AustLit

Proud Wiradjuri woman Anita Heiss is a prolific writer of fiction (including children's literature), poetry and non-fiction. She was recently appointment Professor of Communication at The University of Queensland, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit.

Anita's most recent publications include Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia and Deadly Sisters of Worawa.

Visit Anita's record in AustLit, or click here for a full list of her works.

Melissa Lucashenko is a multi-award winning Bundjalung novelist from Brisbane. She is a Walkley Award winner for her non-fiction writing and a founding member of human rights group Sisters Inside. She is also writer of fiction (including young adult fiction), poetry and short stories, and is a regular contributor to the Griffith Review.

Melissa's most recent works include the novel Too Much Lip and the essay Fight or Flight in The Lifted Brow.

Visit Melissa's record in AustLit, or click here for a full list of her works.

Kerry Kilner is Director of AustLit. Kerry is also a UQ Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, and was recently appointed the Reconciliation Action Plan Coordinator at UQ.

She is the coordinator of BlackWords and the leader of the Australian Drama Archive. Kerry was also associate editor of what was most probably the last print edition of a nation's literature, The Bibliography of Australian Literature (2002-2008). Her research interests include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing, Australian theatre, bibliography, book history, women’s history and digital humanities.

Visit her AustLit record.

Lindsay Williams has been an educator for 35 years. Known as the English Guru via his company Wordsmart Consulting, he has worked in teacher Professional Development with a focus on helping students to become more effective readers and writers. In this world, he travels all over Queensland and makes occasional forays interstate.

Cassandra Tonga (previously Grant – recently married) is a descendent of the Jawoyn and Gurrinji peoples on her Father’s side and the Tagalaka peoples on her Mother’s side. Born in Darwin, she has lived most of her schooling life in Alice Springs. Cassandra then moved to Brisbane and completed her last year of high school at Earnshaw College, Banyo.

Cassandra is currently working as a Year 1 Teacher at Goodna State School in the Ipswich area. This is her fourth year as a teacher; prior to this she had been working in various roles within the Department of Education. Some of those roles included working with students on engagement in high school, working with schools and Early Childhood Kindergartens on building partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and community and building knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal history to staff and students across the Department. 

Working in Education is a passion of Cassandra's and she looks forward to seeing where her career takes her in making a difference in children's and families lives through Education.

Catriona Mills is a researcher with AustLit, for which she has worked since 2010. A graduate of Macquarie University and The University of Queensland, she has published on nineteenth-century popular periodicals, authorship attribution in the early Australian press, steampunk's problematic relationship with empire, and Doctor Who.