Goldie Alexander has written over 40 novels for adults and various child audiences. She also writes prize-winning short stories, articles and scripts. She likes to delve into various forms of writing and is passionate about fine-tuning her own work. She lectures in Creative Writing and is a frequent speaker at schools, clubs and festivals. Her latest book for young adults is Body and Soul Lilbet's Romance. You can visit Goldie on the web at www.goldiealexander.com.

John Armstrong was born in Glasgow in 1966. Previously a research fellow and director of the Aesthetics Programme at the University of London; he is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He is author of The Intimate Philosophy of Art, The Conditions of Love and The Secret Power of Beauty published by Penguin. His latest book Love, Life, Goethe: How to be happy in an imperfect world will be published in July 2006.

David Astle worked his way to Norway on a cargo ship in 1986. Back on dry land he wrote a travel feature for The National Times. That seemed fun - the writing part at least - so he's since done stories about rugby in Italy, the singsong Creole of Belize and barramundi fishing in Boroloola. Last year, after blowing two tyres and killing one radiator, he wrote Cassowary Crossing - A Curiosity Guide To Australia. What other book will tell you about the smelly sock tree of Wyee, or the giant hairball of Monto? When not exposing himself to risk, David writes freelance for Sunday Life, composes cryptic crosswords for The Age and teaches journalism at RMIT.

Ben Ball has recently returned to Australia to take up the position of Publisher, Books for Adults at Penguin, following ten years in the UK at Simon & Schuster, Bloomsbury and Granta Books. He has worked with Rodney Hall, Robert Dessaix and Robert Drewe as well as Carrie Fisher, Terry Brooks and Lorenzo Carcaterra.

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Tony Birch has published short fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, and has also worked as a writer and curator in collaboration with photographers, film-makers, and artists. He has a Master of Arts in creative writing and a PhD in urban cultures, and currently teaches creative writing at the University of Melbourne. Tony has recently released his first novel, Shadowboxing, to great critical acclaim.

Michael Blair is from Booksurge Australia, digital publishers in Melbourne with links to Amazon.com who can guide you through the process of self publishing in small economic quantities and assist in selling through amazon.com books on line. Michael is contributing to "Overcoming Obstacles in Getting Published” Workshop, at Alliance Francaise, Saturday 29th, 11am-1pm (free).

Janet Bolitho has been the mayor of Port Phillip since December 2005 after having been elected to represent the Sandridge Ward in Port Melbourne the previous year. After growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, Cr Bolitho spent several years working overseas before migrating to Australia with her husband in 1986. They settled in Port Melbourne and have two daughters.
Cr Bolitho’s employment has included stints as a school bursar in the Solomon Islands, Oxfam campaign worker and teacher of the Alexander Technique. She has also completed a Masters in Social Science Planning and Environment at RMIT. Her first degree was at the University of the Witwatersrand where she majored in English and History. She prefers non-fiction, especially analyses of current political, social and environmental issues. Cr Bolitho read voraciously as a child and regrets that these days her reading is swamped with council reports. She admires writing that is pared back without long descriptions and metaphors. Her favourite novels are Middlemarch and Disgrace. Janet will be launching the SKWF on 24 April at Readings in Acland Street (invitation only).

John Bolton
John Bolton trained in London and Paris. In 1991 John founded The John Bolton Theatre School which ran until 1999. He was lecturer in Acting at The Victorian College of The Arts between 1985 and 1991. He has lectured at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and The Drama Action Centre, Sydney. Over the last 20 years he has continued to perform his celebrated solo show Jumping Mouse as well as the more recent Shadows and light and The God Show. He is currently Head of Acting at The Victorian College of the Arts.
John’s awards include the Victorian College of the Arts Teaching Excellence award in 2005, The Kenneth Myer Medallion for outstanding services to theatre in Victoria in 2002, and a Green Room award for outstanding direction of My brother the fish.
He has directed plays at Playbox Theatre, Theatreworks, Festival of Dreaming in Sydney, Gasworks, Melbourne Festival fringe, Adelaide Festival fringe, Belvoir Street Theatre, Melbourne International Festival, Adelaide International Festival, Zootango Theatre in Hobart, as well as numerous overseas productions.

