Historical Fiction

Christine Wells is an internationally bestselling author of sixteen published novels. Her most recent release, The Royal Windsor Secret, about a young woman who believes she is the secret, illegitimate daughter of Edward VIII. Christine writes about strong, clever women from the past, and as a former lawyer, she often features legal themes in her books. Christine lives in Brisbane and loves sharing her knowledge of the writing craft and the publishing business with other writers through workshops and private mentorships.

Mirandi Riwoe is the author of Sunbirds. Her novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain, won the ARA Historical Novel Prize and the Queensland Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Her novella The Fish Girl won Seizure’s Viva la Novella and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize. Her short fiction and novellas can be found in the collection The Burnished Sun. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT).

Born in New Zealand, Heather Morris is an international number one bestselling author, who is passionate about stories of survival, resilience and hope. In 2003, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who 'might just have a story worth telling'. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Lale's story formed the basis for The Tattooist of Auschwitz and the follow-up novel, Cilka's Journey. In 2021 she published the phenomenal conclusion to the Tattooist trilogy, Three Sisters, after being asked to tell the story of three Holocaust survivors who knew Lale from their time in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Together, her novels have sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. In 2020 she published Stories of Hope, her account of her journey to writing the story of Lale Sokolov's life.

Melissa Ashley is the author of historical fiction novels The Naturalist of Amsterdam, The Bee and the Orange Tree, The Birdman's Wife, which won the Queensland Literary Awards Fiction prize and the ABA Booksellers Choice Award. She has published a collection of poetry, The Hospital for Dolls, as well as short stories, essays and academic articles. Melissa is passionate about historical women's forgotten lives, particularly in science. Melissa teaches creative writing in private and institutional settings and lives in Brisbane with her family.

Melanie is a writer, editor and researcher. Her debut novel Meet Me at Lennon's (UQP) won the 2018 QLA's Glendower Award for an Emerging Writer. Her work has been published in Kill Your Darlings, Griffith Review, Arena Magazine, Overland, Hecate, TEXT and elsewhere. She is a winner of the 2022 Griffith Review Emerging Voices competition and the 2024 winner of the UQ Creative Writing Fellowship. She teaches at the University of Queensland.