ASA List of Mentors

Catherine Bateson Location: , Victoria Preferred genres: children’s fiction, young adult fiction, poetry Preferred method of contact: email and Skype.

Catherine Bateson writes verse novels, fiction and poetry for children, young adults and adults. She has been published by UQP, Omnibus, Woolshed Press (Random House), A&U, and John Leonard Press. Her work has received numerous awards and short listings, including the Queensland Premier’s Children’s Book of the Year and CBCA Book of the Year. Catherine teaches professional writing and editing at Federation Training and The Literature Centre, Fremantle, and is also a partner in the Publishing and Editing services business, Tyle & Bateson. She has a BA with a double major in Art History, a B.Litt in Literary Studies and a Grad Dip in Creative Arts.

Laura Bloom Location: Bryon Bay, NSW Preferred genres:

fiction, young adult literature, graphic novels Preferred method of contact: phone, Skype and email. Laura Bloom is a writer of fiction and young adult fiction. Her novels have been published by Allen & Unwin, Penguin and Pan Macmillan in Australia, and in the USA, Canada and France. Her latest novel, The Cleanskin has just been released by The Author People and is available worldwide. Her work has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Awards and the ABC Fiction Prize, and her YA novel, Augustine’s Lunch, was runner up in the Young Australian Readers’ Awards. Laura has a BA, Communications, from the University of Technology, Sydney. She lives in a small town near Byron Bay with her family.

Leslie Cannold Location: Melbourne, Victoria Preferred genres: adult literacy and general fiction and academic and general audience non-fiction Preferred method of contact: Skype Dr Leslie Cannold is a fiction and non-fiction author, educator, researcher and ethicist whose contributions to public life have been recognised by awards for Australian Humanist of the year and multiple gongs as one of Australia’s most

influential public intellectuals and women. Founding Faculty at The School of Life and adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University, Leslie has taught and mentored fiction and non-fiction writers through the , the ASA and the Wheeler Centre. Her books include The Abortion Myth, What, No Baby and the historical novel The Books of Rachael, as well as fiction and non-fiction contributions to multiple collections including Destroy the Joint, Book of Atheism and the Women of Letters series. She is currently working on her second novel At The Abbotsford Convent.

Julie Chevalier Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: fiction, poetry Preferred contact: face-to-face, Skype, phone, email, mail Julie Chevalier believes that working with a mentor is the most efficient (not to mention pleasant) way to improve writing skills and manuscripts. Many manuscripts she has worked on have been published. She has taught writing courses, workshops and online courses for schools, TAFE Outreach, prisons, Poetry Australia, writers centres and the WEA. She has given guest lectures

at universities. Julie's short fiction and poetry are often written in response to art or literature. She is a volunteer job adviser at the Asylum Seekers' Centre. She has MAs in Literature (University of Sydney) and Writing (UTS).

Laura Daniel Location: Urunga, NSW Preferred genres: fiction Preferred method of contact: telephone, email, Skype Laura has worked in publishing for nearly 50 years dealing with a wide range of subject matter, both fact and fiction. She now specialises in fiction— literary, historical, romance, fantasy and the paranormal. Laura is a published novelist, poet, travel writer, and history author as well as a contributing author to many works of natural history and general-knowledge non-fiction and was formerly both Editor and Designer of The Australian Museum’s flagship journal, Australian Natural History magazine. She is a non-published screenwriter, lyricist and composer. Since 1979, she has worked freelance as a manuscript assessor and editor for publishing houses large and small in Australia and the US as well as working directly with individual authors worldwide.

Nadine Davidoff

Location: Melbourne, Victoria Genres: literary non- fiction, fiction Preferred contact: phone & email Nadine Davidoff is a freelance book editor and writing/editing teacher. Before starting her own editorial consultancy in 2006, she worked as a commissioning editor at Random House and Black Inc. As well as her freelance work, she lectures in publishing and editing at Melbourne University in the School of Culture and Communication.

