Dyan Blacklock is a bold writer with an instinct for the things that fascinate children. Her stories are full of surprises and leave readers with plenty to think about. Dyan has written nine books, many of which are Notable books, including a picture book, short stories, a novel and non-fiction. Her book Crash!: The Search for the Stinson was the Honour Book in the 2000 Children’s Book Council Eve Pownell Award. In 2001, Olympia: Warrior Athletes of Ancient Greece won the Eve Pownell Award. She is now a children's publisher.

Michael Bauer was born and lives in Brisbane. In 2004, after dabbling in poetry and song writing, his first novel for young adults, The Running Man was published and went on to win numerous awards including the CBC Book of Year (Older Readers) award. In 2008, The Running Man won the prestigious German literature prize, the Katholischer Kinder-und Jugenbuchpreis. Michael’s second book, Don’t Call Me Ishmael, and its sequel, titled Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs, have also been runaway successes. In April 2009, Michael’s latest book for younger readers will be published, titled Dinosaur Knights.

Lee Fox has worked as a radio station production assistant, a childcare centre cook and a store manager on a remote aboriginal community. Her first work, Ella Kazoo Will Not Brush Her Hair, is a humorous picture book illustrated by Cathie Wilcox. In Other People’s Country, a book for early teenagers, she examines issues that separate the Aboriginal community from mainstream Australian society. In a move back to her humorous roots, Lee has written a new series of children’s books, illustrated by Mitch Vane, the first of which is titled Jasper McFlea Will Not Eat His Tea.

Steven Herrick is one of Australia's most travelled and widely heard poets. He has published a myriad of shortlisted and award winning books of poetry and novels in verse for adults, young adults and younger readers. Steven’s books include Poetry to the Rescue, Rhyming Boy, and Do-Wrong Ron. By the River and The Simple Gift are books well suited for older readers. Besides his love of writing and performing Steven is a self-confessed football freak listing soccer as his favourite subject at school.

John Marsden is undoubtedly one of Australia's most well-read and acclaimed authors for teenagers. His first book, So Much to Tell You was published in 1987 and has gone on to win many accolades and awards. John is an author of both fiction and non-fiction, including the hugely popular Tomorrow series of seven books and the sequel trilogy
The Ellie Chronicles, all of which feature Ellie Linton, the heroine and narrator. As well as his numerous novels for teenagers John has written and/or collaborated on a number of picture books, his most recent being Home and Away with Matt Ottley, also presenting at this festival. John has returned to his first passion of teaching and now runs his own school, "Candlebark”, in the Melbourne hinterland.

Marc McBride has illustrated over a hundred book covers and countless magazines, as well as producing artwork for advertising campaigns.  He won the West Australian film and television Award for Best Art Director and also exhibited with the New York Society of Illustrators.  Marc is probably best known for his mind-blowing fantasy cover artwork for Emily Rodda’s Deltora Quest series and has won countless accolades for this work. In 2007, Marc produced his own book titled, World of Monsters and in 2009 his latest book How to Draw Monster Battles will be published.

Ruben Meerman is the ‘Surfing Scientist’. Well known to budding young scientists through his appearances on ABC’s “Rollercoaster” and “The ExperiMENTALs” this science aficionado also has an ABC website packed with resources for teachers and kids. Ruben's scientific career started as a physicist working in the laser industry but he soon escaped the lab to start performing his brand of cheeky science shows at schools and public events. With eye-popping demonstrations and lightning wit, Ruben engages audiences with an infectious passion and enthusiasm. Ruben has published two great books, Surfing Scientist – 40 Cool Science Tricks and Surfing Scientist Book 2: DIY Science Gizmos.

Robert Newton’s writing career began just eight years ago with the release of his first novel My Name is Will Thompson. Since then he has gone on to release a further four novels, including Runner and The Black Dog Gang  which are both set in Australia during the early 1900’s and are historically accurate, action –packed adventures for young adult readers. More recently, Robert has turned his hand to script writing, a medium he enjoyed immensely and one he intends to pursue further.   Despite his rising popularity as a writer, Robert still remains in his full time occupation as a fire fighter with the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

NIDA is Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, a centre of excellence in training for theatre, film and television. NIDA on Tour provides access to expertise in theatre, film and television, by bringing short courses to capital cities and regional centres across Australia. Specialists from NIDA will hold drama improvisation workshops at the 2009 Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival.

Matt Ottley is an artist, guitarist and composer as well as a writer. Matt has had illustrations published in numerous fiction and non- fiction books. Matt is especially well- known for his “Faust” picture books, including What Faust Saw and Faust in Space.  Matt’s controversial book Requiem for a Beast encompasses text, illustrations and music and deals with the Stolen Generation and won the CBCA 2008 Picture Book of the Year award. Home and Away, a picture book with text by John Marsden, was released last year examines a detention centre life through the eyes of an Australian family. More recently Matt has prepared illustrations for The Serpent’s Tale, written by Dr Gary Crew.

Back by popular demand at the 2009 festival, Boori Pryor is a multi-talented performer who has worked in numerous industries including film, television, modelling, sport, music and theatre-in-education. He is also an articulate public speaker on Aboriginal issues. Boori has collaborated with Meme McDonald on five books: Maybe Tomorrow, My Girragundji, The Binna Binna Man, Nunjul The Sun and Flytrap.  Maybe Tomorrow received a Special Commendation at the 1998 Human Rights Awards and My Girragundji was awarded The Children’s Book Council of Australia 1999 Book of The Year Award.

Although Sally was born in Australia, she grew up in many countries including England, Brunei, Hong Kong and China. After completing her secondary studies in Australia, she went back to China and studied traditional Chinese painting for three years which became the basis of her first novel Chenxi and the Foreigner. Sally has written and illustrated many books for all ages including the Fang Fang books. Sally’s latest book Me, Oliver Bright is due for release in May 2009.

Emily Rodda is one of Australia’s most successful and popular authors for children and has outstanding success with her Deltora Quest and Rowan novels and more recently her Rondo series.  She has won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award (Younger Readers) a record five times and in 1995 she received the Dromkeen Medal for services to Australian children’s literature. Her best-selling Deltora Quest series has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, with 3 million copies distributed in Australia alone. The Rondo series is a trilogy and is also proving to be extraordinarily successful.  The Key to Rondo was shortlisted for Book of Year (Younger Readers) in the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s 2008 Awards and the Patricia Wrightson Prize in 2008 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards and was the winner for Best Children’s (8-12 years) Long Fiction in the 2007 Aurealis Awards.  The Wizard of Rondo was published in October 2008 and the final book in the trilogy is The Battle of Rondo, due for release in October 2009.