In collaboration with the South Coast Writers Centre, the festival will host two free sessions of New Voices of the South Coast: A Showcase for Debut Writers on Sunday, 27 October  featuring new and emerging local literary talent. Hosted by Meredith Jaffe and Allison Tait.

Due to the heritage status of the Courthouse, disability access is not available to the building or its facilities.

Location:
Berry Courthouse

Time:
2 sessions:
11am-12.15pm & 2-3.30pm

Cost:
Free - Non-ticketed event.

Siobhan O’Brien

Siobhan O'Brien is an author, journalist and communications person. She has written several books, including the bestselling biography A Life by Design: The Art and Lives of Florence Broadhurst, and more recently her debut novel All the Golden Light, published earlier this year to much acclaim. She has worked for many media outlets notably the Sydney Morning Herald, Vogue, and Indesign. When she is not writing on her second novel, she is singing with her band, Minnie and The Moonrakers. 

Maxine Fawcett

Maxine Fawcett was born in the UK but now lives in Sydney (and the South Coast!) where she runs her own media and marketing agency with her husband. Everything is Perfect is her debut novel. 

Kell Woods

Kell Woods is an Australian historical fantasy author. She has studied English literature, creative writing, and librarianship, and writes about made-up (and not so made-up) places, people and things you might remember from the fairy tales you read as a child. Kell lives near the sea with her husband, two sons, and a kitten named Juniper. After the Forest, a Sunday Times bestseller, is her first novel. 

Mitch Jennings

Mitch Jennings is a writer, journalist, radio host, sports commentator, podcaster, comedian and pub-enthusiast. His debut novel A Town Called Treachery was shortlisted for the 2022 Banjo Prize and was published by HarperCollins in July 2024. He was raised on the North Coast of New South Wales and now lives on Dharawal Country with his wife, Angela, their son Harvey and their French bulldog, Guinness.

Jodie Lamanna

Jodi Lamanna is a writer and researcher, living and working on unceded Dharawal Country. Jodi’s works include Arriving Late: The Lived Experience of Women Receiving a Late Autism Diagnosis, a co-written chapter in a book about Career Development Learning and Sustainability Goals: Consideration for Research and Practice, and various academic papers. Jodi has also won an award for a children’s story, Voices from the Intersection (Allen & Unwin).

Jodi holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts, a Graduate Certificate of Professional Writing, a Master of Teaching (English and Music), and a PhD exploring giftedness. 

Moderator: Meridith Jaffe

Meredith Jaffé is the author of four novels for adults — The Tricky Art of Forgiveness, The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison, The Making of Christina and The Fence. Her bestselling novel, The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison, was voted in the 2023 and 2022 Better Reading Top 100 and the 2021 Booktopia Favourite Australian Book Award Top 50. It has also been optioned for film.

Diana Plater

Diana Plater is a South Coast NSW writer, journalist and playwright. Her novel, Whale Rock, was awarded Gold for Popular Literary Fiction in the 2019 Global Ebook Awards. 

Elisa Cristallo

Elisa Cristallo is a writer from Eurobodalla (Yuin Country). Her dystopian novel The Last Famine, was shortlisted for the ACT Literary Awards and was “Highly Commended” in the fiction category. She wrote the mini-series Welcome to the Family which aired on Channel 31, Melbourne and earned four Antenna Award nominations. She also wrote and performed the one-woman show Sunday Stories for Sydney and Adelaide Fringe Festivals, where she received a four-and-a-half-star review from Weekend Notes. She is a two-time recipient of Blacktown Council’s Arts fund, holds a Bachelor of Social Science and is currently completing her Master of Creative Writing.

Liv Lorkin

Liv Lorkin is a heart-led creative, children's book author and illustrator. Crafting thoughtful stories that navigate complex themes while spreading the message of hope.

Since discovering her niche in self-publishing with her first picture book, Winter in Ballarat, she has authored five and illustrated six more books, culminating in her latest release, Sage and the Journey of Grief. Drawing from her childhood experience of losing her mum, infusing her middle-grade writing with authenticity and empathy.

When not immersed in illustrating on Dharawal land, she can be found exploring gardens, finishing a good puzzle and drinking her third cup of tea.

Camille Booker

Camille Booker is an award-winning author of historical fiction. She teaches creative writing at the University of Wollongong, where she is currently completing her PhD, and is a literary judge of the Hawkeye Manuscript Development Prize.  

In 2022, she completed the exclusive Curtis Brown Creative 6 Month Novel Writing Course, during which she wrote The Woman In The Waves, her award-winning second novel, due to be released with Hawkeye Publishing in early 2025.  

When she’s not writing, you can find Camille scavenging for sea glass on the shoreline of Dharawal Country, where she lives with her family.

Moderator: Allison Tait

Allison Tait (A.L. Tait) is the internationally published bestselling author of the middle-grade adventure series The Mapmaker Chronicles, the Ateban Cipher novels, and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries. Her latest novel The First Summer of Callie McGee is a ‘cosy middle-grade mystery’. 

A multi-genre writer, creative writing teacher, and speaker with many years experience in magazines, newspapers and online publishing, Allison is co-host of the top-rating Your Kid’s Next Read podcast and former co-host of the, So You Want to Be a Writer podcast. 

She lives on the South Coast of NSW with her family.