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Robin Bowles worked for 18 years as a director of a public relations and management consultancy. In 1996 she read a newspaper report about the alleged suicide of Victorian country housewife Jennifer Tanner. Guessing there might be a book in the story behind the news, she closed her PR business for a year and wrote a bestseller, Blind Justice, now in its 8th reprint. Since then she has written a bestseller almost every year, including the definitive books on the Jaidyn Leskie murder (Justice Denied) and the disappearance and alleged murder of British tourist Peter Falconio (Dead Centre). Robin is not bound by legal or journalistic conventions, which upsets both lawyers and journalists at times (not to mention the police)! During her career as an investigative writer she also obtained a private investigator’s licence, which she has used from time to time to supplement her meagre writer’s income.
Robin writes books about social justice issues—examining institutions that have been established to look after us, but which have fallen down on the job—police, the justice system, international rights of children, and so on. Her books are like the TV label of ‘infotainment’—they are serious and extensively researched, but written as narrative non-fiction, to ensure a wider readership. This genre is fairly unique in Australia so Robin’s books are usually found in the ‘True Crime’ section. She is widely recognised as Australia’s foremost true crime writer.
Robin’s approach to investigation has been described by Jon Faine, 774ABC, as ‘thorough, persistent and at times, courageous’.

Dr Richard Broome was born in Sydney and educated in history at the universities of New South Wales and Sydney before moving to Melbourne. He taught at the University of Melbourne and at La Trobe University between 1977-81 and from 1987 onwards. He also worked as a commissioned historian from 1981-86 for both a state and local government, and has been a historical consultant to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Dr Broome's main research has been in Aboriginal history. He is deeply committed to telling the history of marginalised and stigmatised groups from their perspective. Dr Broome has tried to introduce a complexity into Aboriginal History and search for the agency of these people within the power structures of European Colonialism.
Dr Broome has written a number of books and articles concerned with Aboriginal and Australian History, including Aboriginal Australians, Sideshow Alley and Arriving. Broome co-authored with Dr Corinne Manning A man of all tribes: The life of Alick Jackomos, which was published by Aboriginal Studies Press in 2006. (Source)

Dr Judith Buckrich was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1950 and emigrated to Australia with her parents in 1958. She has returned to Hungary several times and was working for the English language Daily News during the 1989 velvet revolution. She is an Honorary Research Fellow in Melbourne University's Cultural Heritage Unit and a Consulting Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation. The author of Melbourne's Grand Boulevard: The Story of St Kilda Road, The Montefiore Homes:150 Years of Care, George Turner: A Life, The Long and Perilous Journey: A History of the Port of Melbourne and Lighthouse on the Boulevard: A History of the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. In her other writing life she has written her own one-woman shows, short stories, feature articles and is working on a memoir. Judith is Chair of the International PEN Women Writers' Committee and President of the Melbourne Centre of PEN.

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Tahir Cambis was born in a refugee camp in Nuremberg, Germany. After growing up in Australia, he worked as an actor in television including The Sullivans, Flying Doctor, and played the role of 'Stewie' in the feature Holidays on the River Yarra (Un Certain Regard, 1991).
As a playwright, his first play Picnic with Fatima was nominated best new Australian play for the Green Room Awards 1989. As co ­producer and actor, his company's production of Danny and the DeepBlue Sea won a Green Room Award the following year. At this time founded the theatre/cabaret venue Budinski's Theatre of Exile.
In 1992 he attempted to reach his native Sarajevo, then under siege, to film the story of prominent Sarajevan and New York artists and writers use of culture as resistance. He was heavily wounded in the legs filming on the frontline, and spent a year in hospital.
In 1995 the Australian Film Commission, later joined by SBSI, fully funded the feature length documentary Exile in Sarajevo. Produced by Tom Zubrycki, and co directed by Tahir and Sarajevan Alma Sahbaz. Exile in Sarajevo used innovative filming and editing techniques to record the last months of siege, massacres and liberation of Sarajevo.
Exile in Sarajevo had a national theatrical release with Palace Cinemas in Australia, an arthouse release in Japan and screened to acclaim and awards at many international film festivals including Toronto, Amsterdam and Tokyo. Exile was eventually broadcast by SBS in Australia, and CNN America and CNN International. In 1998 the film was awarded the International Emmy Award for best documentary. In Australia Exile received the Film Critics of Australia Award and Melbourne Film Festival Audience Award.

