Jesse Ball is a novelist born in New York. His many and varied works of absurdity are beloved in a dozen languages. He is the recipient of fellowships from the NEA, Heinz, and Guggenheim Foundations among others. Jesse was recently named a Granta Best of Young American Novelist.

Nikki Gemmell is the best-selling author of thirteen novels, including the international bestseller, The Bride Stripped Bare, and four works of non-fiction. Her books have been translated in 22 languages. Her new book, After, is a fiercely brave, poignant and powerful memoir which Nikki wrote in an attempt to understand her mother’s death of choice’.

Nike Sulway is a writer and academic. Her fiction publications include the novels Dying in the First Person, Rupetta, The Bone Flute, The True Green of Hope, and the children’s book What The Sky Knows. Her works have won or been shortlisted for a range of national and international awards, including the Tiptree Award, the QLD Premier’s Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers Award, the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year Awards, the IAFA Crawford Award, the Aurealis Awards and the Norma K Hemming Award.

Ben Hobson lives in Brisbane and is entirely keen on his wife, Lena, and their two small boys, Charlie and Henry. He currently teaches English and Music at Bribie Island State High School. In 2014 his novella, If the Saddle Breaks My Spine, was shortlisted for the Viva La Novella prize, run by Seizureonline. To Become a Whale is his first novel. 

Susan Johnson was shortlisted for the 1991 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for her novel Flying Lessons (Heinemann 1990), shortlisted for the 1994 National Book Council’s Banjo Award for the novel A Big Life (Pan Macmillan 1993) and shortlisted for the National Biography Award 2000 for her memoir A Better Woman (Random House 1999). Her other books include Hungry Ghosts (Pan Macmillan 1996), Messages from Chaos (Harper and Row 1987), Womenlovesex (Random House, 1997 editor and contributor). The Broken Book was shortlisted for the 2005 Nita B Kibble Award; the Best Fiction Book section of the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award; the Westfield/Waverley Library Literary Award, and the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal Award for an Outstanding Australian Literary Work. She works as a journalist at Qweekend magazine.