The Presenters

We are pleased to announce a strong list of talented writers and illustrators for this year’s Festival. Where you see a blue link, you can click it to find out more information:

Jen Banyard has been a writer for ten years, and recently published Spider Lies, illustrated by Tracey Gibbs.

Jon Doust is already well known to the Rosalie Writers Festival and for The Serventy Kids series co-authored with Ken Spillman. More recently he has published his first novel for adults, Boy on a Wire, which has been long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award. He will launch the Festival at the opening breakfast on 18 May and run sessions with the students. Jon’s participation is kindly sponsored by Fremantle Press.

Kiri Falls, also sponsored by Fremantle Press, is working with students before the Festival to create a book trailer, which we hope will appear on The West Australian website. Kiri is a Fremantle Press Emerging Arts Professional. You might be interested to read her recent interview with Jon Doust here: Kiri Falls talks with Jon Doust.

Elaine Forrestal is also known to Rosalie Festival-goers. Her latest book, Miss Llewellyn-Jones Goes to Town, is currently in press.

Murray Gill is a Rosalie parent, more famous for his paintings, and now a children’s author. Murray will read his new book, Dad’s Scooter.

Jane Genovese won’t be familiar to most of you but we know you will love her! She is a young entrepreneur who has just published a comic-style guide for students to help them study more effectively, Smart Study. Jane is also an expert on mind-mapping study techniques. Jane’s day at the Festival has been made possible by the kind support of Blake and Jane Duffield at The Property Exchange.

Tracey Gibbs has already been mentioned above as the illustrator of Jen Banyard’s book. Tracey has illustrated several books and will no doubt bring an exciting visual element to the Festival. Her participation is kindly sponsored by Nigel and Ali Warne.

Geoff Havel is another popular regular at the Festival. You will know him for The Real Facts of Life and its sequel, Babies Bite. More recently he has published The Master.

Simon Haynes will be familiar to older students for his Hal Spacejock series. Simon still has plenty of Spacejock stories in him, with two more books currently in the pipeline.

Julie Hosking was editor of Scoop magazine when she took part in the last Festival. Now she is editor of The West Australian’s weekly West Weekend magazine, bringing even more varied and fascinating experience to share with our older students.

Norm Jorgensen, another regular, has a number of books in progress. His most recent publication is Jack’s Island.

Kym Lardner returns by popular demand. His latest books are The Naked Penguin and The Dragon’s Lie. You can read his books online!

Joy Lefroy and Mike Lefroy are always big favourites, and return this year. You will remember them for The Catalpa Escape. More recently, Mike has co-produced Fertile Soil – celebrating the 50th anniversary of the City of Fremantle’s art collection.

Frané Lessac, the popular children’s illustrator, also returns this year with her characteristic enthusiasm. Frané has illustrated heaps of books.

Emmanuel Mollois is a French pastry chef who loves teaching kids about cooking. Last year he published Et Voilà! French Pastries from Choux Café with Fremantle Press, and will be presenting at the evening of Words and Wine on 19 May. Emmanuel’s participation is kindly sponsored by Hames Sharley.

Chris Nixon is a young illustrator who doubles as an adventure tour guide. His most recent book is Jake’s Monster Mess, written by Ken Spillman.

Darlene Oxenham, a Malgana woman from Shark Bay, is a contributor to the Waarda series of indigenous books for children from Fremantle Press, edited by Sally Morgan. Her book, Beach Sports Car, is illustrated by Sally Morgan and Tracey Gibbs.

Janet Shaw’s autobiography, Beyond the Red Door, tells of her battle with eye cancer, which eventually took her sight, and her incredible achievements as a paralympian cyclist. Janet now works as a motivational speaker, ghost-writer and blogger, while pursuing her lifelong dream to be a children’s author. She has three novels waiting to be published.

Ken Spillman, co-author with Jon Doust of The Serventy Kids series, has more recently published Jake’s Gigantic List and Jake’s Monster Mess, mentioned above, both illustrated by Chris Nixon. He is currently working on the next Jake book.

Dianne Wolfer published Lighthouse Girl last year, which was shortlisted for the New South Wales Young People’s History Prize. Dianne Wolfer appears courtesy of Edgar Idle Wade.

In addition to these presenters, we are liaising with Shenton College to organise a panel of presenters for their Middle School students, to include the following writers:

AJ Betts has published two novels for teenagers, ShutterSpeed and Wavelength.

Deb Fitzpatrick recently published her first teenage novel, 90 Packets of Instant Noodles.