New Inspiration for 2008

You'll find new inspiration at the Byron Bay Writers Festival 2008. Expect new writers with new writing, new ideas and new media. The best of Australian writing awaits, although it may not always wear the face you'd expect!

2007 Writers

Haji Sulaiman Abdullah is a Malaysian lawyer vocal in issues relating to Islam, Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and the dangers of globalization and Disneylandisation.

Alexandra Emily Adornetto wrote her first novel, the fantasy/adventure The Shadow Thief when she was thirteen. She is currently completing Year 10 and working on her sequel.

Piers Akerman has been a journalist for 39 years. He has been based as a correspondent and senior media executive in New York , London , Los Angeles and Washington and covered stories in Central and South America , Asia and Africa . He has edited The Adelaide Advertiser and was Editor in Chief of the Herald and Weekly Times.

Shalini Akhil lives in Melbourne . She has been a finalist in the Triple J Raw Comedy competition and has had her short fiction published in Meanjin. An earlier version of The Bollywood Beauty, Shalini's first novel, was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2004 prize for an unpublished manuscript.

Sarah Armstrong is a former ABC journalist and Walkley Award winner.Her first novel, Salt Rain, was shortlisted for the 2005 Miles Franklin, Dobbie and Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.

Tony Ayres is an award winning writer and director in both drama and documentary.

Candida Baker is currently editor of the Weekender for the Northern Star. She also works as a creativity coach. Her latest novel is The Hidden.

Annette Barlow is a publisher at Allen & Unwin and has had the pleasure of working with authors such as Alex Miller, Andrew McGahan, Kate Morton and Kerry Greenwood.

Alice Bell's first screenplay Suburban Mayhem won the AWGIE for best original screenplay in 2006. Alice writes for television series and is currently working on a feature film script.

John Bennett is widely published. He is 2007 Sydney Harbour Artist of theYear and was recently poet in residence at the Macleay Museum . His PhD is “A New Defence of Poetry”.

Elizabeth Best’s first book, Eli’s Wings (Penguin Books, 2002) became an inspirational bestseller in Australia and internationally. It appears on High School reading lists across the country. The Year We Seized the Day is her second non-fiction book.

Peter Bishop has been Executive Director of Varuna, the Writers' House in Katoomba since 1993.

Colin Bowles has been a full time novelist for seventeen years and publishes also as Colin Falconer and Mark d’Arbanville. The Year We Seized the Day, written with Eli Best, is his first travel book.

Mark Bowling, former ABC foreign correspondent is the author of Running Amok – part journalism, part extreme travel, tracing Indonesia's turmoil from the fall of Suharto to East Timor 's independence and the Bali bombings.

Bill Bowtell is Director of the HIV/AIDS Project at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Sydney. Since1983, he has been involved in all aspects of Australia’s strategic response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and has written and broadcast widely on HIV/AIDS strategy and policy.

Susan Bradley Smith lectures in English at La Trobe University . Her first poetry collection, Marmalade Exile, has been described as ‘Plath unleashed’. She is currently working on a biography of Clementine Churchill.

Nicholas Bray is the Literary Editor of the Courier Mail.

Father Frank Brennan SJ AO, a Jesuit priest and lawyer, is professor of Law at ACU and professor of Human Rights and Social Justice at the University of Notre Dame, Australia.

Doctor Frank Brennan is a Palliative Care physician and lawyer working in Sydney.

Jennifer Byrne has three decades' experience in television, radio and print journalism. She currently presents ABC television's the First Tuesday Book Club.

English author and illustrator Martin Chatterton has worked since 1983 in the UK, USA and Australia . His twentieth book The Brain Finds A Leg is published this month by Little Hare Books.

Belinda Chayko is a writer, director and script editor. Her short films have won many awards and, in 1999, she directed the feature film City Loop. She is currently developing two features and a television mini-series.

Alan Close has written widely on men and relationships in the national media. His new book A Bachelor's Family will be published by Vintage in 2008.

Janie Conway-Herron lectures in creative writing at Southern Cross University. She is an experienced novelist, poet, musician, lyricist and playwright. Recently returned from conducting writing workshops with Burmese women refugees, her work reflects a passion for human rights and explores landscapes of identity in both an historical and contemporary context.

Kate Crawford is an author, journalist and academic. She is the author of Adult Themes: Rewriting the Rules of Adulthood (Macmillan), which won the Manning Clark House National Cultural Award for 2006.

Bryan Dawe. Writer, director, performer, Bryan Dawe is one of Australia 's major satirists and humorists. His political interview segment with John Clarke can be seen every week on ABC's 7.30 Report.

