Festival Director

Sara is a crime writer, represented by Greenstone Literary, with a decade experience in the publishing industry and several years picking hot reads as the Book Editor for a London magazine. She got sidetracked with running an online business, which she sold when she moved to the Gold Coast.

When she’s not writing or festival planning, she’s either designing author websites, co-hosting writing retreats or arranging local author meet-ups over coffee and cake. She lives in Currumbin with her husband, two children and Luna the labrador.

Fiction Program Manager

Jacinta has worked as a journalist, in public relations and offered media expertise to major corporations and education institutions across Australia. She has been a freelancer since 2012.

Most recently she reviewed books for ABC Gold Coast and CelebrityKind, and ran social media workshops and panel discussions for Fiona McIntosh’s National Conference. She’s also had the pleasure of holding the role as Project Lead for the Women in Media’s Relaunch Project (a return to work program for female media professionals).

Workshop Program Manager

Christine writes crime, romance and non-fiction. She won the Tasmanian Writers Prize in 2022 and achieved recognition in the Scarlet Stiletto Awards, the Hawkeye Prize, and others. She is a regular 'In Conversation' host for Richmond-Tweed Libraries and runs critique groups for the Gold Coast Writers' Association.

With a background in education and the visual arts, Christine facilitates writing workshops at HOTA Art Gallery on the Gold Coast. A firm believer that writers will change the world, Christine writes daily and encourages others to do the same. When not travelling, she lives on Bundjalung Country with her husband and cats.

Special Events Manager

Tina Strachan is a children’s author of the middle grade series Wilder Zoo with HarperCollins. Neeka and the Missing Key (Book 1) was released early 2025 and Neeka and the Storm (Book 2), will be released 2 July 2025.

Tina is the co-host of ‘The Book Deal’ podcast, chatting with seasoned and debut writers about their journey to publication, providing inspiration and motivation for aspiring authors. Tina is a Gold Coast local, where she lives with her husband, two boys and their cavoodle.