Alex Sarkis was born and raised in Sydney’s West to Lebanese immigrant parents. Her main source of inspiration has always been the wild and wonderful landscape of her hometown, her family’s heritage, and the pride she feels in being an Australian. Something Blue, her debut novel, was published in 2022. 

Ashley Kalagian Blunt writes to expose the myriad ways our technology makes us vulnerable. She is the number-one bestselling author of Dark Mode, a psychological thriller published in multiple territories and languages. Dark Mode was shortlisted for the 2024 ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year, and was voted number 20 in the Better Reading Top 100. Her most recent crime novels exploring the dangers of contemporary technology are Cold Truth, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel, and Like, Follow, Die. 

 Fiona Wright is a writer, editor, poet and critic from Sydney. Her book of essays Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger won the 2016 Nita B. Kibble Award and the Queensland Literary Award for non-fiction, and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the NSW Premier’s Douglas Stewart Prize. Her first poetry collection, Knuckled, won the 2012 Dame Mary Gilmore Award, while Domestic Interior was shortlisted for the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry. Her most recent book of essays, The World Was Whole, was longlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize. She completed a PhD at Western Sydney University’s Writing & Society Research Centre. Her poems and essays have been published in The Australian, Meanjin, Island, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Seizure and HEAT. Her first novel, Kill Your Boomers, was published by Ultimo Press in April 2026.

Jaclyn Moriarty is the internationally bestselling author of novels for children, young adults and adults. Jaclyn’s books have been translated into several languages, won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, the Queensland Literary Award, the Aurealis Award and named as CBCA Honour Book and Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book. They have also been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the Nebula Prize and the Russell Prize for Humour Writing for Young People. A former media and entertainment lawyer, Jaclyn grew up in Sydney, lived in the US, UK and Canada, and now lives in Sydney again. 

 Sita Walker is a high school literature teacher, freelance writer and award-winning author whose first book, The God of No Good (Ultimo Press, 2023), won The Courier-­Mail People’s Choice Award at the Queensland Literary Awards and the University of Sydney People’s Choice Award at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Her most recent novel, In a Common Hour, was published by Ultimo Press in 2026.