Marele Day is the award-winning author of six novels including the Claudia Valentine mysteries, Lambs of God, and Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife.

Janet de Neefe is the Director of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. Her memoir/cookbook Fragrant Rice has been nominated for the Nita B. Kibble Literary Award for women writers.

Robert Dessaix is a writer, translator and broadcaster whose best-known books are the autobiography A Mother’s Disgrace, the novels Night Letters and Corfu, and the travel memoir Twilight of Love.

Garry Disher, from Victoria, has written over 40 books, including award-winning and widely-translated literary, crime and young adult novels and the handbook Writing Fiction.

Khoa Do is a screenwriter and film director whose films include The Finished People and Footy Legends (starring Anh Do and Claudia Karvan). He has been nominated for 3 AFI Awards, 3 Film Critic’s Circle Awards and 2 AWGIES. In 2005, Khoa received the Young Australian of the Year Award.

Robert Drewe's novels and short stories have been widely translated, won many national and international awards and been adapted for stage and screen. His most recent novel, Grace, has received international acclaim and he is the editor of The Best Australian Stories 2006.

Irina Dunn is Director of the NSW Writers' Centre and author of The Writer's Guide : a Companion to Writing for Pleasure or Publication (Allen & Unwin).

Catherine Dyson is a writer and documentary filmmaker. Her films have been nominated for the UN Media Peace Award and the AFI Best Documentary.

Russell Eldridge is editor of the Northern Star newspaper. He is an actor, published writer and Committee member of the Northern Rivers Writers' Centre.

Kate Eltham is the CEO of the Queensland Writers Centre and co-director of Clarion South Writers Workshop. Her short fiction has been published in numerous Australian anthologies and magazines. She has contributed reviews and commentary for The Courier Mail and presents writing and publishing workshops and seminars throughout Queensland .

Barbara Ewing has a BA degree in English and Maori, and was awarded the Gold Medal at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London . The Mesmerist is her sixth novel.

Dr Elizabeth Farrelly is a Sydney based columnist and author. She holds a PhD from the University of Sydney, where she is also Adjunct Associate Professor. Elizabeth has practiced architecture in London, where she was also an editor of the Architectural Review, and is a former Sydney City Councillor. In October 2007, UNSW Press will publish Elizabeth Farrelly's Blubberland: The Dangers of Happiness.

Charles Firth is the author of bestselling blockbuster American Hoax, and member of The Chaser team.

Richard Flanagan is the author of the internationally acclaimed and award winning novels Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping and Gould’s Book of Fish. His most recent novel is The Unknown Terrorist.

Lyn Gallacher is a broadcaster with ABC Radio National and is currently working on The Book Show making a series of Australian poetry specials.

Alice Garner is an historian, actor, musician and mother of three. She has written two books: A Shifting Shore and The Student Chronicles.

Michael Gawenda, author of American Notebook, is a former Editor in Chief of The Age and a three time winner of the Walkley Award for journalism.

Margaret Gee, author of A long Way From Silver Creek and Reflections From the Top, is a literary agent representing innovative information and non-fiction works.

Diana Georgeff is an Australian journalist who has lived and worked in London , Italy and the United States . She specialises in politics, social issues and more recently in cultural history, food and travel.

Zahra Ghahramani is a young Australian based Iranian student reformer. My Life as a Traitor is her first book, in which she recalls her imprisonment and torture in Tehran 's notorious Evin prison.

Ross Gittins is the Economics Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and an economic columnist for The Age. His most recent book was Gittins' Guide to Economics (Allen and Unwin, 2007).

Professor Bee Chen Goh is the first Malaysian woman Rhodes Scholar. She specialized in International Law at Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society. She was a Visiting Researcher at the Harvard Law School in the Summer of 1993. She is a Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, London .

Vanessa Gorman is a documentary filmmaker and writer. Her memoir, Layla’s Story, was published by Penguin in 2005. She is also a freelance print journalist.

Helen Greenwood is the co-author of The Foodies' Guide to Sydney and a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Gideon Haigh has written over twenty books. He is a contributor to The Bulletin, The Guardian and The Monthly. HIs book Asbestos House: the secret history of James Hardie industries has won the 2007 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Gleebooks Prize.

Lincoln Hall (OAM) is one of Australia 's best known mountaineers whose climbing career spans three decades. His high-altitude climbing career culminated in his key role in the first Australian ascent of Mt Everest in 1984 and his book White Limbo was an international bestselling account of this first Australian ascent. Dead Lucky is his latest book.

