Our Tutors

Writing Your Relationships in Memoir and Creative Non‑Fiction

Alexandra Collier is an award-winning Melbourne writer who has written for theatre, screen and print. Her memoir Inconceivable: Heartbreak, Bad Dates and Finding Solo Motherhood about her journey to becoming a solo mum by choice was recently published by Hachette. She is currently a writer on the new ABC/BBC detective series Return to Paradise. Alexandra lived and worked in New York for a decade where her plays were produced Off Broadway. She has written for  a range of mediums and people, including Esther Perel, Showtime (TV network),  The Guardian, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, Harper’s Bazaar and Mamamia. She is a MacDowell fellow, a winner of the RE Ross Trust Playwrights Award and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.  

Start Your Novel (In-Person Workshop) and Online Feedback Clinic

Alice Robinson has a PhD in Creative Writing from Victoria University and is the author of three novels, all with Affirm Press. Her debut novel, Anchor Point (2015), was longlisted for the Stella Prize and the Indie Book Awards. The Glad Shout (2019) was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award and The Colin Roderick Literary Award and won the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. If You Go was just published in June, 2024. A fourth novel, also with Affirm Press, is forthcoming.

https://alicerobinson.com.au/

Hand-operated Poetry

Anne-Marie Te Whiu is an Australian-born Māori who belongs to the Te Rarawa iwi in Hokianga, Aotearoa NZ. She is a cultural producer and festival director, editor, weaver and poet. She has been awarded residencies and fellowships and her writing has been published broadly across so- called Australia and Aotearoa NZ. Her debut poetry collection, Mettle, will be published by UQP in 2025.

Write, Edit, Publish: Navigating the Literary World

Anton Hur is the author of the novel Toward Eternity. As a translator, he was double-longlisted and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has judged the Dublin Literary Award and the National Translation Award for Prose and is on the jury for the 2025 International Booker Prize. He lives in Seoul.

Writing Short Stories: Micro and Flash Fiction

Clare Strahan is a teacher at the legendary RMIT Professional Writing & Editing (PWE) associate degree, a freelance editor and manuscript assessor, and can speak to a wide range of genres and skill levels including literary and commercial fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction, YA fiction, historical fiction, memoir, personal essay and creative nonfiction, micro-, flash- and short-story. Her novel, Cracked (2014), was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and her novel The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge (2018) was shortlisted for the Readings YA Prize (Allen & Unwin publishers). You’ll find her website here.

Writing Migration Stories

Italian Australian author Elise Valmorbida won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for her fourth novel, The Madonna of the Mountains, published internationally in several languages to critical acclaim. She has written three works of non-fiction—including The Happy Writing Book, a positive guide to creative writing and wellbeing, inspired by her 20+ years of experience as writer-teacher. Elise is also an award-winning indie film producer and script consultant. 

Writing Ekphrastic Poetry

Emilie Collyer lives on unceded Wurundjeri land where she writes poetry, prose and performance. Her writing is widely published in Australia and internationally. Her poetry collection Do you have anything less domestic? (Vagabond Press 2022) won the Five Islands Poetry Prize and in 2024 she was runner-up in the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize and shortlisted in the Newcastle Poetry Prize. Emilie is currently under commission with Red Stitch Theatre (Melbourne) and The Street Theatre (Canberra). 

Lunchtime Session: Finding Inspiration in Science

Gabriella Muñoz is a writer and editor, and one of the Program Officers at Writers Victoria. Prior to working in the arts sector, she edited health and science publications and websites in Mexico, the US and Australia. Once upon a time she helped scientist tag flatback turtles, travelled to the Amazon to survey monkey population, swam with sharks and interviewed Hiroshi Ishiguro among many other scientists. To this day she has a really hard time understanding and explaining physics concepts. 

Twilight Session: Establish (and Keep) Your Writing Goals

Jeanie Watson is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Writers Victoria. She has worked in communications roles across the not-for-profit, arts, health and government sectors in Australia and New Zealand. Jeanie wants to use her marketing and communications skills to help writers connect with their readers and writing community.

Grant Writing

Julie Skate is the CEO of Writers Victoria. She is responsible for creating and implementing Writers Victoria’s strategic plan, leading a strong and passionate team, managing financial requirements and ensuring the ongoing operational management of the organisation. Julie has an undergraduate qualification in Film and Television and post-graduate qualifications in Interior Design, Arts Management, Indigenous Partnerships and Governance. 

