|
2025 Writers
Brian Castro
Brian Castro is the author of twelve novels, a volume of essays and a visual/poetic collaboration with painter John Young. His novels include the multi award-winning Double-Wolf and Shanghai-Dancing. He was the 2014 winner of the Patrick White Award for Literature and the 2018 Prime Minister’s Prize for Poetry. 
Jaclyn Crupi
Jaclyn Crupi is a book editor, project manager, event moderator and bookseller. Jaclyn has worked in publishing and bookselling since 2002. She has a Bachelor of Arts (English and Cinema Studies) from Melbourne University and a Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing from RMIT. Jaclyn has written numerous books for both children and adults. Her book, Garden Like a Nonno, was shortlisted for an Indie Book Award and longlisted for an Australian Book Industry Award. Her most recent children’s book, The ABC Kids Guide to Loving the Planet, won the Environment Award for Children’s Literature (Non Fiction). Jaclyn’s work has appeared in The Guardian, SBS Voices, At Home, The Canberra Times, Galah, PIP Magazine and Frankie, as well as the anthology Family published by Text Publishing. 
Ivor Indyk
Ivor Indyk is director of the Australian literary publisher Giramondo Publishing Company, and Emeritus Professor in the Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University. He was the founding editor of HEAT magazine and co-founder of the Sydney Review of Books. He has written essays on many aspects of Australian literature, art, architecture and literary publishing, including a monograph on David Malouf, and has a deep knowledge of Australian literature as a critic, teacher, editor and publisher. 
Jeanine Leane
Jeanine Leane is a Wiradjuri writer, poet, essayist and critic from south-west NSW. She is the recipient of the David Unaipon Award for her first novel Purple Threads; and her latest book is the poetry collection Gawimarra: Gathering was released in 2024. Jeanine's essays in the areas of Aboriginal literature, writing otherness, poetry, and creative nonfiction have been published widely. She was the recipient of the University of Canberra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Poetry Prize, and she has won the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Prize for Poetry twice. In 2023 she won the David Harold Tribe Award for Poetry, Australia’s richest poetry prize. She has been the recipient of a Red Room Poetry Fellowship and two Australian Research Council Fellowships for research into Blak writing and storytelling. Jeanine taught Creative Writing and Aboriginal Literature for many years at the University of Melbourne. She is the poetry editor of Meanjin; and she continues to write between Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country and the East Kulin Nations of Naarm. 
Thuy On
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian. She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025). |
Megan Cartwright
Megan Cartwright is an Australian poet, dramatist and literature teacher, based in Canberra (Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country). Her writing has featured in publications including Contemporary Verse 2, Cordite Poetry Review, Island Magazine, Porter House Review Quadrant Swim Meet Lit Mag, The Borough Verandah Literary & Art Journal. She was the 2024 recipient of Deakin University’s Matthew Rocco Poetry Prize for her poem ‘Self-Preservation in Three Parts’. 
Robyn Davidson
Robyn Davidson’s first book, Tracks, an account of her journey alone, with camels, across Australia, was an international best-seller. It won many awards, (Davidson is still the only woman to have won the prestigious Thomas Cook Travel Book Award), and was published in twenty languages. It has never been out of print. Originally destined for a career in classical music, she gave up her studies in order to travel. She has been travelling and writing ever since, has published a novel, (Ancestors), an account of two years spent on migration with Indian nomads, (Desert Places), an anthology, (The Picador Book of Journeys), an extended essay on nomadism (No Fixed Address: Nomads and the Fate of the Planet), and recently, a memoir, ‘Unfinished Woman’. As well she has overseen the production of her feature film script for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. (Mail Order Bride). Her literary reviews, travel essays and journalism have been published in international newspapers and magazines, including The National Geographic Magazine, Bunte, Sterne, Geo, London Sunday Times, Guardian, TLS, and Granta, and been included in anthologies including Best Australian Essays. She has given lectures at the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Geographical Society. 
Erik Jensen
Erik Jensen is an award-winning journalist, biographer, poet and screenwriter. He is the founding editor of The Saturday Paper and editor-in-chief of Schwartz Media. His first book, Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen, won the Nib Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Walkley Book Award and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. A film of the book, for which he cowrote the screenplay, won The Age Critics Prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival. He is also the author of On Kate Jennings, I Said the Sea Was Folded and Angry at Breakfast. 
