Conference speakers

Alex Allan

Alex Allan is the CEO of Fremantle Press, an independent not-for-profit publisher based in Western Australia. She is an experienced creative leader, having worked in book publishing in the UK for more than 20 years, as publisher of children’s books, illustrated non-fiction, pop culture and entertainment. As Global Publisher of DK she held financial responsibility for global teams and products, content development for print and digital, organisation design and people management. Before returning to Australia, she was Children’s Publisher at independent Welbeck in London, and then consultant publisher for Welbeck ANZ. Alex is passionate about literacy and reading, especially children’s books.

Evelyn Araluen

Evelyn Araluen is a poet, researcher and co-editor of Overland Literary Journal. Born and raised on Dharug country, she is a descendant of the Bundjalung Nation. Evelyn’s widely published criticism, fiction and poetry has garnered multiple awards, including her debut collection Dropbear which won the 2022 Stella Prize. 

Larissa Behrendt

Larissa Behrendt is the award-winning author of three novels: Home, Legacy and After Story. She has published numerous books on Indigenous legal issues; her most recent non-fiction book is Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling. She was awarded the 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year award and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. Larissa wrote and directed the feature films, After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed and has written and produced several short films. She is the host of Speaking Out on ABC radio and is Distinguished Professor at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.

Tony Birch

Tony Birch is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry books. In 2022 his book Dark As Last Night was awarded the Christina Stead Literary Prize and the Steele Rudd Literary Award. The book was also shortlisted for the 2022 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for fiction. His most recent novel, Women & Children, won the 2024 Age Fiction Book of the Year. 

Anna Burkey

Anna Burkey has a passion for books and reading, and lives exactly halfway between two excellent bookshops in Melbourne/Naarm.

After several years with State Library Victoria and the Centre for Youth Literature, Anna’s leading Australia Reads on behalf of the book sector. Australia Reads advocates for investment in reading, commissions research, and is developing campaigns that to get more Australians reading more books more often.

Chren Byng

Chren Byng is a children’s book publisher for Hardie Grant Publishing Australia. She has worked in the book industry for over twenty years, and in that time she is proud to have edited and published books from many of Australia’s most-loved authors and illustrators, including Judith Rossell, Philip Bunting, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Bronwyn Bancroft, Matt Stanton, Katrina Nannestad, Kirli Saunders, Freya Blackwood, Andrea Rowe, Hannah Sommerville and many, many more. Chren is also the convenor of the Children’s Publishers Committee, a subcommittee of the Australian Publishers Association, where she also serves as a board member.

Bronwyn Coulston

Bronwyn Coulston is the Stakeholder Engagement Manager — Arts at Service and Creative Skills Australia (SaCSA). Bronwyn joined SaCSA in November 2023 and brings over 20 years of experience as an Arts Manager and professional, working across both metro and regional arts organisations.

Before joining SaCSA, Bronwyn was the Director at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery. During her time at the gallery, Bronwyn delivered a range of initiatives to support community engagement with arts and culture including major public art projects, supporting the establishment of a regional arts development office in the Shoalhaven area and the delivery of a collection digitisation project across five volunteer museums in the Shoalhaven.

Since joining SaCSA, Bronwyn has been crucial in leading key Arts workforce initiatives, including the Creative Workforce Scoping Study, which is a groundbreaking piece of research that provides critical insights into long-standing and emerging workforce challenges in Australia’s creative sector.

Nick Croydon

Nick Croydon is the Chief Executive Officer of QBD Books . He has more than 25 years of experience in many segments of the Australian and international retail, publishing, and media industries and is well versed in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, financial reporting, and governance.

Nick is a strong and experienced leader who has helped to modernise and grow the business from 54 to 90 stores, achieved online growth of over 100%, and secured exclusive online and retail partnerships with Australian Geographic. Not only does he have a strong grasp of the business, but he knows what drives customers and understands what to offer them. He also seeks to inspire and nurture the talent of the QBD team members to maximise their potential. 

He holds a Bachelor Degree (Hons)  in  Accountancy, Finance, and Economics, and his first Fiction Novel is being published in August 2025 by Affirm Press an Imprint of Simon & Schuster. 

Trent Dalton

Trent Dalton is a two-time Walkley Award-winning journalist and the international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe, All Our Shimmering Skies, Love Stories and Lola in the Mirror. His books have sold over 1.2 million copies in Australia alone.

Madeline Gary

Madeleine Gray is a writer and critic from Sydney. Her first novel, Green Dot, was an acclaimed bestseller in Australia and the UK. In 2024 Madeleine won the 2024 ABIA for Matt Richell New Writer of the Year Award. In 2025, Green Dot was shortlisted for the British Book Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year.

