Magic, Monsters and Mayhem

Lystra Rose, a descendant of the Guugu Yimithirr, Birri Gubba, Erub and Scottish nations, is an award-winning writer and editor who lives in a land where the rainforest meets the sea… Yugambeh-speaking country (Gold Coast), Australia. When she’s not catching waves with her husband and their two groms, Lystra is editing Surfing Life magazine. She is the first female editor-in-chief of a mainstream surf magazine in the world. Surfing is Lystra’s daily reminder to ‘let fear be your friend, not your foe, and use it to do the things you love or were meant to do’. It’s also her creativity generator. The Upwelling is Lystra’s debut novel. 

Amelia Mellor began her writing career as her secondary school's resident playwright in Year 11. As part of her creative writing course at the University of Melbourne, she completed a thesis on the reinvention of the Industrial Revolution in children's fantasy literature. Her debut novel, The Grandest Bookshop in the World, has won an Australian Book Industry Award, an Indie Book Award, a NSW Premier's Literary Award and a Booksellers' Choice Award. Her highly anticipated second novel, The Bookseller’s Apprentice, was published in 2022. When she isn't writing, Amelia enjoys hiking, gardening and drawing.

Vanessa Len is a Melbourne author and educational editor of Chinese-Malaysian and Maltese heritage. Her first novel, Only a Monster, explores themes of heroism and monstrousness, and has been translated into 11 languages. The sequel, Never a Hero, will be published later this year.

Kieren is a high school History and English teacher, and is currently studying writing, editing and publishing at the University of Queensland. He is passionate about the power of stories and storytelling (whether that be through books, movies, musicals, or any other format). Kieren’s favourite genres are fantasy and queer romance, and he can often be found reading one of them while succumbing to his coffee addiction.