Thrills and Chills

Nikki Mottram is the author of Crows Nest (UQP, 2023). She has a psychology degree from The University of Queensland and has worked in London and Australia protecting and promoting the welfare of children at risk of harm. She uses her background in child protection in her crime fiction. She has been shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize and the Hal Porter Short Story Competition and was a recipient of the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writer’s Centre Fellowship. She grew up and resides in Toowoomba and brings to her work an understanding of rural communities.

Dinuka McKenzie is an Australian writer and the author of the Detective Kate Miles crime series published in Australia and the UK. She is the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, the Bad Sydney Crime Danger Awards, longlisted for the Richell Prize, and highly commended in the Australian Crime Writers Association, Louie Award. Her short fiction has appeared in the 2022 Dark Deeds Down Under crime and thriller anthology. Dinuka lives in Southern Sydney on Dharawal country with her husband, two kids, and their pet chicken.

Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of Dark Mode, a psychological thriller. Her earlier books are How to Be Australian, a memoir, and My Name Is Revenge, a thriller and collected essays, which was a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award. Her writing appears widely in Australian publications. She co-hosts James and Ashley Stay at Home, a podcast about writing, creativity and health, and teaches creative writing.