Lucy Hayward

Lucy is a passionate advocate for writers and illustrators with over 6 years' professional experience in the book industry. Lucy cut her teeth in communications at a marketing technology company before her move to bookselling, taking up the role of Marketing Manager for Sydney’s Better Read Than Dead bookshop. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from UTS and has been a volunteer reader for Overland. Lucy currently sits on the board of Authors Legal and the International Authors Forum.

Erin Hortle

Erin Hortle is a writer from lutruwita/Tasmania. Her short fiction and essays have been published widely. When she's not writing, she can usually be found curled up with a book, or floating and drifting in the Tasman Sea or Southern Ocean. The Octopus and I, her debut novel, was published at the beginning of the pandemic and received rave reviews.

Clair Hume

Clair Hume is the children’s book publisher at Thames & Hudson Australia. She has a Bachelor of Visual Arts Degree and a Professional Writing and Editing Associate Degree. Clair has enjoyed working on children’s picture books, fiction and nonfiction for over seventeen years. She lives in Meanjin/Brisbane with her family.

Sophie Laguna

Sofie Laguna has written four novels for adults which have won numerous literary awards including the Miles Franklin Award, the Colin Roderick Award and the Indie Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the ALS Gold Medal, the Voss Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Sofie’s many books for children have been published in the US and the UK and in translation in Europe and Asia, and been named Honour and Notable Books by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. The Underworld, Sofie’s fifth adult novel, is scheduled for publication with Penguin Random House 2025.

Bri Lee

Bri Lee is the multi-award-winning bestselling author of acclaimed non-fiction books Eggshell Skull, Beauty and Who Gets to Be Smart. Her journalism, essays, and short stories have been published widely, and she is the creator and editor of News & Reviews. Bri's bestselling first novel, The Work, was published in April 2024.

Melissa Leong

Melissa Leong is a Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and personality, freelance food and travel journalist, food media consultant, radio broadcaster, MC and cookbook editor. She lives in Melbourne but is often elsewhere, on the search for snacks.

Kate Mildenhall

Kate Mildenhall is an author, writing teacher and podcaster. Her debut novel Skylarking was longlisted for Debut Fiction in the 2017 Indie Book Awards and the 2017 Voss Literary Prize. Her second novel, The Mother Fault, was longlisted for the 2021 ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year and shortlisted for the 2021 Aurealis Science Fiction Novel of the Year. Her latest novel is The Hummingbird Effect, shortlisted for the 2024 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year and longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize and the 2024 Indie Book Awards for Fiction. In 2024, Kate released her first picture book, To Stir with Love, illustrated by Jess Racklyeft.

Jane Palfreyman

Jane Palfreyman is the Publishing Director of Summit Books Australia, part of Simon & Schuster. In 2023, she was the inaugural winner of the Australian Book Industry Awards Commissioning Editor/Publisher of the Year.

Jacinta Parsons

Jacinta Parsons is a broadcaster, radio maker, writer, and public speaker. She currently co-hosts The Friday Revue with Brian Nankervis on ABC Melbourne. She has written a memoir, Unseen (Affirm Press 2020) and A Question of Age (Harper Collins/ABC Books 2022). She is a sought after public speaker and facilitator with over 15 years of hosting live events. Jacinta has lived with Crohn's disease for over 20 years and is an ambassador for the Crohn's and Colitis Association and speaks and writes about the impact of living with chronic illness. Her latest book is A Wisdom of Age (HarperCollins/ABC Books 2025).

Kate Reid

Kate Reid is a visionary entrepreneur and the founder of LUNE Croissanterie, a renowned bakery established in Melbourne. 

Her path to becoming a celebrated pastry chef and the creator of an internationally acclaimed bakery has been anything but conventional. Kate initially pursued Aerospace Engineering at RMIT University before following her lifelong passion for Formula 1 racing. After three years, however, she realized that the reality of the job didn’t match her expectations, prompting her return to Melbourne with a fresh goal: to forge a career in pastry. 

Kate honed her skills at one of Paris' top bakeries before dedicating countless hours to perfecting the croissant back in Melbourne. In 2012, she took a bold step and opened LUNE Croissanterie, a small bakery focused exclusively on croissants. 

Sally Rippin

Sofie Laguna has written four novels for adults which have won numerous literary awards including the Miles Franklin Award, the Colin Roderick Award and the Indie Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the ALS Gold Medal, the Voss Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Sofie’s many books for children have been published in the US and the UK and in translation in Europe and Asia, and been named Honour and Notable Books by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. The Underworld, Sofie’s fifth adult novel, is scheduled for publication with Penguin Random House 2025.