Chronicles Bookshop
Chronicles Bookshop, on Fitzroy Street St Kilda, is an independent bookshop. We have been successfully trading for the past 11 years. The original proprietors, Rosie and Gerry Tickell, whose passion for books (and local authors and independent publications), put Chronicles on the map. Recently Chronicles was taken over by Sue and Ian Boyle, who are continuing the tradition of sourcing 'hard to find' publications, including second hand and out-of-print books.
During the St Kilda Writers Festival, Chronicles will be presenting some fabulous events: in particular, on their day/night event (together with Cafe'97) on Anzac Day in the beautiful 'French Embassy' courtyard of the bookshop. Come along and enjoy ANZAC poetry readings by Michael Farrell at 3pm. Corinne Manning will be discussing her new book (co-written with Richard Broome), 'A man for all Tribes - The Life of Alick Jackomos', an activist in Aboriginal affairs and a committed historian, at 5.30pm. At 7pm Greg Fleet and Angela Pipos invite you to 'Share The Word' when local writers will share their wares, fun and a glass of wine. Writers have only two restrictions on their written pieces for this event - it must be short and contain the line "I saw the sun go down on the Esplanade" Chronicles is proud to be involved in the St Kilda Writers Festival 2006 and we look forward to seeing you there.

Civil Rights Defence are a group of activists concerned about the Howard governments’ attempts to destroy some of our most basic civil rights under the pretext of the 'war on terror'. Civil Rights Defence has open organising meetings every week to discuss actions they can take to raise awareness of the governments’ sinister new powers and to let Howard know that he’s not going to get away with it.
Vicit Rights Defence are producting the Sedition Cabaret session at SKWF on Friday 28th April at Theatreworks.

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Inga Clendinnen
As a writer and historian, Inga Clendinnen's interests lie in understanding how people think and introducing other people to the problems and lessons of history. She has received international acclaim for her studies of Aztec and Mayan cultures, and her book on the Holocaust was voted Best Book of the Year by The New York Times in 1999. Recently, she has also turned her attention to the historical relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
At the core of her work is the idea of difference: different individuals and cultures see the world differently, and this needs to be respected and nurtured. A recurring theme is the attitudes to violence, war and death that form an often unexamined part of every society.
With the same remarkable candour, perceptiveness and intellectual rigour that she brings to her work, Inga has been able to examine these universal concepts in relation to her own life. In her memoir, Tiger's Eye, she explored her reactions to a life-threatening illness. (Source)

Paul Collins has written many books for younger readers. He is best known for his fantasy: The Jelindel Chronicles (Dragonlinks, Dragonfang and Dragonsight - a fourth, Wardragon, has been written), and The Quentaris Chronicles (Swords of Quentaris, Slaves of Quentaris, Dragonlords of Quentaris, Princess of Shadows and The Forgotten Prince). His latest science fiction books are The Earthborn and The Skyborn, both published by Tor in the US.
Paul has many strings to his bow. He has also written over thirty chapter books, around thirty non-fiction hardcovers for the education market (published both in Australia and the US), and two collections of his own stories. He co-edited four boxed sets of anthologies with Meredith Costain (Spinouts and Thrillogies), edited eleven trade anthologies, and was the editor of The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy.
When not writing, Paul conducts writing workshops in schools and libraries. His websites are www.paulcollins.com.au and www.quentaris.com.