What to Expect When Your Are Expecting Your First Book

Dr Kate Cuthbert has worked in publishing for almost 15 years. She has held senior roles at Pantera Press, Writers Victoria and launched the Escape Publishing brand at Harlequin Australia. A genre fiction advocate and enthusiast, she completed a PhD proposing research methodologies for the examination of book covers and book titles. She is also a co-host on the popular podcast What Would Danbury Do?

Dialogue Through an Actor’s Lens

Kate Ellis is first and foremost an acting coach. Kate has taught actors in Wicked, Rent, Hamilton, Godfather of Harlem, That’s Not Me and Safe Home. She has taught at acting schools such as 16th Street Actors studio as well as the University of Melbourne, TAFTA and schools all over Victoria through initiatives by Drama Victoria and the DET. She has hosted panel discussions for MPavilion, the Victorian Arts Learning Festival and Abbotsford Convent’s Open Spaces. 

Introduction to Structure and Pacing in Fiction and Non-fiction

Katherine Brabon is the award-winning author of the novels The Memory Artist, The Shut Ins and Body Friend. Her work has received the Vogel’s Literary Award, a NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the David Harold Tribe Fiction Award. Her third novel Body Friend was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the ALS Gold Medal. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne.

Life Writing: Writing the Tides

Katia Ariel is an author and book editor from Melbourne/Naarm. She was born in Odesa, Ukraine and teaches in the School of Culture and Communication at Melbourne University. Her work has been published in journals including Womankind, Archer and Antithesis. She was awarded the Varuna Residential Fellowship (2022) and Bundanon Writing Residency (2024). Her memoir, The Swift Dark Tide, was shortlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize and The Society of Women’s Writers NSW Book Award. Her second book is forthcoming with Wild Dingo Press (2025). 

Typewriter Club

Kimberley K. Hui is a freelance writer and architect. When speaking fails, she is ready to pen her design-related thoughts on her blog Archemist in the Making, otherwise ramble about it with her friends on Archemist Podcast. When not scribing a world, you may find her drawing away at work, writing reviews or simply tucked in another creative world. 

Twilight Session: Five Ways to End a Story

Kylie Moppert is a late onset creative writer who takes courses to improve her craft and take advantage of deadlines. She is yet to settle on a single genre, but continues to be obsessed with family secrets and human foibles.

Story Design

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.

https://laurelcohn.com.au/

Writing Climate Disruption

Lauren Fuge is a writer who lives and works on Kaurna Country. She’s currently undertaking a PhD exploring storytelling and the climate crisis, as well as organising with grassroots community and climate groups. She previously worked as a science journalist and editor at Cosmos. She won the 2023 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards (magazine category) and the 2022 UNSW Bragg Prize for Science Writing. Her book, Voyagers: Our Journey into the Anthropocene, was published by Text in 2024. 

Writing Romance and Intimacy

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. 

Writing Opposition and Rebellion in Memoir

Madison Griffiths is an author, artist and producer. Her debut book Tissue (Ultimo Press) was released in 2023 and is a boldly poetic meditation on abortion and what it has the power to represent. She is the co-producer of Tender, a podcast that tracks the journey of individuals as they decide to leave an abusive relationship. In 2022, she was awarded the Walkley Foundation Our Watch Award for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women, alongside co-producer, Beth Atkinson-Quinton. Her work largely centres around the lived experiences of women, especially those whose realities are shrouded in stigma, opposition and rebellion.

Poetry Online Feedback Clinic

Manisha Anjali is a writer and artist. She is the author of Naag Mountain (Giramondo 2023). Manisha is the founder of Neptune, a research and documentation platform for dreams, visions and hallucinations. Manisha has been a recipient of BLINDSIDE’s Regional Arts & Research Residency at Mooramong, a Writer-in-Residence at Incendium Radical Library and a Hot Desk Fellow at The Wheeler Centre.

https://manishaanjali.com/

Poetry of Place and Belonging

Nadia Niaz is the author of The Djinn Hunters (2023, Rabbit Press), which was Highly Commended in the 2023 Anne Elder Award, and the founding editor of the Australian Multilingual Writing Project. Most recently, her poetry was featured in Reading the City of Literature: A celebration of a year of Melbourne writing and publishing (2023). Her work explores multilingual creative expression, translation and what ‘belonging’ means. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne. 

