Festival program

Alex Adsett is a seasoned literary agent and publishing consultant with nearly 30 years in the industry. She represents a diverse range of authors and is renowned for her expertise in publishing contracts and rights negotiations. She is proud to represent an outstanding stable of authors and illustrators, including Melissa Lucashenko, Isobelle Carmody, Dinuka McKenzie, Jasmin McGaughey and Hannah Sommerville. As a consultant, Alex provides commercial and strategic advice to authors and independent publishers, particularly regarding publishing contracts. She has worked with many independent publishers and thousands of authors including Mirandi Riwoe, Sarah Malik, Graeme Simsion, Barry Humphries, and Melissa Greenwood.  She regularly delivers seminars on copyright and publishing contracts around Australia, and has served on various NFP literary boards including Small Press Network and Queensland Writers Centre.

January Gilchrist is a Brisbane-based writer with a passion for mystery and is a former performing arts professional. The Final Chapter, her debut thriller, is inspired by her time at the Varuna Writers' House. Also published under 'Ava January' she has three historical novels from Crooked Lane and HQN. With a slew of international competition wins under her belt as Ava January, earlier versions of this manuscript longlisted for 'The Richell Prize' and shortlisted for 'The Next Chapter' (The Wheeler Centre) in which Tony Birch called her work 'stunning'. Photo credit: Floriano Esse

Caroline Graham is an award-winning writer and investigative reporter, who teaches journalism and creative writing at Bond University. Together with Kylie Stevenson, she has spent five years investigating the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty and his kelpie from the tiny outback Northern Town of Larrimah. Together they wrote the Walkley Award-winning investigative true crime podcast Lost in Larrimah, and the Australian bestseller Larrimah, which have both been optioned by NBC Universal for potential development into a scripted TV series. Caroline has a PhD in creative writing (fiction) and has worked on a wide range of projects, including co-writing the ABC documentary Outback Musical, co-writing the Walkley Award-winning investigative series NT Schools in Crisis and co-writing Writing Feature Stories: How to research and write articles – from listicles to longform. She also researches true crime reporting and ethics.

Georgia Harper is a psychologist who has worked with both serious violent offenders and victim-survivors of crime. In keeping with her passion for animal welfare, she was also the Senior Inspector Prosecutions for RSPCA Queensland.  Born in Brisbane, Georgia currently lives on the Sunshine Coast. She is Author Ambassador for the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Writers Festival, and is also an ambassador for the Chapters for Change child literacy charity. What I Would Do to You is her first novel. Her second crime novel, Dove, will be released in 2026 with Penguin Randomhouse Australia.

Ali Lowe is the author of four bestselling novels: The Trivia Night, The Running Club, The School Run, and The Private Island. Her first three novels explored wealth, privilege and revenge in fictional beachside Australian suburbs. The Private Island saw her venture overseas to take her cast of undesirables to a fictional Fijian Island called Loloma. Both The Trivia Night and The School Run have been optioned for TV. Ali is a journalist by profession: she was Features Editor at OK! magazine in London and has written for bridal magazines, parenting titles, websites and newspapers over a 20 year-career. She has dual Australian and British citizenship and lives on Sydney’s northern beaches with her husband and three children. Photo credit: Erin Masters

Angie Faye Martin is a writer and editor of Kooma, Kamilaroi and European heritage. With a Bachelor of Public Health from the Queensland University of Technology and a Masters of Anthropology from the Australian National University, Angie spent many years working in policy roles in state and federal government before launching Versed Writings in 2019. Her work has been published in Meanjin, Garland, The Saltbush Review and The Rocks Remain. She is a member of the First Nations Australia Writers Network and accredited with the Institute of Professional Editors. Melaleuca is her debut novel. Photo: Greg Dries

Fiona McIntosh is celebrating 25 years as an author writing across several genres. Her crime novels featuring Detective Jack Hawksworth have been the surprise hit. She began writing Jack as a diversion in 2008 but he is now a beloved character with the Australian crime reading audience. The current suite of six books have recently been sold into the UK/US. Fiona has 45 books and is published by Penguin Random Australia.

Dinuka McKenzie is an Australian writer and the author of the Detective Kate Miles crime series, The Torrent, Taken and Tipping Point, published in Australia and the UK. She is the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, the Bad Sydney Crime Danger Awards, and longlisted for the Richell Prize. Her short fiction appeared in the 2022 Dark Deeds Down Under Crime and Thriller Anthology. Dinuka lives with her family in Southern Sydney on Dharawal country. Photo credit: Emma Stergio

Jack Roney’s Detective Jarrod O’Connor series is inspired by 33 years experience as a police patrol officer and detective. His historical mystery novel ‘The Ghost Train and the Scarlet Moon’ was runner-up in the Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize. His first crime novel ‘The Angels Wept’ was shortlisted in the Watpad Awards and his yet to be published new release ‘Black Gully’ was shortlisted in the Plaza Crime Award (UK) and once again in the Hawkeye Prize. He is currently studying creative writing at University of Queensland and was featured as a guest on the I Catch Killers and Crime Insiders podcasts. He delivers ‘Writing Authentic Crime Fiction’ workshops as well as providing one-on-mentoring with emerging crime writers. He co-hosts 'The Genre Fiction' Podcast.

Rebecca is an internationally renowned publisher. In 2023 and 2024, she was shortlisted for Australian Editor of the Year and was previously shortlisted for UK Editor of the Year during her 15 years working in London publishing for companies Hodder & Stoughton, Pan Macmillan and Little, Brown Book Group. Her exclusive area of publishing is fiction in all its categories. Rebecca publishes bestselling and beloved Australian authors such as Michael Robotham, Shelley Burr, J. P. Pomare, Lainie Anderson, Natasha Lester, Joanna Nell, Kelly Rimmer and Toni Jordan. Rebecca is happy to say she remains as excited about publishing great novels and growing writing careers as she was when she entered book publishing in 2001.

Hayley Scrivenor is the author of Girl Falling and Dirt Town. Girl Falling was published in Australia in August 2024 and described as a “worthy follow-up to the best-selling Dirt Town.” Dirt Town was published internationally in 2022 (as Dirt Creek in the U.S., where it was a USA TODAY bestseller) and quickly became a #1 Australian bestseller. The novel has been shortlisted for multiple national and international awards and translated into several languages. In 2023, Dirt Town won the ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Mystery and the ABIA for General Fiction Book of the Year. Hayley has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong and lives on Dharawal country. Photo credit: Codie