Sue DeGennaro Location: Melbourne, Victoria Preferred genres: children’s literature and picture books Preferred method of contact: phone, Skype, face to face Sue deGennaro has a degree in film, a diploma in fine art and a certificate in welding. In 2009 Sue received a mentorship from the ASA. In 2010 Sue was shortlisted for the Crichton award. The Pros and Cons of Being a Frog, which Sue both wrote and illustrated was a shortlisted CBCA book in 2013 and shortlisted for The Children’s Peace Literature Award. Since then Sue has illustrated 17 books. Her work has been published by Scholastic, HarperCollins, Allen and Unwin, Penguin, Walker Books and Simon and Schuster USA. Many of Sue’s books have been translated and sold in the USA, United Kingdom, France, China, Korea and

Germany. Other CBCA Notable titles include One Funky Money, Button Boy and The Vegetable Ark. Sue teaches Writing for Children and at RMIT and CAE, and has taught Picture Book Illustration at NMIT in Melbourne. Sue’s second picture book, Eddie Frogbert, will be published in 2017.

Garry Disher Location: Mornington Peninsula, Victoria Preferred genres: fiction, young adult fiction and children’s fiction (no fantasy or science fiction) Preferred method of contact: email & phone Garry Disher has published 50 highly-praised and widely translated books in a range of genres: crime thrillers, literary/general novels, short-story collections, YA/children’s novels, and writers’ handbooks. An experienced mentor and creative writing teacher, he has also toured Germany and the United States, where his crime and YA novels have appeared on best-books-of-the-year lists and won awards. His latest crime novels are Signal Loss, seventh in the popular Challis and Destry series (the fourth, Chain of Evidence was awarded best crime novel of the year), the highly-regarded Bitter Wash Road and the eighth Wyatt thriller The Heat.

Hazel Edwards Location: Melbourne, Victoria Preferred genres: picture books, fiction for children and YA, as well as adult non-fiction Preferred method of contact: Skype webchat, telephone, email, face- to-face. Best known for There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake, which toured as a musical in 2016, Hazel writes across media, and has co- authored young adult novels such as f2m; The Boy Within with Ryan Kennedy using Skype, and non- fiction Difficult Personalities with Dr Helen McGrath and Authorpreneurship: The business of creativity. Hazel mentors gifted students, runs non- boring writing workshops for genealogists, web- chats at literary festivals and talks about writing for children, non-fiction projects and ‘Authorpreneurship’. Her memoir Not Just a Piece of Cake: Being an Author gives insight into the challenges of writing unconventional memoirs. Those she's mentored often call themselves her 'Hazelnuts'.

Brook Emery Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: poetry only Preferred contact: email, face-to-face Brook’s first three books of poetry were And Dug My Fingers in the Sand (FIP 2000), which won the

Judith Wright Calanthe Prize in the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, Misplaced Heart (FIP 2003) and Uncommon Light (FIP 2007). All three were short-listed for the Kenneth Slessor Prize in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. His fourth book, Collusion, was published by John Leonard Press in July 2012 and short-listed for the Western Australian Premier’s Prize. Individual poems have won the Newcastle Poetry Prize, the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize and the Max Harris Literary Award. He directed the Australian Poetry Festival in 2008 and 2010, ran the Brett Whiteley Readings in Sydney for ten years, and was until recently Chairperson of the Poets Union.

Kate Forsyth

Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: fiction, children’s fiction & creative non- fiction Preferred contact: email, Skype, face-to-face Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel aged seven, and has now sold more than a million books internationally. Her adult novels include The Beast’s Garden, The Wild Girl, and Bitter Greens, which won the 2015 ALA Award for Best Historical Fiction. Kate’s children’s books include ‘The Impossible Quest’ series, The Puzzle Ring and The Chain of Charms series, which won five Aurealis

Awards. Named one of Australia's Favourite 15 Novelists, Kate has a doctorate in fairy tale studies and is an accredited master storyteller. Kate is also a direct descendant of Charlotte Waring Atkinson, the author of the first book for children ever published in Australia. www.kateforsyth.com.au Twitter: @KateForsyth

