In alphabetical order by first name per section.
Featured
Eda Gunaydin is a Turkish-Australian essayist, critic and short story writer from Western Sydney. Her work focuses on class and class mobility, diaspora, intergenerational trauma and gender. Her critically acclaimed debut essay collection Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance (NewSouth Publishing) won the 2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. She has published more than 20 works for publications including HEAT, Meanjin, Cordite, Liminal, and The Sydney Review of Books. She is the current Parramatta Laureate in Literature, and lives on Wangal land. edagunaydin.com
Emma Lord is an Australian author with a love of all things sci-fi, fantasy and horror. Her award-winning debut novel Anomaly was published by Affirm Press/Simon & Schuster in 2024. The sequel, Scion, is set for release in October 2026. Emma lives in Sydney’s inner west with her husband, daughter, and Lieutenant Aubrey (an extremely affectionate Bordoodle). emmalord.com.au | @emmalordwrites
Garth Thomas spent 35 years at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation working in news and current affairs (winning several awards, including an Ellie Award). Now in retirement, he wants to tell his own stories. He resides in Carlingford NSW, with two wonderful daughters who have come to appreciate spooky old movies starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi… much in the same spirit (pun intended) as She Walks With Ghosts, his debut novel. @she_walks_with_ghosts
Jeff Clulow is an award-winning author of romantic dark fiction and horror. Born in Cornwall in the UK, Jeff now lives and writes in Sydney, Australia. Jeff’s writing leans towards the lighter end of dark fiction, exploring themes of family, childhood, love and loss. He’s inspired by folktale, mythology and the notion that the old gods still walk among us. jeffclulow.com
Siang Lu is the Miles Franklin-winning author of Ghost Cities and ABIA-winning author of The Whitewash. He is the co-creator of The Beige Index and the creator of #sillybookstagram.
Ghost Cities was shortlisted for eight additional awards, including the ALS Gold Medal, The Voss Literary Prize and The Age Book of the Year. In 2026, Ghost Cities will be published with Simon & Schuster’s Summit UK and US imprints, and in 26 territories in translation thereafter.
Siang is based in Brisbane, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. siang-lu.com | @sianglu_author
Panellists
Abigail Nathan has 25 years’ experience as an editor, mentor, writing coach and teacher, primarily of genre and spec fic (Bothersome Words), plus several years as a literary agent (also primarily genre and spec fic) with Alex Adsett Literary. Alex Adsett Literary | Bothersome Words
Adam Richard celebrates 30 years as a stand-up comedian this year, his career now older than he claims to be. He’s the writer behind the ABC TV series Outland, Hard Quiz and the Mardi Gras broadcast, and has appeared on everything from Spicks and Specks to Celebrity Dog School. adamrichard.com.au | @adamrichard
Aggie Novak writes speculative fiction from Australia, where she lives with her wife and spends most of her time hiding from the sun. She loves all kinds of speculative fiction and often draws inspiration from Slavic folklore, mythology and history. aggienovak.com
Americo Alvarenga is an award-winning screenwriter, originally from San Francisco, California. He’s worn many hats in film, television, video games, and comics. After over a decade of living in Canberra, his figurative hat collection has grown to include more prose-focused work. @americo76 | DirtBags | @dirtbagscomic
Bogi is a manga creator based in Sydney who wrote and illustrated Whale Plague and Ladders & Stone Limbs, published by Viz Media and BookWalker. Their silent short story Mermaid in a Well was also a finalist in the 2026 Kadokawa World Manga contest. @bogarchive
Eleanor Cooper is a journalist and writer based in South West Sydney. She has published news articles, poetry and short fiction across a range of mediums, and is currently studying Communication, Creative Industries and Creative Leadership at university. @theeleanorcooper
Emma Clancey is a fantasy author living on Dharug land in Sydney, Australia. Her YA fantasy debut, This Dream Will Devour Us, won the Gab Williams Prize. Emma’s second novel, a prequel to her debut, is forthcoming in 2027. emmaclancey.com | @emma.clancey
Dr Emma Rayward is an experimental science fiction writer and casual academic based on Gadigal land. Her thesis Topological Urban Novel (Completely Normal and Perfectly Regular) explores figurations of science fiction, what it means to read a text as science fiction, and how science fiction might be enacted otherwise through topology. emmarayward.com
Gautam Bhatia is an Indian SFF writer, reviewer and editor residing in Sydney. His books include The Fifth Inflection, and the duology The Wall and The Horizon. He is the co-ordinating editor of Strange Horizons magazine and chair of the Otherwise Award jury. Goodreads
Dr Gillian Polack is an award-winning Australian speculative fiction writer and Research Fellow at Deakin University. She is an ethnohistorian with a special interest in how story transmits culture. Her most recent scholarly book is Story Matrices: Cultural Encoding and Cultural Baggage in the Worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy. gillianpolack.com