Sean Condon is the author of the novel Film, and three non-fiction books published by Lonely Planet ­ Sean and David's Long Drive, Drive Thru America and My 'Dam Life. He has been a weekly columnist for The Age and The Herald Sun Sunday Magazine, and is also a scriptwriter.

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Raimondo Cortese is a Melbourne based writer who graduated from VCA School of Drama in 1993 and is a founding member of Ranters Theatre Company, of which he was Artistic Director from 1994-2000. His plays and books include The Indestructible Corpse, The Room, Features of Blown Youth, The Large Breast or the Upside-Down Bell, The Fertility of Objects, St Kilda Tales, Roulette - a series of 12 two-handers and The Wall. A collection of short stories, The Indestructible Corpse, was published in 1998 (Text Publishing). His experimental writing includes Bruitgrammes 1-77, Variations of the Same, Heresies, Manifesto for a Theatre of Perpetual Disorder (VAST). He is currently working on a series of fantastical books. Has also written for film, television and radio.

Margaret Cossey is a non-Indigenous Australian. She was a special-needs teacher in both government and Catholic schools. For over a decade she has been involved in the development of the processes and protocols and the resulting stories, lesson notes and AV materials and the publishing company that has become Indij Readers Ltd.
At present Margaret is working in communities in Victoria and NSW facilitating the development of a Community Writers’ Kit. When this is published in late 2007, it will be used as the tools and information for Indigenous communities around Australia, in partnership with schools, to develop and desktop publish a range of local stories for use in literacy classes in their schools.

Sophie Cunningham worked in publishing for many years and now works full-time as a writer. Her first novel, Geography, was published in 2004 and was set in India, Sri Lanka, America and Australia. In the solitude of Pemberley House (Sri Lanka) and whilst trekking in Ladakh, Cunningham was able to do some of the close work needed to bring her second novel Dharma is a Girl's Best Friend to completion. Sri Lanka was also to be the beginning of Cunningham's new novel, Serendip, which is still in its earliest of days, but will involve the life and writings of Leonard Wolf, who lived in Sri Lanka from 1904-11.

Dr. Lisa Dethridge has twenty years' experience writing for film, television and print in Australia and the USA. She has worked with producers and writers for major and independent studios and networks. Her clients include Fox, Warner, Working Title, MTV, CBS, NBC, Granada, SBS, the Australian Film Commission and ABC Australia. She has taught media/communications at the American Film Institute, the Writers Program at the University of California, New York University and currently teaches Creative Media at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She also teaches online screenwriting at the Australian Film, TV and Radio School. Her book Writing Your Screenplay is available from Allen & Unwin. (Source)

George Dunford is a freelancer writer/editor who has written several titles for Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide, as well as contributing The Age's Cheap Eats, Australian Traveller Magazine and The Big Issue. He wrote Lonely Planet's first blog and has done podcasts from exotic locations such as South Melbourne. In his spare time he's a founding member of the short fiction publisher, Cardigan Press (www.renewal.org.au/cardigan).

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Meyer Eidelson - author, historian, naturalist and bush tucker man - has written five books (including Secret’s of the Seaside Suburbs, The Melbourne Dreaming and Alfreda the City Penguin) which explore the wildlife and indigenous history of Melbourne. A well-known activist, he campaigned successfully to create a sanctuary for St Kilda’s penguin colony. He regularly leads walking tours around the St Kilda area describing and revealing the area's fascinating history and personalities.

