Jackie French AM
Day 1 Oct 3rd

Jackie French AM is one of Australia’s best loved authors, with over 60 national and international awards, as well as a historian, ecologist, and dyslexic.  She is passionate about the right of every child to read, and the power of story to change lives. She was Australian Literacy Ambassador 2011, Australian Children's Laureate 2014-2015, Senior Australian 2015, and is currently Ambassador, National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature, Patron, Monkey Baa Theatre Company, Patron Book Links, Patron SPELD QLD, Ambassador, Code Read among other her voluntary positions for young people, as well as her own ‘Magic Book’ project that promises to find and provide a book that every child- or adult- finds impossible to stop reading. While Diary of a Wombat may always be the best loved of her over 200 works  (please do not call her prolific) her books like Hitler’s Daughter and Nanberry: Black Brother Whiteand have long been invaluable classroom staples. Her books connect history, geography,  literature, ethics and ecology..

Danielle Binks
Day 2 Oct 4th

Danielle Binks is a writer, reviewer, book blogger and Youth Literature Advocate. In 2016 she joined literary agency, Jacinta di Mase Management, as an agent – seeking Australian authors of Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) fiction works.

In 2017, she edited and contributed to Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology, of new Australian young adult writing – inspired by the #LoveOzYAmovement – and released by HarperCollins.

Danielle is a graduate of RMIT’s Professional Writing & Editing program, and holds a Bachelor of Communications from Monash University.

Katrina Nannestad
Day 2 Oct 4th

Katrina Nannestad is an award-winning Australian author. Her books include The Girl Who Brought Mischief, The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome, the Olive of Groves series, the Red Dirt Diaries series, the Lottie Perkins series and Bungaloo Creek.

Katrina grew up in country New South Wales in a neighbourhood stuffed full of happy children. Her adult years have been spent teaching, raising boys, perfecting her recipe for chocolate-chip bickies and pursuing her love of stories. She now lives near Bendigo with her family and an exuberant black whippet called Olive.