Melanie Saward is a proud descendant of the Bigambul and Wakka Wakka peoples. She is a writer, editor, and university lecturer based in Tulmur (Ipswich), Queensland. Her writing has been published in Flock, Overland, Kill Your Darlings, New Australian Fiction 2019, and she is the managing editor of Djed Press.

Danielle Binks is a Melbourne-based writer and literary agent with Jacinta di Mase Management.

In 2017, she edited and contributed to Begin, End, Begin, an anthology of new Australian young adult writing inspired by the #LoveOzYA movement, which won the ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children (Ages 13+).

The Year the Maps Changed, Danielle’s bestselling middle-grade novel, was a 2021 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable Book, and is 2022-forthcoming in North America with Quill Tree Books. Her first solo YA novel The Monster of Her Age, released in 2021.

Danielle is also teaching the Writing Stream for the Associate Degree of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT University.

Jack Mitchell grew up in Sydney’s Inner West and spent five years at Sydney University studying performance, film, and English. He has worked in bookstores in Sydney and in London, and is also an actor who enjoys performing in plays when the city is not locked down.

Sarah Hollingsworth grew up in Tasmania and studied for a BA in English Literature at University of Tasmania, before relocating to Melbourne where she received a Graduate Diploma in Publishing and Communications from the University of Melbourne. She worked for eight years in academic and trade publishing, holding various publicity, sales and marketing roles at Melbourne University Publishing and Hardie Grant Publishing. At the start of 2020 she moved to Writers Victoria to take up the role of Marketing and Communications Manager.

You can view the Australian Publishing Wages Google Doc here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f7wJXdvz8larHA8gRwrEuOYAF7YqVpA9Li7fsW_HsHo/edit#gid=1417976645 

Justine Sless writes, teaches, researches and performs stand-up comedy. She has an MA by research in creative writing, and has had stories and articles published in anthologies and academic journals. Justine is co host of Sless to Harsel  an IGTV show that is an irreverent twice weekly, two minute chat about books and writing. She is also on the board of Writers Victoria.

Noè Harsel is Chair of Writers Victoria, host of Live Write (an online writers’ group), and co-host of Sless to Harsel. She has published articles and short stories in a number of magazines and anthologies.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/slesstoharsel/ 

https://writersvictoria.org.au/ 

Hannah Ludbrook is a Senior Publicist at Hardie Grant Publishing. She has over four years of industry experience, starting out as a Bookseller in an independent bookshop in London. She went on to work for Penguin Random House UK before returning to Australia and joining the Hardie Grant team. She will read anything but has a soft spot for crime thrillers.

Coco McGrath is an editor and writer based in Melbourne. Her work has been published in The Lifted Brow, Stilts, Kill Your Darlings and The Big Issue. She is an Editor at Affirm Press.

Kathleen O'Neill is a Marketing Executive at Hardie Grant Publishing. She has worked in the industry for three years after completing a Master of Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing at the University of Melbourne. Katty specialises in copywriting and book metadata, and has a particular interest in the ways readers discover books. Last year, she co-managed Hardie Grant’s inaugural Spark Prize. She writes fiction in her spare time and reads and reviews books on Instagram @chapterkat.