Christopher Hanley is the Chairperson of the Northern Rivers Writers' Centre and the Byron Bay Writers Festival Committee and a founder of the Festival in 1997. He is a published writer of short stories and in his spare time runs Byron Bay First National Real Estate.

Emma Hardman is a writer, editor and surfer. Her novel Nine Parts Water , a literary surf novel, was runner-up in the ABC Fiction Award 2006.

Marieke Hardy was born on or around the set of The Sullivans and has remained in television ever since. From inauspicious beginnings as a lisping child actor in The Henderson Kids II, she has both appeared in and written for many Australian dramas from Blue Heelers to Always Greener to Something in the Air.

Dr Anita Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales, one of Australia ’s most prolific and well known Indigenous authors and a major book review contributor to Message Stick Online. Her most recent works are: Not Meeting Mr Right, I'm Not Racist, But... and Yirra and Her Deadly Dog Demon.

Kathryn Heyman has been nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe Critic’s Awards, longlisted for the Orange Prize, shortlisted for the West Australian Premier’s & Scottish Writer of the Year Awards and won the Arts Council of England Writers Award. Her latest novel, Captain Starlight’s Apprentice, was recently serialised on BBC Radio.

Robert Hillman is the author of four novels, including The Deepest Part of the Lake (Scribe, 2001). His memoir, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the National Biography Award for 2005. He lives in Warburton.

Deborah Hope is The Australian's new literary editor. Deborah is also the deputy editor of the newspaper's Review section and is a regular columnist.

Simon Illingworth is the author of Filthy Rat, a first hand account of courage in the face of police corruption (ABC Books 2006). He runs his own company, Ethical Strength, and is the recipient of a bravery award from the Governor of Victoria and the 2004 Ashley Perelberg award for "exemplary Scotch College Spirit". He is also an Ethical Leadership Graduate of the Sir Vincent Fairfax Fellowship.

Ivor Indyk is the founding editor of the literary journal HEAT, and of its associated Giramondo book imprint. A critic, essayist and reviewer, he has written a monograph on David Malouf, published by Oxford University Press in 1993, and essays on many aspects of Australian literature.

Hon. Dr. Barry Jones, AO, FAA, FAHA, FTSE, FASSA, FRSA, FRSV, FAIM is a writer, broadcaster and former Labor Minister.

Gail Jones is the author of two books of short stories and four novels -- Black Mirror, Sixty Lights, Dreams of Speaking and the most recent, Sorry .

Iconic designer of the seventies and eighties, acclaimed by both the Australian press and the international fashionistas; artist honoured by museum exhibitions and a Parliament House commission; ardent conservation campaigner; creator of spectacular costumes for the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony – Jenny Kee has been all of these.

Fran Kelly has a reputation as a "tough but fair" interviewer – a reputation forged over years of interviewing politicians. She spent a decade in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Canberra -- as Political Correspondent for ABC Radio, Political Editor for The 7.30 Report and Political Editor on Radio National Breakfast ... the programme she now presents from Sydney .

Shelley Kenigsberg is a freelance editor, writer and trainer; has coordinated Macleay’s Diploma in Book Editing and Publishing for 14 years, presented courses in Australia and overseas; involved in NSW Society of Editors (President, 2001–03, Vice-President, 2004) and national initiatives through Institute of Professional Editors . Shelley is a member of the editorial board of the ezine The Fine Print.

Cate Kennedy lives in Victoria and is the author of two poetry collections, a travel memoir set in Mexico, and most recently a collection of her prizewinning short stories, Dark Roots, published by Scribe. She is currently at work on her first novel.

Andrew Knight was born a long time ago into a two hundred year lineage of filing clerks. He has gone onto a career chequered by moments of intense activity and months of crippling sloth. In between he has produced and written a lot of television programs, ranging from good to unwatchable. He has also written and executive produced a number of major Australian features.

Ramona Koval is a writer and journalist who is currently the presenter of The Book Show, the daily books program on Radio National.

Robert Larkins has practised as a barrister for over twenty years. He has appeared in any number of cases including coronial inquests and has also been interested in using the law to protect the environment. Funeral Rights is his first book.

Sophie Lee has worked in the Australian film, television and theatre industry for the past twenty years. Alice in La La Land is her first novel.

David Leser has been a Walkley award finalist four times and in 1999 won the feature writing award for his profile of radio personality Alan Jones. His latest book, Dames and Divas: 21 Remarkable Women, was published by Park Street Press in 2006.