Prithvi Varatharajan
Prithvi Varatharajan writes poems and criticism (essays, scholarly articles, and book reviews). His debut collection of poems and prose, Entries, was published in 2020 by Cordite Books. That year he was also a recipient of an Emerging Critics Fellowship at the Sydney Review of Books, through which he developed his longer-form literary criticism. Prithvi currently works in customer service but has previously worked as an audiobook producer and as a freelance producer for ABC Radio National’s Poetica – this program formed the topic of his doctoral thesis. He has been a judge of the Mary Gilmore award for poetry and of the Emerging Critics Fellowship at the SRB; he was a convening judge of the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry. 
Damon Young
Damon Young is an award-winning philosopher and author. His fourteen books of nonfiction and children's fiction are published internationally and translated into twelve languages. He has also published short fiction, poetry, and essays. |
|
A selection of guests since 1984
|
|
Celeste Abad-Jugo
Alexis Abola Robert Adamson Jordie Albiston Jeffrey Alexander Stephanie Alexander Louise Allan Max Allen Chris Andrews Shokoofeh Azar Emilie Zoey Baker Benjamin Barney Larissa Behrendt Peter Beilharz Judith Beveridge Tony Birch Carmel Bird Judith Bishop Pamela Bone Nic Brasch Judith Brett Rofel Brion Michelle Cahill Paul Carter Gary Catalano Eileen Chong Mark Cladis Anna Clark Inga Clendinnen JM Coetzee Alfredo Conde Kerry Conway Judith Nangala Crispin Alison Croggon Sophie Cunningham Robyn Davidson Luke Davies Bruce Dawe Sarah Day Richard Denniss Robert Dessaix Gerald Diffey Reg Dodd Joe Dolce Will Eaves Ali Cobby Eckerman Stephen Edgar Bob Ellis |
Wesley Enoch
Matthew Evans Diane Fahey Tracy Farr Janine Fraser Morag Fraser Alan Frost Raimond Gaita Helen Garner Moreno Giovannoni Andrea Goldsmith Anna Goldsworthy Kerryn Goldsworthy Peter Goldsworthy Lisa Gorton Alan Gould Jamie Grant Robert Gray James Griffin Charlotte Guest Gideon Haigh Marion Halligan Sonja Hartnett Ihab Hassan Per Henningsgard Barry Hill Melinda Hinkson Jane Hirshfield Karen Hitchcock Philip Hodgins Trevor Hogan Katie Holmes Lucy Holt Chloe Hooper Coral Hull Ivor Indyk Clive James Daniel James Lisa Jacobson Linda Jaivin Julie Janson Kate Jennings Gail Jones Nicholas Jose Evelyn Juers Chet Kane Paul Kane Tina Kane |
Yumna Kassab
Stuart Kells Thomas Keneally Anne Kenney Cate Kennedy Krissy Kneen Jamie King Holden Graeme Kinross-Smith Christopher Koch Amitava Kumar Anthony Lawrence Geoff Lawrence Nam Le Bronwyn Lea Michelle Leggott Geoffrey Lehmann James Ley Bella Li Melissa Lucashenko Olga Lorenzo Kim Mahood Shane Maloney David Malouf David Marr Ian McBryde David McCooey Meme McDonald Malcolm McKinnon Rhyll McMaster Michael Meehan Angela Meyer Kate Middleton Alex Miller Drusilla Modjeska Liz Moore Frank Moorhouse Sam Morley Marjon Mossammaparast Marie Munkara Les Murray Patrice Newell Peter Newman Dennis Nicholson Mark O’Connor Sharon Olds Jan Owen Jillian Pattinson Geoff Page |
Tim Parks
Bruce Pascoe AS Patric Elliot Perlman PiO Dorothy Porter Peter Porter Boori Prior Sian Prior Belinda Probert Alice Pung Peter Robb Peter Rose Nicolas Rothwell Mary Jo Salter Stephen Sartarelli George Seddon Teonga Sendama Ronald Sharp Janet Shaw Craig Sherborne Naomi Shihab Nye Alex Skovron Jane Smiley Bernard Smith Peter Steele Sian Supski Maria Takolander Christina Thompson Carrie Tiffany Christos Tsiolkas Maria Tumarkin Peter Vale Ellen Van Neerven Chris Wallace-Crabbe Clinton Walker David Walker Don Watson Ian Wedde Simon West Petra White Terri-Ann White Tim Winton John Wolseley Charlotte Wood Alexis Wright Clare Wright Alice Zaslavsky |