journalist who is Editor, Luxury at Karryon; podcast host of The World Awaits, and a freelance travel writer.
Her debut psychological suspense, White Lies, will be published by UK publisher Bloodhound Books as part of a two-book deal in mid-2027.
Kirsty Manning
Kirsty Manning grew up in northern New South Wales. She has degrees in literature and communications and worked as an editor and publishing manager in book publishing for over a decade.
A country girl with wanderlust, her travels and studies have taken her through most of Europe, the east and west coasts of the United States and pockets of Asia. Kirsty’s journalism specialising in lifestyle and travel regularly appear in magazines, newspapers and online.
Kylie Ladd
Kylie Ladd is a novelist, psychologist and freelance writer.
Her seven novels have been published in Australia and overseas. She has also co-edited and co-authored two non-fiction books, and her essays and articles have been published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Griffith Review, Meanjin, O Magazine, Good Medicine, Kill Your Darlings and Reader’s Digest, amongst others.
Kylie holds a PhD in neuropsychology and lives in Melbourne with her husband and two children.
Kylie Orr
Kylie Orr (she/her) writes dark, twisty contemporary fiction that uncovers the hidden lives of everyday people. She holds an Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing. As a proud nerd, she was awarded a place on RMIT’s Vice-Chancellor’s List for Academic Excellence in 2025 and was in the top 2% of graduates. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from a time when essays were typed, not Googled.
Her debut novel, Someone Else’s Child, was longlisted for the Richell Prize and published by HarperCollins (2022), while her second, The Eleventh Floor (2024), was an Apple Books “Must Read” and The Age Book of the Week.
A manuscript appraiser for the Australian Society of Authors and a sought-after panel speaker, Kylie also writes feature articles, short fiction, and children’s books and loves exploring themes that resonate deeply with women.
She lives in Melbourne with her four children and just the one husband who all (barely) tolerate her daily rants about the patriarchy.
Marian Spires
Marian Spires is a poet, writer and teacher whose award-winning work engages with the internal landscapes of personal and cultural myths.
She has performed her poetry on radio, television, at festivals and poetry events, and her work has been published widely. Major works include her poetry collections red angels rising (Woorilla Press) and Knowing Vincent (Picaro Press).
Marian has taught ekphrastic poetry across the country to writers of all ages.
Rose Michael
Author of The Asking Game and The Art of Navigation, Rose Michael has also been a commissioning editor at a trade publisher and founded her own micropress, Arcade Publications.
She has published spec fic in Island, Griffith Review, Best Australian Stories and spec crit in The Conversation, TEXT and Sydney Review of Books.
Experiments towards her new novel, Else, appear in Meanjin and Science Write Now, as well as international journals Antipodes and Speculative Nonfiction.
Sally Hepworth
Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, most recently Mad Mabel. Sally’s novels have been called “darkly charming” and praised by authors Emily Giffin and Liane Moriarty as “totally absorbing” and “fiction at its finest.”
Sally’s novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into over 30 languages.
Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her family.
(Photo credit: Mrs Smart Photography)
Sandra Carmel
Sandra Carmel is an Australian author of racy, flirty and downright dirty romance novels, novellas, short stories and poetry, who enjoys stimulating herself and others with words.
So far, she has taken the scenic route from steamy paranormal to contemporary to romantic suspense, creating provocative stories that delve beneath the surface of desire.
Sarah Bailey
Sarah Bailey is a Melbourne-based writer with a background in advertising and communications.
Sarah’s internationally award-winning Gemma Woodstock series includes The Dark Lake, published in 2017 and winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and the Davitt Award for Best Debut, followed by Into the Night in 2018, Where the Dead Go in 2019, and Body of Lies in 2024. Sarah has also published the bestselling The Housemate and Audible original Final Act in 2021. Click, the second book featuring journalist Oli Groves, was published in 2026.
Sarah has three sons and is the founder of social media brand and podcast, He Read, She Read®.
Sarah Lemcke
Sarah Lemke is a little bit book obsessed. She reads voraciously, writes veraciously, and vigorously pursued her dreams to work in publishing as a freelance editor where her vigilance and vision helps lead her authors to victory. She writes smut, and stories for little ones (under very different pen names!!!)
Shaun Grant
Shaun Grant is a critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning screenwriter whose work has premiered at the world’s most prestigious film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance.
In 2025, Shaun was the co-creator and sole writer of the Amazon Prime limited series, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The series went on to be nominated for a Golden Globe, an Australian Writer’s Guild award, and twelve Australian Academy Award Awards (AACTA), going on to win nine.
Shaun has written six feature films, including such titles as; Snowtown, True History of The Kelly Gang and Nitram.
Tadji Ulrich
Tadji Ulrich is a multi-award-winning writer and director based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
His stories blend genre elements with traditional drama, crafting experiential films that offer a unique lens through which to interrogate the intricacies of love, loss and healing.
His 2025 short film, ‘The Wake,’ won the Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year at the 2025 edition of the Byron Bay International Film Festival. His previous projects have won top prize at the youth section of Tropfest and the inaugural Emerging Filmmaker Award from North Bellarine Film Festival.
Tadji currently works as an Executive Assistant to Tony Ayres.
Tiriki Onus
Tiriki Onus is a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung artist, academic, and filmmaker serving as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) at the University of Melbourne, where they also lead the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development and co-direct the Research Unit in Indigenous Arts and Culture. A multidisciplinary practitioner, their work spans visual arts, curatorship, performance, and opera.
In 2014, they were awarded the inaugural Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship, supporting their work with communities to revitalise biganga (possum skin cloak) technologies. They co-directed the acclaimed documentary Ablaze (2021), which uncovers a historic film by their grandfather, Aboriginal rights leader William ‘Bill’ Onus. Their creative and research practice continues this legacy, including the installation Thrivance: Then, Now, Next (2025). Their PhD, Biganga – Mapping Paths Back to Knowing, was awarded in early 2025.
Tiriki’s work continues to foster innovation in research, development, advocacy, representation and inclusion of Indigenous arts, cultural practices and practitioners.
Vikki Petraitis
Ever since she was a small child, Vikki Petraitis dreamed of being a writer. One of her favourite things is when people tell her how her books have changed their life or influenced their career choice. There’s more than one cop, forensic psychologist, podcaster, or investigator whose journey began with opening one of Vikki’s books.
Vikki’s first book was The Phillip Island Murder, published in 1993. Coming full circle, she is working on a podcast with Casefile about this case, hoping to lay the mystery to rest after all these years.
In 2019, Vikki celebrated a milestone with her book, Inside the Law: 25 years of true crime writing. The book details her origin story and her journey as a crime writer. The book, full of true crime stories from the course of her career, gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into what motivates her and how each story connects.
Zeno Sworder
Zeno Sworder is an award-winning writer, artist and children’s book maker living in Melbourne, Australia. He is the creator of This Small Blue Dot and My Strange Shrinking Parents.
His latest book Once I Was a Giant was the 2026 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year. It was also named the Australian Book Industry’s Book of the Year and won the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature.
He has worked as a window washer, journalist, English language teacher, consular officer, tribunal advocate for refugees and immigrants and a jewellery designer. But he’s most at home sitting at his desk drawing pictures and making up stories.