Heather Rose

Heather Rose is one of Australia’s finest writers. Heather’s work spans literary fiction, magical realism, crime fiction, political fiction, fantasy and memoir, and her awards include the Christina Stead Prize, the Stella Prize, ABIA Award for General Fiction and the Davitt Award for Best Crime.

Heather’s work spans literary fiction, magical realism, crime fiction, political fiction, fantasy and memoir. Her novels have won numerous prizes including the Stella Prize, the Christina Stead Prize, the Margaret Scott Prize and the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year. Her work has been published internationally and translated into numerous languages. Heather is a passionate teacher of writing and a mentor for developing novelists. She is also one half of the children’s author Angelica Banks. Heather lives between mountain and sea on one of the islands surrounding Tasmania.

Robert Skinner

Robert Skinner was born and raised on the Adelaide Plains. He moved to Melbourne after getting into trouble with the Federal Police for advertising in the local paper for an arch nemesis. His first book, I'd Rather Not, won the inaugural John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing, after the judges profoundly misunderstood his finely-wrought work of tragedy.

Nick Tapper

Nick Tapper is Associate Publisher at Giramondo, an independent literary publisher of award-winning fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Giramondo’s authors include Alexis Wright, Gerald Murnane, Jessica Au, Grace Yee, Hasib Hourani, Antigone Kefala, Brian Castro and Judith Beveridge. Giramondo is also the publisher of the international literary magazine HEAT. Nick worked with Fitzcarraldo Editions and New Directions to launch The Novel Prize, of which the inaugural winner was Jessica Au’s Cold Enough for Snow, now published in over twenty territories worldwide.

Zoe Terakes

Zoe Terakes is an actor, writer and trans activist living and working on Gadigal Land. Zoe has worked extensively on Australian stages, in Belvoir's Boomkak Panto, Melbourne Theatre Company’s A View from the Bridge and A Doll's HousePart II. They were nominated for a Helpmann for their work in A View from the Bridge. Zoe starred in Foxtel’s Wentworth, and worked alongside Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy in Nine Perfect Strangers. They most recently starred in Marvel's highly anticipated series Ironheart. Zoe is a proud queer, trans masculine, Greek person. They are a vocal advocate for trans and non-binary communities in the arts, and in the world. Their work is both a reflection of their own journey and a reference point for others. Zoe is forever indebted to the work of his predecessors, the trans people, namely the trans people of colour, who fought for the community’s freedom today. Eros is their debut literary work.

Nicole Venter

Nicole Venter is the Stakeholder Engagement Manager — Retail at Service and Creative Skills Australia (SaCSA). With two decades of experience, Nicole has played a key role in projects aimed at improving talent attraction and retention, addressing customer aggression, and increasing awareness of the power of retail career pathways to empower young leaders and provide fulfilling roles from front line to management.

A key milestone in Nicole’s career was leading the development of Australia’s first retail-focused business degree, which includes over 1,000 hours of tailored content. Nicole is committed to advancing the retail industry, combining strategic insights with practical action to support businesses, employees and customers alike. Most recently, Nicole’s outstanding reputation and experience were recognised on a global level when she was named one of RETHINK Retail’s International “Top Retail Experts for 2025”.

Before joining SaCSA, Nicole worked at a retail specialist consultancy and IBM, collaborating with high profile companies and brands to drive business innovation, such as Sydney Foreshore Authority (The Rocks and Darling Harbour), Sydney Ferries, MYER, BBC Worldwide, CommBank, Qantas, Masterchef, Supercheap Auto among others.

Bianca Whiteley

Bianca started her career in book publishing at Murdoch Books and spent seven years in various roles including Inventory Management. She joined Nielsen BookData in 2006, initially helping publishers and retailers make the most of the insights the BookScan service provides. In her role as General Manager she leads the Australian Nielsen BookData business including its BookScan, Research and Metadata services. In recent years she completed several long running projects including establishing Nielsen BookScan’s first Australian & New Zealand e book sales measurement service and undertaking several consumer surveys around book buying and listening behaviour.

Gavin Williams

Gavin Williams is the owner of Matilda Bookshop and has been selling books on Peramangk Land since he and his wife, Jo Hill, bought the bookshop in 2008. He has been on the Book People board since 2017. He is a passionate believer in the positive capacity of books to unlock new worlds and possibilities and thinks you should read Flesh by David Szalay.