Antony Loewenstein is a Sydney journalist and author of My Israel Question. He writes on current affairs and politics for publications in Australia and overseas.

Gabrielle Lord is a multi award winning Australian writer specialising in crime thrillers, the latest of which is Shattered and stars the Sydney based PI, Gemma Lincoln.

Melissa Lucashenko is an award winning novelist and essayist, and is a Bundjalung woman. Her novels have won or been shortlisted for many major awards, including the NSW Premier's Awards, the Dobbie Award, the Courier Mail Book of the Year, and the Commonwealth Writer's Prize. Melissa lives with her family on Bundjalung land near Billinudgel where she writes, thinks, and is also rehabilitating an old dairy farm.

Katherine Lyall-Watson is the editor of Writing Queensland, the monthly magazine for Queensland Writers Centre. She has chaired panels at the Melbourne Writers Festival, Voices on the Coast and for Brisbane ’s Better Bookshops. She has given the introduction at author events on numerous occasions including events for Bill Bryson, John Banville, Margaret Atwood and Michael Palin.

Mungo MacCallum has worked as a political commentator, writer and broadcaster since 1965 and currently writes for the Byron Shire Echo. A prolific author, he has a new book scheduled for late 2007.

Barry Maitland is the award-winning author of the acclaimed Brock and Kolla series of crime mystery novels set in London .

Simon Marnie presents Weekends on 702 ABC Sydney and ABC New South Wales. During the programme Simon covers current affairs, news and lifestyle issues. In a career spanning more than 20 years in media, Simon has worked for public, community and commercial radio and television as a presenter and producer.

David Marr's books include biographies of Patrick White and Garfield Barwick. After presenting Media Watch for three years, he’s back at the Sydney Morning Herald. "His Master's Voice: the Corruption of Public Debate under Howard" is David Marr's recent essay, published in June's Quarterly Essay.

Fiona Martin has been a journalist/producer with Sydney 702, Radio National, ABC Mid North Coast and community radio stations such as 2SER-FM. She lectures in journalism & media production at Southern Cross University, Lismore.

Chris Masters is Australia 's best-known investigative reporter and is Four Corners ’ longest serving reporter. Chris has published two books based on his investigative reporting, Inside Story and Jonestown.

Rhyll McMaster is the prize-winning author of five poetry books, three artist books, and an ABC radio play. Feather Man is her first novel.

Susan Melhuish is a teacher, actor and director with over twenty years working in theatre. Currently Susan is Director for Byron's Fourth Wall Theatre. 

Originally from Chicago , Miles Merrill writes and performs monologues, poetry, and stories. A collection of his work entitled “What Night Knows” can be ordered from www.wordtravels.info

Internationally respected critic of Big Pharma’s marketing strategies, Ray Moynihan’s recent book Selling Sickness has been published in many nations, including the USA and China .

Melbourne author Brenda Niall is one of Australia ’s foremost biographers and the winner of seven national awards for her work which includes The Boyds: a Family Biography.

Mandy Nolan is frequently irreverent and speaks to a diverse audience with no set demographic, gender, race or religion, reflecting poignantly and humorously the human condition. Stand Up Comedian, Writer, Festival Director, Painter, Teacher and Mum. She's flesh and blood multi-media and she's excruciatingly funny.

Mick O'Regan is the presenter of The Sports Factor on ABC Radio National. He previously presented ABC Radio's Media Report.

Debra Oswald is a writer for theatre, television and children’s fiction.

Laksmi Pamuntjak has since 1994 written columns and articles on politics, film, food, classical music and literature for Tempo Magazine and elsewhere. She translated and edited Goenawan Mohamad: Selected Poems, published Jakarta Good Food Guide, and co-founded Aksara, a bilingual bookstore in Jakarta . Her first collection of poetry, Ellipsis, appeared on The Herald UK 2005 Books of the Year list.

Guy Pearse joined the Liberal party in 1989 and spent the past eighteen years studying environment policy and working in the political ‘dark arts’. High & Dry – his first book.

James Phelan is a Melbourne-based freelance writer who writes for a variety of publications. He holds a Master of Arts in Writing and is currently working on his PhD. Books include Literati: Australian Contemporary Literary Figures Discuss Fear, Frustrations and Fame and the thriller novels Fox Hunt and Patriot Act.

Nic Pullen is a leading media lawyer from Melbourne with a particular emphasis in the broadcast and book publishing industries. He regularly gives talks at industry events and can be heard on Ramona Koval's The Book Show.