Diana Giese Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: non-fiction and fiction Preferred contact: email, face-to-face, telephone Diana has worked for publishers large and small, including Macmillan, Oxford University Press, HarperEducational and Brandl & Schlesinger, in Australia and overseas. She has collaborated with many writers to help them develop their best work, and produced and promoted prize-winners and excellent sellers. She is the author of six books, and has also worked as a literary journalist for major newspapers and ABC radio, and served on writers’ festivals and prize committees. http://www.dianagiese.com.au/

Sue Gough Location: Brisbane, Queensland Genres: adult literary fiction, young adult fiction, memoir Preferred contact: email, phone, Skype, face to face

Sue Gough is an award winning novelist, critic and broadcaster. She has served as deputy chair of the Australia Council Literature Fund, and on the boards of the Queensland State Library and Brisbane Writers Festival. She inaugurated the State Library’s Young Writer Award and co- founded Queensland’s Matilda Awards that recognize

excellence in the theatre industry. She is a current judge of the young adult section of the Queensland Literary Awards.

Susan Hawthorne Location: Mission Beach, Far North Queensland Genres: literary fiction, poetry & non-fiction Preferred contact: email & phone Susan Hawthorne is an established writer with nine collections of poetry, a novel and three non- fiction books authored by her. She has won awards for her writing and been shortlisted for significant prizes. For around two decades she has taught Grad Dip, MA and PhD students writing and mentored writers through the ASA program and others. She has worked in publishing for around 30 years and co- founded Spinifex Press 25 years ago. She also translates poetry from ancient languages

and has been a circus aerialist. Among her books are Lupa and Lamb, Cow, Earth's Breath, Wild Politics and The Falling Woman.

Janet Hutchinson Location: Maroubra, NSW Genres: literary non- fiction, adult fiction, young adult literature Preferred contact: email, phone Janet Hutchinson is a Sydney-based writer, editor and publishing consultant. She has been working in book publishing on a freelance basis for 27 years. She has undertaken numerous editorial and writing projects for major Australian publishing companies, smaller publishers and private clients, and has experience as a commissioning and compiling editor, and as a ghost-writer. Some of the books she has worked on in an editorial and/or developmental capacity have won major awards and literary prizes. She taught creative writing for many years, in both tertiary and community settings, but mostly at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Linda Jaivin Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: fiction and literary non-fiction Preferred contact: email, phone, Skype, face-to-face

Linda Jaivin is the internationally published author of eleven books, including seven novels and four works of non-fiction. Her first novel, Eat Me has been published as a Text Classic. She is also a widely published cultural commentator and essayist. She has written for the stage and is working on a radio documentary for ’s ‘Earshot’ program. She is also a literary translator from Chinese specialising in film subtitles. Her most recent books include the travel companion Beijing (2014), the novel The Empress Lover (2014) and the Quarterly Essay Found in Translation: in Praise of a Plural World.

Myfanwy Jones Location: Melbourne, Victoria Genres: fiction, literary non-fiction, young adult literature. Preferred contact: email and face-to-face Myfanwy Jones has worked as a writer, editor and mentor for over 20 years. Her debut novel The Rainy Season was shortlisted for the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature Best Writing Award and her second novel, LEAP, was a finalist for the 2016 Miles Franklin Literary Award. She also co- wrote the bestselling Parlour Games of Modern Families, winner of the 2010 ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children. Myfanwy’s freelance editing work has spanned the educational, publishing and

corporate sectors. She has judged a national short story award, run writing retreats, and mentored numerous emerging writers from first draft through to publication.

