Holden Sheppard

Holden Sheppard is a Geraldton-born author, labourer and gym junkie whose best-selling debut novel Invisible Boys (Fremantle Press, 2019) won multiple accolades including the WA Premier's Prize. The book is now in development as a TV series. Holden's powerful second novel The Brink (Text Publishing) was published in August 2022.

Amanda Bridgeman

Amanda is a Tin Duck Award winner, an Aurealis and Ditmar Awards finalist and author of several novels/short stories. Her original work includes The Subjugate, which is being developed for TV by Anonymous Content (True Detective) and Aquarius Films (Lion). She also writes ‘tie-in fiction’ for properties including Marvel (X-Men). Pandemic: Patient Zero recently won the 2022 Scribe Award for Original Novel - General.

Emily Brugman

Emily Brugman grew up in Broulee, on the far south coast of NSW, on the lands of the Yuin people. Her writing has previously appeared in literary journals, magazines and anthologies, including Tracks, the UTS Writers' Anthology and Lines to the Horizon: Australian surf writing. She currently lives in Mullumbimby, on Bundjalung country, and works at Byron Writers Festival. The Islands, her first novel, is inspired by her family's experiences living and working on the Abrolhos Islands between 1959-1972.

Melody Dia

Melody Dia was born and raised in Broome, WA. She is a proud Nyul Nyul woman, with a mixed heritage of Indonesian, Indian and European. Melody has worked in pubs, mine sites, classrooms, and offices. In 2014, she began writing FIFO – Fit In or F**k Off! and is currently working on her second play.

Brooke Dunnell

Brooke Dunnell is a writer, mentor and workshop facilitator. Her short fiction has been widely published, including in the short story collection Female(s and) Dogs, and her debut novel, The Glass House, was awarded the 2021 Fogarty Literary Award. Brooke has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Western Australia and lives in Boorloo (Perth).

Dr Kate Forsyth

Recently voted one of Australia’s favourite novelists, Dr Kate Forsyth has been called ‘one of the finest writers of this generation’. She has written more than 40 books, for all age groups and across many genres, published in 20 countries. Her most recent book is The Crimson Thread, a reimagining of ‘The Minotaur in the Labyrinth’ myth set in Crete during the Nazi invasion and occupation of World War II. Kate is also working on Alchemy, a book of art & poetry in collaboration with the Archibald-Prize-winning artist Wendy Sharpe, which will be released in October 2022 by Perth publisher Upswell. Other collaborations include Searching for Charlotte: The Fascinating Story of Australia’s First Children’s Author, co-written with her sister Belinda Murrell, and the award-winning The Silver Well, co-written with Kim Wilkins.

Karen Herbert

Karen Herbert is the author of The River Mouth (2021) and The Castaways of Harewood Hall (2022). She spent her childhood in Geraldton before moving to Perth. She is a board member of The Intelife Group and Advocare, and President of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA).

Caitlin Maling

Caitlin Maling is a WA writer with four books of poetry, the most recent of which are Fish Work through UWAP and Fish Song through Fremantle Press. She teaches creative writing at Curtin University.

Bren MacDibble

Bren MacDibble is a children's and YA writer from Kalbarri. Her first two novels (published 2017) were given six national awards. Her children's novels deal with environmentally changed futures. In the Dark Spaces written under the name Cally Black is a dark intense YA thriller set in the far future.

Rebecca J Palmer

Rebecca Palmer is a primary/tertiary teacher, and author/illustrator of Monkey Mind, a picture book about anxiety. It's also a visual exploration of mindfulness and growth mindset with a dollop of self kindness. Illustrated with drypoint etchings and watercolour, Monkey Mind is shortlisted for the 2022 Speech Pathology Australia Award.

David Price

David Price is a Western Australian educator who grew up in the small town of Carnarvon in the 1960s. He has been a teacher, principal and District Director of Schools in many parts of the state. Although he now lives in Perth, David has long been intrigued by the hidden history of his home town and its wilful amnesia about the treatment of Aboriginal people and Asian migrants by the first settlers.

Michael Trant

Michael Trant is a WA country boy now residing in Perth. He writes with an authentic rural voice, drawing on his experiences to open readers to places and lifestyles foreign to many. He has a passion for farming, writing, and gaming, the order of which vary throughout the year.

Dave Warner

Bob Dylan once declared Dave Warner his favourite Australian artist. After a successful music career Warner turned his creative mind to other forms of writing. Winner of the prestigious Ned Kelly Award for Best Australian Crime Fiction, he has written eleven crime novels, and a number of non-fiction books including the biographer of footballer Marlion Pickett. His new novel After The Flood is set in Broome and the Pilbara.

Terri-ann White

Terri-ann White was Director of UWA Publishing (2006-2020). She has been an independent bookseller, writer, editor and festival organiser, and is passionately interested in writing and expression that makes a difference. In 2021 she established a new independent publishing house, Upswell Publishing, to build a list of distinctive literary works in fiction, poetry and narrative non-fiction.