Writers Victoria offers courses run by Victorian, interstate and international tutors. Get to know them here.
Ange Crawford
Ange Crawford is a queer and neurodivergent writer, editor and PhD candidate in creative writing at RMIT. Her debut YA novel, How to Be Normal, won the inaugural Walker Books Manuscript Prize and was shortlisted for five further literary awards; her experimental spatial essays have also appeared in several anthologies.
Brittany Dupree
Brittany Dupree is a journalist-trained storyteller and communications professional with over 18 years of experience across government, health and community sectors. She is the founder of Three Sides, a storytelling practice offering workshops, coaching, and group cohorts that help everyday people find and shape their personal narratives with honesty, craft and care. Brittany has delivered storytelling workshops for organisations including Bayside Council and Laneway Learning, and runs a long-standing book club as part of her broader storytelling community. Her approach is strength-based and dignity-centred, rooted in the belief that everyone’s story deserves to be told well.
Demet Divaroren
Demet Divaroren was born in Adana, Turkey, and migrated to Australia with her family when she was six months old. She is the award-winning author of Living on Hope Street and the co-editor of CBCA shortlisted anthology Growing up Muslim in Australia. Her second young adult novel Blood Moon Bride was shortlisted for a 2025 Aurealis award. Demet’s stories explore multiculturalism, cross cultural relationships, racism, injustice, gender-based oppression and what it means to be human.
Elizabeth Cowell
Elizabeth Cowell has more than 20 years’ experience working as an editor in the Australian publishing industry. She has also written several children’s picture books, including the bestselling All About Mermaids, under the name Izzy Quinn. Her books have been published in Australia, the US and Canada, and in translation in France, Italy and Greece.
Kate Cuthbert
Kate Cuthbert is a publishing industry consultant with 20 years’ experience across the sector. She has held senior roles at Books+Publishing, Pantera Press and Writers Victoria, and she launched the Escape Publishing imprint at Harlequin Australia. Her book on the creation, impact and language of book covers and titles, How to Judge a Book by its Cover, was released in 2025. She is the founder and editorial director of Enough Trope, a literary journal and podcast about genre fiction in Australia.
Laurel Cohn
Laurel Cohn is a book editor passionate about communication and the power of stories in our lives. As a developmental editor, assessor and writing coach she has been helping writers prepare their work for publication for over three decades. She is a regular workshop presenter for Writers Victoria, Writing NSW, Queensland Writers Centre and Byron Writers Festival. She has a PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies.
Les Zigomanis
Les Zigomanis is an author and screenwriter. He’s had six novels published, and his short stories and articles have appeared in print and digital journals. He’s also had four screenplays optioned and a raft of screenplays place in numerous competitions. He has worked in publishing for the last twenty years, firs as an editor and publications manager and, for the last five years, as a production coordinator.
Maame Blue
Maame Blue is the author of two novels: Bad Love, which won the 2021 Betty Trask award, and The Rest Of You (published Oct 2024, UK & US; Jan 2025, Australia). Her short stories have appeared in Joyful, Joyful (Pan Macmillan), Not Quite Right For Us (Flipped Eye Publishing) and New Australian Fiction 2020 (Kill Your Darlings). She has written for multiple publications and has taught courses for The Guardian, Writing New South Wales and Faber Writing Academy.
Michele Finey
Michele Finey began studying astrology in 1980. Her wide experience and observations over four decades have deepened her insight and understanding of astrology’s intricate symbolic language. Her articles have appeared in a host of publications and online platforms, including The Mountain Astrologer, Wellbeing Magazine and Astro.com. She produces an annual astrology calendar and is the author of four books. Michele’s most recent book, Astrology for Storytellers, is a comprehensive guidebook for novelists.
Nina Fromhold
Nina Fromhold is the founder of Memory Lane Life Stories, a Melbourne-based business that makes life story audio recordings for families. Since 2018, she has been making high-quality life stories in private recordings. Nina has an extensive background in community engagement and created Memory Lane Life Stories to have more conversations about the moments that matter.
Raeden Richardson
Raeden Richardson is a writer of essays and novels. His debut novel, The Degenerates was nominated for the Miles Franklin Award, the ALS Gold Medal and the Voss Literary Award. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, his writing has appeared in New Australian Fiction, Meanjin, Griffith Review and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Simmone Howell
Simmone Howell is a highly awarded author. Her debut, Notes from the Teenage Underground, claimed the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, and her co-authored novel Take Three Girls (with Fiona Wood and Cath Crowley) won the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers and earned a spot in the White Ravens International Youth Library Catalogue. Simmone has received grants from Creative Victoria and Creative Australia, and her non-fiction on adolescence has been featured in The Age Spectrum, The Conversation, Island, Overland and Kill Your Darlings. She holds a PhD in creative writing from La Trobe University and has taught at RMIT, Melbourne University, Writers Victoria and Faber Academy. Visit her website: simmonehowell.com.au
Suzanne Hermanoczki
Suzanne Hermanoczki is a Meanjin/Brisbane-born, Naarm/Melbourne-based award-winning writer, creative writing teacher and academic, of Argentine and Hungarian descent. She holds a PhD, a Master’s degree and postgraduate studies in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne and The University of Hong Kong, respectively. Her writing centres around place, home/land, cultural identity, post/memory, the immigrant experience and journey. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Cha, Going Down Swinging, Meanjin, Overland, Puentes Review, Sobremesa, SWAMP, TEXT, Varnish Literary Journal, Westerly, and HKU and Verge Anthologies. Suzanne has worked as a tertiary educator for many years and is currently co-director of Writing Days, a creative writing society based in Merri-Bek.
Tim Baker
Tim Baker is an award-winning journalist and a best-selling author. His latest book Patting The Shark documents his journey managing a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Tim wrote Patting The Shark as part of a creative writing PhD scholarship from Griffith University. He is a former editor of Tracks, Surfing Life and Slow Living magazines, and a two-time winner of the Surfing Australia Hall of Fame Culture Award. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, the Sunday Age, the Bulletin, Inside Sport, GQ, and Text Journal.
Tristram Baumber
Tristram Baumber is a screenwriter, producer and director with over a decade of experience in Australian film and television. He co-created and showran ABC’s AACTA-nominated The PM’s Daughter and received an AWGIE nomination for his writing on Mother and Son. He also wrote and co-directed the independent horror feature Site Unseen, hitting Australian cinemas soon. Tristram has delivered screenwriting workshops and courses for organisations across Australia, including Screenworks and Griffith Film School.
Vikki Petraitis
True crime author and podcaster, Dr Vikki Petraitis has written on a huge range of cases from the Frankston serial killer, the Phillip Island murder mystery, and Lawyer X. Her podcasts with Casefile Presents have been downloaded over ten million times and topped charts around the world. Her award-winning fiction novel, The Unbelieved, has been made into the TV series, Dustfall, which will air on the ABC later this year.