Kathleen Mary Fallon holds a BA from the University of Queensland and a Masters in Literature and Communication from Murdoch University. Her novel, Working Hot won the Victorian Premier's Prize for New Writing in 1989. It has since been republished by Vintage.
She has written and performed her own work Laying Down the Law, a piece on the Chamberlain case and Credibility Gulf, a postmodern agitprop on the Gulf War. She has written for theatre, opera, radio and television. Her opera, Matricide - the Musical, was produced by Chamber Made Opera in 1998 and a concert piece for which she wrote the text, Laquiem - Tales from the Mourning of the Lac Women, was performed at The Studio of the Opera House in 1999. (Copies are available from W.MincProductions, glee@wminc.com.au) A short film, Laquiem, was made in 2001. (Contact greenman@bigpond.net.au)
She has taught special education, worked in advertising, magazine production and was senior editor at Allen and Unwin Publishing for a number of years. She now teaches Creative Writing in the Department of English at the University of Melbourne. Her short stories have been published in various anthologies and magazines. She writes theatre and book reviews for numerous magazines and is currently working on a novel, The Staff of Life : that which sustains us.
Kathleen was commissioned by SBSi in 2000 to write the feature film Call Me 'Mum' which was made last year. It was directed by Margot Nash and produced by Big and Little Films. Call Me 'Mum' is about motherhood, the family and interracial fostering/adoption. She has also written a three-act play Buyback: Three Boongs in the Kitchen around the same material.

The Fellowship of Australian Writers is an Australia-wide organisation, founded in 1928. We have autonomous branches in all states and territories with regional branches in country and metropolitan areas . The FAW is active on behalf of writers in areas such as government policy, literary awards, professional advice, representation of writers' rights and the promotion of literature.
The Fellowship of Australian Writers (Vic) Inc is a non-profit voluntary organisation which aims to bring together all those interested in writing for their mutual professional, cultural and social benefit, and to provide information and advice. The membership includes writers working in diverse fields. Current membership throughout Victoria is over 2000, with an increasing number of members hailing from other states in Australia. While FAW (Vic) Inc. is based in Victoria, the competitions and publishing opportunities advertised in its regular magazine The Australian Writer are open to all Australian writers.

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Keren Flavell is an award-winning producer with over 10 years experience in interactive media production, documentary, radio and print, taking projects from conception through to production to sales and distribution. While heading up digital media production company, Springtime Productions, she won the prestigious Gold Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival - Best Entertainment Website for the ABC/Film Victoria Digital Media Fund Accord project Sounds Like Techno.
She also produced online documentary projects for SBS and Chunky Move. Keren’s other credits include producing major websites for BMG, Universal Music and Sanity.
Presently she is on the Lab3000 steering committee and AIMIA Victoria sub-committee. Keren has been a speaker at events such as the AIMIA conference, AIDC, Adelaide Festival FutureProof and lectured in new media production at Victoria College of the Arts, La Trobe University and Victoria University.
She is course director of the Development for Mobile Content course, run by AFTRS. Keren is the convenor of Mobile Monday Melbourne networking event and hosts a weekly podcast called the Mobile Media Show as well as a regular guest position on technology show Byte Into It (3RRRFM).She also runs a mobile entertainment network blog called OMG.tv. Prior to launching into a career in new media Keren wrote a guidebook titled Camping and Tramping in Australia’s National Parks (Random House) that has sold over 20,000 copies and reprinted five times. (Source)

Andy Fuller is an Indonesia scholar, translator and author of short fiction, essays and poetry. During an Asialink residency at the Lontar Foundation in Jakarta, Fuller worked on editing, compiling and translating works of contemporary Indonesian short fiction for The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Short Fiction, which aims to provide readers access to modern Indonesian cultural and philosophical thought. Throughout his residency, Fuller also wrote extensively - inspired by his surroundings, he completed many 'definition poems' from observations of Jakarta, which he hopes to work into a collection larger pieces. Fuller's translation skills were also further developed by subtitling the film Serambi, and he produced a small collection of his translations entitled Water Exits from Skin.

Ian Fraser (Indra Publishing) is a publisher who has assisted many writers in getting their books to print who will provide some insights into the pitfalls of publishing. Ian is contributing to "Overcoming Obstacles in Getting Published” Workshop, at Alliance Francaise, Saturday 29th, 11am-1pm (free).

Caroline Fry has been working as a painting conservator for ten years and is currently employed at The University of Melbourne Art Conservation Centre where she conserves paintings and teaches part of the Masters Degree in Conservation of Cultural Materials. In 2004, as an Asialink resident, Fry was based at the Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi, Vietnam, where she worked on the conservation treatment of a nationally significant oil painting, Little Thuy, by Tran Van Can.