Alice Pung is a writer and lawyer. She has had her short stories published in The Good Weekend, Meanjin and The Other Side. In 2002 Unpolished Gem was nominated for a Premier’s Literary Award, and in 2005 Words won The Other Side prose competition.

Michael Robotham is an award winning journalist and author, whose psychological thrillers have been translated into seventeen languages. His latest book is The Night Ferry.

Nicolas Rothwell is the author of the award-winning Wings of the Kite-Hawk and the novel Heaven and Earth. He is the northern correspondent for The Australian. In 2006, Nicolas won the Walkley Award for coverage of Indigenous Affairs and in 2007 he published Another Country, a mesmerising many-faceted journey into the landscape and beyond.

Leigh Sales is the ABC’s National Security Correspondent.  Until 2006, she was Washington Correspondent, winning a Walkley Award, Australia’s most prestigious journalism prize, for reporting on Guantanamo Bay. 

Eva Sallis is a writer of literary fiction and criticism. Her latest work of fiction, The Marsh Birds, set in Iraq , Syria , Indonesia , Australia and New Zealand, won the Asher Literary Award 2005 and was short listed for The Age Book of the Year 2005.

Moya Sayer-Jones’ novels include Little Sister, Love Rat and most recently, Who Loves Lucy. She was the orginal Modern Guru in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend magazine. (2000-2005)

Julianne Schultz is an author and editor of the quarterly Griffith Review and a Professor in the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas at Griffiith University.

Stephen Sewell is one of Australia’s most celebrated, experienced and renowned theatre and film writers.

Paul Sheehan has written three best selling books – Girls Like You, AmongThe Barbarians, and The Electronic Whorehouse and is a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Deepika Shetty is News Producer for Channel News Asia’s breakfast show ‘Prime Time Morning Show’ and anchors the news segment for the programme.

Lindsay Simpson is the author and co-author of seven books. Her most recent publication is a novel, The Curer of Souls, published by Random House last September.

Mehrun Siraj, an academic, has engaged in activities relating to Human Rights, especially the rights of women, children and people living with HIV/AIDS, and Anti-Corruption and Planned Parenthood issues.

Gary Smith has been an arts writer, theatre reviewer and sports journalist for over twenty five years.

Deborah Thomas is the Editorial Director of The Australian Women's Weekly. Previously she has been editor of Mode, Elle and Cleo.

Peter Thompson is best known as the film reviewer on Channel Nine’s Sunday.

Carrie Tiffany is an agricultural journalist from Melbourne . Her first novel, Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living, has been widely acclaimed in Australia and overseas.

Kim Michelle Toft is a full time author /illustrator and silk artist. Her children’s books reflect her passion for the coastal lifestyle and the beauty of the underwater world.

Richard Vinycomb. Director, actor and educator. Lifelong background in theatre. VCA Drama graduate. Developed many original performance  works and touring productions. Founder of Byron’s Far Out East Theatre.

Nury Vittachi, writer of the popular "Traveller's Tales" page in the Far Eastern Economic Review, is well known as a stand-up comedian and Feng Shui expert. His novel, The Feng Shui Detective, was first published in Hong Kong and has been translated into French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Indonesian and other languages.

Michael Watts is a poet and playwright from Alice Springs. His plays are Train Dancing, Under the Rain Tree and Not Like Beckett.

Kali Wendorf is a writer, public speaker and social ecologist. She is the founder and editor of Kindred, a groundbreaking natural living and parenting magazine.

Since 1992 Bruce Whatley has written or illustrated over 40 titles published both in Australia and overseas. His award winning titles include The Ugliest Dog in the World, Looking for Crabs, Detective Donut and The Wild Goose Chase and Diary of a Wombat.

Howard Whelan is a writer, photographer, cinematographer. His work on Oscar-winning Happy Feet, from script development to leading “data gathering” expeditions to Antarctica, reflects his passion for adventure and new media.

Alexis Wright is the author of the novel Carpentaria, winner of the 2007 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her other books include the novel Plains of Promise, the non-fiction book Grog War, and editor of the anthology Take Power.

Susan Wyndham is a senior writer on books and culture for The Sydney Morning Herald. Her blog is atsmh.com.au/undercover.

Singapore poet Yong Shu Hoong has three poetry collections: Isaac (1997), do-while (2002), and Frottage (2005), which won the 2006 Singapore Literature Prize.

Ketut Yuliarsa has lived and worked as a writer, actor and musician in both Bali and Australia. Literary works include an anthology of bilingual poems Suara Malam/Night Voice, and a new collection Jatuh Bisu/Falling in Silence, 2006.