Andy Kissane Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: fiction (short story and novel), poetry, literary non-fiction Preferred contact: face-to-face, Skype, email and phone Andy Kissane is an award-winning poet and fiction writer who has published four books of poetry, one novel and a book of short stories. His latest poetry collection, Radiance was shortlisted for the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry, the 2016 Adelaide Festival Awards and the 2016 Western Australian Premier’s Awards. A collection of short stories, The Swarm was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He taught creative writing for eight years at UTS, Macquarie, UWS and most recently at UNSW. He has supervised nine postgraduate writing students who were writing novels as part of Masters or PhDs. Recently he has mentored poets, non-fiction writers and short story writers for the ASA, the NSW Writers’ Centre and privately. In working one-on-one with writers, Andy has developed a range of skills in guiding the

development of work from its first draft to a finished manuscript. He is currently working on a short story cycle and a new collection of poetry and is particularly interested in mentoring writers of short stories or poetry. http://andykissane.com

Krissy Kneen Location: Brisbane, Queensland Genres: fiction, memoir, short story. Preferred contact: email, Skype or face-to-face meetings Krissy Kneen is an award-winning writer of fiction, memoir and poetry. Her latest books include the Thomas Shapcott winning poetry collection Eating My Grandmother (UQP 2015), The Adventures of Holly White and the Incredible Sex Machine (Text Publishing 2015) and An Uncertain Grace (Text Publishing March 2017). Krissy is known for her unflinching exploration of sexuality in fiction and non-fiction. Krissy has run workshops in the craft and practice of writing. She has written and directed short films and documentaries that have screened at international festivals and on Australian TV. She has instigated several interactive narratives including Track Changes (with If:Book).

Andrew Lindsay Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: fiction,

theatre/performance, non-fiction Preferred contact: face-to-face, email, phone Andrew started writing professionally thirty years ago, as a graduate cadet on the National Times newspaper. He later graduated from the Lecoq theatre school in Paris, then co-founded Sydney- based theatre group Red Weather. The Sydney Morning Herald described their first work as “a perfection.” He is a BA Communications from MCAE Bathurst, and currently teaches theatre and performance at the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television in Sydney. He has published two novels, The Breadmaker’s Carnival and The Slapping Man. The Breadmaker’s Carnival won the Jim Hamilton Award, was published

by Allen and Unwin in hardback and paperback editions, and was subsequently published in the US and Germany. Andrew was a recipient of the Peter Blazey Fellowship, 2008 and won the 2009 National Jazz Writing Competition. In 2010 he performed a new work for theatre, Mermaids In The Well And The Devil’s On My Shoulder, with Kavisha Mazzella at La Mama, Melbourne. Andrew’s novel Manly was shortlisted for the 2011 Scribe Fiction Prize. Jungle Ball With Diamonds, portraits of Collingwood’s younger men and women,

was published in 2012. In 2015 Yilin Press published The Breadmaker’s Carnival in a Chinese hardback edition.

Rae Luckie Location: Batemans Bay NSW Genres: Literary non-fiction Preferred contact: Email, phone, Skype, face-to-face Dr Rae Luckie specialises in mentoring writers for manuscript development—including Christine Maher Richard Brooks, From Convict Ship Captain ... (Rosenberg 2016); Deb Hunt Love in the Outback (Pan Macmillan 2014); Alastair Stewart Somersaults in the Sand (Halstead Press 2014) Carol Preston Suzannah’s Gold (Even Before 2013); and Dr Ted Freeman Doctor in Vanuatu (University of South Pacific 2006). Rae has edited works from community writing projects including Belonging in Broken Hill (Broken Hill Library); Kiama Stories and Capturing Kiama Memories (Kiama Municipal Council); Kirrawee Stories (NSW Department of Planning); and Searching for Memories: Return to the Burma-Thai Railway 1995.

Fiona McGregor Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: fiction (novels and short stories) and non-fiction (essays; art and cultural criticism) Preferred contact: face-to-face,

email and phone Fiona McGregor is a Sydney writer and performance artist. She has published five books including Strange Museums, a travel memoir of a performance art tour through Poland. Her latest novel Indelible Ink won Age Book of the Year. McGregor also writes essays, articles and reviews, her main focus being performance art. Her Doctoral thesis on sly-grog criminal Iris Webber will eventuate in two novels set in the underworld of 1930s and -40s Sydney. McGregor’s performance work has been presented internationally. In 2011 she created the multi- disciplinary Water Series at Artspace, a collection of durational and endurance performances with trace installations, as well as video. Recent group shows include ‘Same River Twice’ and ‘Performance Presence/Video Time’ at Australian Experimental Arts Foundation.

