Suspicious Circumstances

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.

Dennis Altman is the son of Jewish refugees, who first came to attention with the publication of his book Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation in 1972. His most recent books are God Save the Queen: the strange persistence of monarchies and Death in the Sauna.

Altman is Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at LaTrobe University in Melbourne. He was President of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (2001-5) and was listed by The Bulletin as one of the 100 most influential Australians ever. 

Michelle Prak is author of The Rush, a fast-paced outback thriller. She has a thirty-year career in PR, social media, politics, and journalism. Her short stories have been published in The Westerly and Meanjin, and in 2021 she was shortlisted in the Furphy Literary Prize. She lectures at the University of South Australia.

Megan McGrath has written for The New York Times, Overland, Griffith Review, and Meanjin, among others. She grew up on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), as the daughter of an oyster farmer. Now, she manages a commercial construction company in Brisbane. Her short story collection, All Hands, is published by Spineless Wonders.