The 2011 festival boasted some of the biggest and brightest literary stars in the history of the festival. Students enjoyed writers’ and artists’ workshops, performances and poetry slams during the Student Sessions, proudly sponsored by CS GAS. Information about 2012 presenters coming soon.
Randa Abdel-Fattah is the award-winning author of young adult novels including Does My Head Look Big in This?, Ten
Things I Hate About Me, and the newly released children’s book The Friendship Matchmaker. A Muslim of Palestinian
and Egyptian heritage, Randa attended a Catholic primary school, Islamic secondary college and studied Arts/Law at Melbourne University. She
works as a litigation lawyer and is also a human rights activist.
www.randaabdelfattah.com
Pascalle Burton is a Performing Arts and English teacher with over a decade’s experience teaching, lecturing and directing in Australia, England and Spain. She is a published poet, musician and performance artist who likes to blur the lines between literature, theatre and music.
Isobelle Carmody began her first book, Obernewtyn, while she was still at high school and worked on it while completing a
Bachelor of Arts and then a journalism cadetship. She is perhaps best known for her Obernewtyn Chronicles and for her novel
The Gathering. Her first book in a new series for younger readers, The Red Wind was published in 2010 and
Isobelle’s next book in the award-winning Obernewtyn series, The Sending, was published in 2011.
www.isobellecarmody.net
Justin’s first publication was a cartoon strip for a magazine which he drew while riding around Australia on a motorbike. He has written
a whole shelf of children’s books, including the very popular Extreme Adventure series. The first four books in
Justin’s new series for younger readers, Mission Fox, was published in 2011.
www.justindath.com
Ursula wanted to be an author from the age of six, and is now the author of 30 books for children and young adults. She has won several
national literary awards and her work has been published all over the world. Her latest publications include a rhyming picture book called
The Terrible Plop, her non-fiction Word Spy books about the English language and a novel for young
adults, The Golden Day. Ursula lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.
www.ursuladubosarsky.com
Nick Earls is the author of 12 books, including bestselling novels such as After January, 48 Shades of
Brown, Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight. He also has adapted his books for stage and screen. Nick’s latest
book is The Fix (July 2011). He was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is
now a War Child ambassador. He has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art.
www.nickearls.com
Pat Flynn writes realistic fiction with a dose of humour for 8-16 year olds. The Tuckshop Kid won an Honour Book Prize at the
CBCA Book of the Year Awards and his young adult novel, The Line Formation, was released in America and Canada. Some of his
latest books include The Best Ballgirl (Aussie Chomp), The Trophy Kid and How to Get Dumped.
www.patflynnwriter.com
Ruben is a surfer with a physics degree. He is a reporter on Catalyst and performs science demonstrations on Sleek Geeks (ABC1). He has taught
primary science education at Griffith University and his lesson plans and science education resources for teachers are published by ABC Science
Online. Ruben has published four great Surfing Scientist books– 40 Cool Science Tricks, 40 DIY Science
Gizmos, 40 Super Human Body Tricks and 40 Mind Bending Science Puzzles.
www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist
Since her first picture book was published, Glenda has had another 18 books published. These include both picture books and novels for young
people including recent award winners, A Small Free Kiss in the Dark, Isabella’s Garden and Mbobo
Tree. Her newest picture book, And Red Galoshes, was published in April 2011. Glenda lives in the Goldfields region of
Central Victoria.
www.harpercollins.com.au
Award winning author-illustrator, Narelle Oliver’s children’s picture books include Leaf Tail, High Above
the Sea, The Best Beak in Boonaroo Bay and many others. Narelle’s recent book, Fox and Fine
Feathers, was launched by the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, and was an Honour Book in the Children’s Book Council Picture Book
of the Year Awards 2010. The linocut print medium is a special feature of many illustrations.
www.narelleoliver.com
James Phelan holds a PhD in Writing from Swinburne University of Technology. His first book was the author interview collection
Literati: Australian Contemporary Literary Figures Discuss Fear, Frustrations and Fame. His bestselling thriller novels follow New York
-based investigative journalist Lachlan Fox into different global hot spots and depict current affairs and geo-political themes: Fox
Hunt, Patriot Act, Blood Oil, Liquid Gold, Red Ice.
James’ ALONE trilogy of Young Adult/Crossover post-apocalyptic novels are titled Chasers, Survivor and Quarantine.
www.jamesphelan.com.au
Oliver Phommavanh loves to make people laugh, whether it’s on the page writing humour for kids or on stage as a stand-up comedian. He
also shares his passion for writing with the kids he teaches at a primary school in Western Sydney. As a comedian, Oliver has appeared on stage
and on national TV and radio. He has also appeared in the anthology, Growing Up Asian in Australia. Oliver’s first book
Thai-riffic! was released in 2010 and his latest book is Con-nerd.
www.oliverwriter.com
Ghostboy is one of Australia’s premier spoken word presenters for young adults and children. He won the Performance Poetry World Cup in
2005 establishing him as one of Australia’s most innovative spoken word artists. Ghostboy’s most recent collection of poetry
And the Ringmaster Said... was released in 2008. He is also QLD’s first “slammaster” having coordinated two
of the nation’s biggest slam events; the Australian Poetry Slam (Queensland) and WordFood at Woodford Folk Festival. Ghostboy has recently
returned from a mentoring tour of the USA and has co-created SlammED! - an educational slam program featured in the Brisbane Writers Festival.
www.myspace.com/holyghostboy