Patti Miller Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: literary non-fiction and fiction. Preferred contact: Email, phone, face- to-face Patti Miller is the author of best-selling writing texts, Writing Your Life and The Memoir Book; a novel, Child; four memoir/narrative non- fiction

works: The Last One Who Remembers; Whatever The Gods Do; the award-winning The Mind of a Thief UQP; and recently released, Ransacking Paris. Writing True Stories, a writing text, is due out 2017. She publishes in national newspapers, literary and popular journals, including the Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald, The Melbourne Age, The Australian, Island, Southerly, Mamamia. She has taught writing since 1984 at universities, Faber Academy (Sydney and London) and Writers’ Centres. More than 40 manuscripts she has mentored have been published. She has taught memoir in Paris for twelve years.

Melanie Ostell Location: Melbourne, VIC Genres: fiction, literary non-fiction, young adult literature Preferred contact: email and telephone initially, Skype, face- to-face Melanie Ostell is an editor and publisher of literary fiction, general fiction, crime fiction and narrative non-fiction. She spent ten years at Text Publishing, during which she worked on three Man Booker short-listed titles. She has worked with our finest crime writers and in 2011–12 was a founding committee member of the Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA). She has been an academic publisher, at UWA Publishing in Perth,

and a commercial publisher with Murdoch Books in Sydney. She is also an educator and literary agent, leading many writing workshops across the country, teaching frequently in RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing Diploma, and has been both student and lecturer of RMIT’s Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing. She is also a Churchill Fellow.

Kate Ryan Location: Melbourne, Victoria Genres: children’s, young adult & fiction Preferred contact: phone & email Kate Ryan writes fiction and non-fiction and has worked as an editor for publishing houses including Penguin and Lothian Books. Her work has appeared in publications including New Australian Writing 2, The Sleepers Almanac, Kill Your Darlings, the Griffith Review, TEXT and will appear in Best Australian Stories (2016). Her children’s picture books have been published by Penguin and Lothian. Kate’s short stories were shortlisted for the 2015 Josephine Ulrick Award and longlisted for the 2016 Elizabeth Jolley Prize. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from La Trobe University (2013) and her essay Psychotherapy for Normal People won the Writers’ Prize in the

Melbourne Prize for Literature (2015). She is currently working on an adult novel.

Robyn Sheahan-Bright Location: Gladstone, Queensland Genres: YA Fiction; Children’s Fiction and Picture Books; Literary Fiction. Preferred contact: telephone, email, post and face-to-face Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright has operated Justified Text Writing and Publishing Consultancy Services since 1997, and is widely published in children’s literature, Australian fiction and publishing history. She has judged literary awards, mentored and offered editorial advice to writers, lectured in writing and publishing courses, and regularly assesses post-graduate creative writing theses for several universities. She writes both teachers’ notes and reading group notes for major publishers. She was inaugural director of and is a Life Member of the Queensland Writers’ Centre, and was co-founder of Jam Roll Press. Her publications include Paper Empires: A History of the Book in Australia (1946–2005) (2006) co- edited with Craig Munro. She has been Program Manager of the APA’s biennial Residential Editorial Program since 1999. She is a member of the IBBY Australia Committee, and the Board of the

Australian Children’s Literature Alliance. She was recipient of the CBCA’s Nan Chauncy Award in 2012, and of the QWC’s Johnno Award in 2014.

Tim Sinclair Location: Sydney, NSW Genres: young adult literature, fiction & poetry Preferred contact: email, face to face, phone or Skype Tim Sinclair is a writer of young adult fiction and poetry. His latest book Run (a 2014 CBCA Notable Book) is a young adult parkour thriller set in Sydney, which uses elements of concrete poetry to capture the speed and energy of the discipline. His other books include Nine Hours North (a coming- of-age novel set in Japan), and Re:reading the dictionary (poetry for word nerds). He is currently working on a young adult post-apocalyptic trilogy. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide, where he worked with supervisors Eva Hornung and Brian Castro.