Guan Un is an Australian-Chinese speculative fiction writer. His short stories have been featured on LeVar Burton Reads and It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton; nominated for an Aurealis Award; featured in Year’s Best Fantasy and the Locus Recommended Reading List; and translated into Mandarin and Estonian. guanun.com
Imogen Cassidy is a speculative fiction and audio drama author. They are a judge for the Aurealis Awards (in science fiction short stories and novellas) and a qualified English teacher. @imogencassidy
Jo Henwood is an accredited storyteller with Australian Storytellers, tour guide, museum education officer, museum theatre creative, workshop leader, public speaker, and Ring Maiden of the Australian Fairy Tale Society since 2014. johenwoodstoryteller.com.au | Australian Fairy Tale Society
Karen Beilharz is a writer, editor, comics creator and podcast producer. Her comics writing includes the comic anthologies Kinds of Blue and Monsters, and the science fiction graphic novel Eternal Life (with Paul Wong-Pan). hivemindedness.com
Kell Shaw writes dark urban fantasy where the modern world collides with ancient magic, inspired by a lifelong tabletop roleplaying habit. His current two series are the Revenant Records and the Cambion Chronicles. kellshaw.com | Bluesky | Facebook | Instagram | Mastodon
Kell Woods is an award-winning author of fantasy novels that blend fairy tales, history, and folklore, including Upon a Starlit Tide, winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and the Sunday Times bestselling After the Forest. kellwoods.com.au | Facebook | Instagram
Lana Graham’s spec fic crime short story Death by a Thousand Cuts was published in Is it true…? WestWords’ Living Stories 2026. She is currently working on a middle-grade puzzle adventure manuscript with science fiction elements. @lanagrahamwriter
Dr Leanbh Pearson lives on Ngunnawal Country in Canberra, Australia and is an award-winning LGBTQ and disability author of horror and dark fantasy inspired by folklore, fairytales, myth, history and climate. Their alter ego is an academic in archaeology, evolution and prehistory. leanbhpearson.com | @leanbhpearson
Sheriden Goldie writes speculative fiction, with short fiction published in The Quarry and personal essays in Grapeshot (both Macquarie University). She completed a Masters of Research in Creative Writing with a thesis on genre blending and bending in Margo Lanagan’s fiction. sheridengoldie.com
Simone Corletto is an Adelaide-born, Sydney-based YA sci-fi/fantasy writer and PR professional who spent four years toiling in the publishing mines at two of the largest publishers in Australia. Her latest work will be included an upcoming anthology, Holometabola (2027). @simonecorletto | Substack
Spencer Rose writes young adult and new adult sci-fi, including The Biokin Chronicles series and the standalone novel The Princess Thief (funded on Kickstarter in August 2026). She also writes short stories, including the Aurealis Award-shortlisted story, This Ocean Was a City Once. spencerrosewrites.com | @spencerrosewrites
Dr Stephanie Russo specialises in historical fiction, biofiction, historical television and film, historical drama and musical theatre, women’s writing, and popular fiction studies. She is an Associate Professor of English at Macquarie University, editor of the Journal of Historical Fictions, and a Series Editor of Brill’s Global Historical Fictions. stephanierusso.net
Theresa Fuller is an author of fantasy and science fiction, as well as a language preservationist and educational content creator, including books on Southeast Asian folktales and video games. She has presented at Australian Fairy Tale Society conferences and at the Sydney Language Festival. theresafuller.com
Tiffany Tsao is the author of the literary speculative horror novel But Won’t I Miss Me, The Majesties, and out-of-print cult favourite, the Oddfits fantasy trilogy. She is also an award-winning translator of Indonesian literary works and currently holds the posts of deputy editor at the Sydney Review of Books and editor at Dalang Publishing. tiffanytsao.com
Tina Faulk is a Sri Lankan-born writer fascinated by sub-continental historical fiction. She is the author of memoir The Island of Singing Fish and was a Varuna Writer-in-Residence in 2025. She won the 2025 Frances Christie History Prize.
Veronica Holmes is the acquiring editor and owner of Scylla Publishing, an emerging sapphic/queer speculative fiction publisher based in Sydney. scyllapublishing.com | Bluesky | Instagram
Zahid Gamieldien is an author (All the Missing Children and the forthcoming Land of Wool and Honey), screenwriter, editor and writing tutor. His short fiction has appeared in literary journals and his screenwriting has been listed for awards in Australia and overseas. He has also judged the Writers’ Studio short story competition since 2022. zahidgamieldien.com | @zahidgamieldien
Zena Shapter is a multi-award-winning author of science fantasy, conjuring journeys into the beyond and unusual. Author of When Dark Worlds Rise, When Dark Waters Burn , When Dark Roots Hunt, Towards White and more, she’s “one of Australia’s most exciting and inventive writers” and a “master of immersive worlds”. zenashapter.com | @ZenaShapter
Workshop Presenters
- Adam Richard
- Dr Gillian Polack
- Guan Un
- Karen Beilharz
- Simone Corletto
- Zena Shapter
Event Producers
- Adeline Teoh (Scribes)
- Ally Burnham (WestWords)
- Mandy Munro (Scribes)
- Michael Campbell (WestWords)
- Stephanie Johnson (Scribes)
Volunteers
We’re looking for a tight and mighty team of volunteers. If you’re interested, apply here.