Writing for Young People

Nicole Hayes is an award-winning YA author and podcaster. Her novel, One True Thing, won the Children’s Peace Literature Award, and shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Literary Award. A Shadow’s Breath was shortlisted in the NSW Premier’s Award and is a CBCA Notable. The Whole of My World, a YA #MeToo story set in the world of AFL, was longlisted for the Gold Inky. She is currently pursuing a creative writing PhD in YA fiction at Deakin University, where she also teaches.

http://nicolehayesauthor.com/

Life Writing Practice

Patti Miller is the author of ten books, including Australia’s best-selling life writing texts, Writing Your Life, The Memoir Book and Writing True Stories (A&U) as well as a novel Child (A&U) and The Last One Who Remembers (A&U) Whatever The Gods Do (Random House), the critically acclaimed The Mind of a Thief, (UQP) long and short-listed for a number of prizes, winner of the 2013 NSW Premier’s Prize for History, Ransacking Paris (UQP) The Joy of High Places (NewSouth), True Friends (UQP) and her latest, the new edition of Writing True Stories out June 2024. She is published regularly in national newspapers, magazines and literary journals. She is Australia’s most successful memoir teacher and has taught life writing around Australia since 1991. She gives writing courses in Paris and London each year. Nearly 70 of her former students have been commercially published. 

Short Story Online Feedback Clinic

Rashida Murphy is the author of the novel, The Historian’s Daughter (UWA Publishing, 2016) and a book of short stories titled The Bonesetter’s Fee & Other Stories, (Spineless Wonders, 2021), which was both a runner-up in the Carmel Bird Literary Award and shortlisted in the NSW Premier’s Multicultural Award. Rashida’s stories, poems and essays are widely anthologised. She has judged several literary awards including the WA Premier’s Literary Awards, the Hungerford Award and the 20/40 Publishing Prize. Rashida mentors emerging writers and lives in Boorloo/Perth with a multilingual cat and a monolingual husband. Information about her writing and the organisation she runs can be found here and here. 

https://rashidawritenow.com/

Crime Fiction Online Workshop and Feedback Clinic

Dr Ruth McIver is an award-winning crime writer represented by The Story Factory, and a sessional academic with an interest in genre fiction, memoir and true crime. Her books include: I Shot the Devil, Blackout (Audible), The Sound (2025) and The Sunset Club.

Own Voices Writing Workshop

Sam Elkin is a non-binary transmasculine writer, event producer and co-editor of Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia (Allen & Unwin). Born in England and raised on Noongar land, Sam now lives on unceded Wurundjeri land. Sam’s essays have been published in the Griffith Review, Australian Book Review, Sydney Review of Books and Kill Your Darlings. He hosts the 3RRR radio show Queer View Mirror and his debut book is Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga (Upswell Publishing) is out now. Sam uses he/him or they/them pronouns.

Introduction to Copywriting

Tait Ischia is a copywriter, content strategist and content experience designer. When he started out, he wrote radio, print and TV ads. Now he plans, writes and manages large website projects for big organisations with complex needs. He’s worked for gigantic multinationals, small businesses, arts organisations, ad agencies, start-ups and the government. He’s also aware that most biographies tell you little about a person; this one is no exception.  

https://taitischia.com/

Life Writing Practice

Tracee Hutchison is a trailblazing Australian broadcaster, journalist, film-maker, author, and creative industries leader, with a career spanning 40 years at the highest level in Australian and international radio and television. Tracee’s career began at the ABC’s youth station, TripleJ, where she hosted the first show of the national network. Her high-profile on-air roles include: ABC TV 7.30 Report, ABC NewsRadio, Radio Australia, ABC Radio Melbourne, iconic community radio station 3RRR.FM – and more recently Music Director and host of FIERCE on Broad Radio. Tracee has written extensively on politics, environment and social justice issues as an Op/Ed columnist and is highly respected for her leadership and advocacy on gender equality, social justice and environmental issues over many decades. Her high-profile interview subjects include Prime Ministers, rockstars, sports-stars and social justice champions. Tracee has served on the Board of 3RRR.FM, Music Victoria and is currently Chair of the music environmental organisation, Green Music Australia.