Briony Stewart Location: Palmyra, WA Genres: Writing for children, Picture book Illustration, then Young Adult Literature. Preferred contact: phone, email, Skype, face-to-face Born in Perth Western Australia, Briony is an artist

passionate about fostering creativity in children. Aside from her work as a children’s author and illustrator, Briony has also worked as a community arts worker with festivals and organizations since of 16. She received a scholarship from the Western Australian Art Gallery towards a double degree in Fine Art and Creative Writing at university and published her first written and illustrated book, Kumiko and the Dragon after graduating in 2006. In 2012, Briony was the winner of the Queensland State Literature Prize for Children’s fiction, and spent the same year developing in the U.K after being selected by the British Council’s “Realize Your Dream’ program as one of 5 young Australian artists excelling in their creative field.

Julia Stiles Location: Far South Coast, NSW Genres: fiction, young adult literature, literary nonfiction Preferred contact: Skype, telephone, email Julia Stiles is one of Australia’s most experienced and sought-after editors. She has been part of the ASA mentoring program for more than ten years and has worked with many emerging writers. She is experienced in a broad range of genres, including literary and commercial fiction, young adult and children’s literature, and general non-

fiction. Julia began her career with Pan Macmillan and Random House in Sydney and has freelanced for many of Australia’s leading publishers. She has taught editing and creative writing and has an MA in Australian Literature.

Tara June Winch Location: An Australian (Wiradjuri) writer based between her hometown of Wollongong and France. Her first novel, Swallow the Air released in 2006, became a critically acclaimed debut, telling the story of an Indigenous teenage girl’s journey of belonging and self-discovery. Highly acclaimed, Swallow the Air has been awarded the QLD Premier’s David Unaipon Award, NSW Premier’s UTS New Writing Award, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing, the Dobbie Award for women writers, the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists awards, and was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and The Age Book of the Year. This wonderful novel has also been listed on the HSC and tertiary education syllabus across Australia since 2009. A 10th Anniversary edition has been published by Queensland University Press celebrating Swallow the Air's contribution to Australia’s vast literary culture.

Tara’s development was further fostered after becoming a recipient of the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Award in 2008-2009, where she was under the tutelage of the esteemed Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. Her second book, the short story collection After the Carnage was published in August 2016. Set across the globe, it is an exploration of characters’ identity, place, and class. After the Carnage is currently shortlisted on the NSW Premier’s Christina Stead prize for Fiction. Tara is a former board member of Australia Council for the Arts – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Arts and graduate intern of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, New York.

Terry Whitebeach Location: Orielton, Tasmania Genres: literary non- fiction (memoir & life history), young adult fiction, literary fiction Preferred contact: email and phone Dr Terry Whitebeach is an author, creative writing teacher, manuscript assessor, mentor and editor. She writes for both adults and children. Her published work includes an award winning collection of poetry, Bird Dream, two life histories, The Versatile Man and A Little Peace and documentary radio drama for the ABC. Her children’s books include a collection of poetry for

young adults, All the Shamans Work in Safeway, three young adult novels, Watersky, Bantam and Trouble Tomorrow, and two bilingual children’s picture books, When I was a Girl in Sudan and When I was a Boy in Sudan.

Dianne Wolfer Location: Albany, WA Genres: children’s, young adult, fiction Preferred contact: email, face-to-face, phone Dianne is author of 16 books for young readers and teenagers. She writes across genres, including historical fiction, fantasy and picture books. Dianne is a passionate advocate for children’s literacy and has a teaching background. She was WA advisor for SCBWI from 2006 - 2012. Dianne’s books have won and been shortlisted for various awards. Lighthouse Girl the story of an Albany lighthouse keeper’s daughter was inspiration for the ‘Little Girl Giant’ who walked Perth streets during PIAF 2015. Dianne is completing her PhD at UWA in the area of Anthropomorphism in Children’s Literature. She enjoys mentoring emerging writers. www.diannewolfer.com.au