About the Authors

Gina Chick

Gina Chick is a barefoot nomad who is happiest sleeping on the ground, next to a fire. She is the daughter and granddaughter of bestselling Australian authors Suzanne Chick and Charmian Clift. Gina won the inaugural season of iTV and SBS’s Alone Australia, after thriving for 67 days in brutal Tasmanian winter wilderness, completely solo. Her first book, We Are The Stars, is a runaway bestseller, going to show that writing is indeed in her genes.

David Nicholls

David Nicholls is the author of six novels, the latest of which is You Are Here. In 2009, One Day was published to extraordinary critical acclaim and his fourth novel, Us, was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. His adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose won him a BAFTA for best writer and he is also a contributing writer on the new Netflix adaptation of One Day.

Thomas Mayo

Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man. He is a signatory of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and has written five books published by Hardie Grant, Finding the Heart of The Nation<, Dear Son, Finding The Heart, Freedom Day and The Voice to Parliament Handbook with Kerry O’Brien. The Voice to Parliament Handbook won the 2024 ABIA for Book of the Year, Social Impact Book of the Year and General Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

Clare Wright

Professor Clare Wright is an award-winning historian, author, broadcaster, podcaster and public commentator. Her latest book is the highly acclaimed Ṉäku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions, a history of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions and the third instalment of her democracy trilogy. The first book in the trilogy, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, won the 2014 Stella Prize. In 2020, Clare was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for “services to literature and to historical research”. She is Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement at La Trobe University. She is Chair of the National Museum of Australia Council and past Board Director of the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.

Jaclyn Moriarty

Jaclyn Moriarty is the internationally bestselling author of novels for children, young adults and (occasionally) grownups. Her books have won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, Aurealis Award, CBCA Honours and been shortlisted for the Nebula Prize. A former media lawyer, Jaclyn grew up in Sydney, lived in the US, UK and Canada and now lives in Sydney again. Her latest work is The Impossible Secret of Lillian Velvet.

Liane Moriarty

Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of nine internationally bestselling novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, The Husband’s Secret and the #1 New York Times bestsellers Big Little Lies, Truly Madly Guilty, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall. Her books have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, including 4 million in Australia and New Zealand.

Nicola Moriarty

Nicola Moriarty is a Sydney-based novelist, copywriter and mum to two bright, kind (and remarkably strong-willed) teenagers. In between various career changes, becoming a mum and completing her Bachelor of Arts, she began to write. Now she can’t seem to stop. Her published novels include The Fifth Letter, The Ex, You Need to Know and Every Last Suspect. She has been published around the world and had several novels optioned for film and television. Apart from writing, her passions include chocolate and soccer (in that order).

Helen Garner

Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham–Campbell Prize for non-fiction and the Western Australian Premier’s Book Award. In 2019 she was honoured with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. Her novels include The Children’s Bach, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Spare Room.

Alan Hollinghurst

Alan Hollinghurst is the author of seven novels, The Swimming-Pool Library, The Folding Star, The Spell, The Line of Beauty, The Stranger’s Child, The Sparsholt Affair and Our Evenings. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and the 2004 Man Booker Prize. He lives in London.