Melissa Lucashenko, a Bundjalung woman, is a leading Australian novelist. Melissa is a Walkley Award winner and a founding member of prisoner human rights organisation Sisters Inside. In 2019 Too Much Lip won Australia’s most prestigious writing prize, the Miles Franklin. Edenglassie, a novel of colonial Brisbane, won eight major literary awards and in 2026 is longlisted for the international Walter Scott Historical Fiction Prize.
Bridie Tanner is the voice of Breakfast on ABC North Coast, heard Monday to Friday. She grew up in South Grafton, NSW, on Bundjalung and Gumbayngirr Country.
A passionate supporter of regional stories, Bridie has interviewed countless local authors on air and, for the past three years, has hosted conversations on the main stage at the Byron Writers Festival.
When she’s not behind the microphone, she can usually be found reading in some of the Northern Rivers’ most iconic spots by the beach or in the bush. Her favourite local author is Melissa Lucashenko.
Lesley Head is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Melbourne, where she researches the cultural dimensions of environmental issues. Lesley currently works as a writer, consultant and farmer. She chairs the Board of Climate for Change, a community organisation that empowers Australians to have meaningful conversations about climate change and take democratic action. Her latest book is Beyond Green. The social life of Australian nature.
Marele Day’s Claudia Valentine series won her a Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award for crime writing. Her most recent title is Reckless.
Lisa is the author of eight adult and young adult novels. Her young adult cosy crime novel was shortlisted for the Davitt Awards in two categories. The Pact (HarperCollins, 2026), her first adult psychological suspense novel, was inspired by walking the Camino pilgrimage. Lisa’s work has also appeared in The Guardian, the Big Issue, Griffith Review, Marie Claire UK and The Sydney Morning Herald.
She has had a radio play produced on ABC Radio National and was winner of the Byron Writers Festival short story award and the ABC regional short story award. She lives in the Northern Rivers and has a PhD in creative writing.
Mirandi Riwoe is the author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain and Sunbirds and the novella The Fish Girl. The Burnished Sun is a collection of her short stories and novellas. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT). Her novel A Short History of Longans will be out in 2026.
Maria van Neerven is a Mununjali poet from the Yugambeh nation living in Meanjin. Maria was the winner of the David Unaipon Award in 2023 and was a Next Chapter Fellow in 2024. Two Tongues is her first poetry collection.
Sarah Temporal is a prize-winning poet, educator and producer. She has taught poetry to hundreds of people from ages 8 to 89 and directs Poets Out Loud, a community arts initiative based in the Northern Rivers. Her debut collection Tight Bindings explores the stories we tell and the secrets we keep.
Stan Munro is a national living treasure. A proud resident of Kyogle for over 20 years, Stan built an extraordinary career as a female impersonator/ drag performer and stand up comedian that has lasted a lifetime. One of the founding cast members of Les Girls in Kings Cross, Stan has performed his unique style of drag and comedy across six countries (that he remembers) and over seven decades. Along the way he became friends with Sir Robert Helpmann, Bert and Patti Newton, Denise Drysdale, Danny La Rue, John Inman and so many more. He is so very happy that his life story has been turned into a book and he is awaiting offers for a film deal.
Susanna Freymark is an optimist. She is a journalist who runs the news site indynr.com because she has a passion for telling local stories. Susanna writes fiction and published Losing February with Pan Macmillan in 2013. This year she self-published an anthology of short stories and poems titled smoke. One of her favourite sayings is — it’s not the journey or destination that matters, it is who you become along the way. Find out more at susannafreymark.com.au.