This could be you

Tania Blanchard: From physiotherapist to full-time fiction author

Bestselling author Tania Blanchard enjoyed writing ever since she was a child, but it had become more the product of daydreams in adulthood while working as a physio. So she decided to pick it up again when she had her children – writing stories for them at first, before developing one of them into a […]

Samera Kamaleddine’s growing book catalogue

Samera Kamaleddine quit her job as editor of Women’s Fitness magazine to finally write the novel that was in her head – but she quickly discovered she had no idea where to start! However, after taking a course at the Australian Writers’ Centre, she found her writing rhythm, and now she has a growing collection […]

Cassy Polimeni achieves her dream of becoming a children’s author

Cassy Polimeni always wanted to become an author and even studied creative writing at university. She followed this with a career in magazines and publishing, while putting her own creative pursuits on the back burner. But while he was on maternity leave, she took the opportunity to enrol in a course at the Australian Writers’ […]

Dinuka McKenzie: award-winning crime/thriller author

Dinuka McKenzie was a busy working mum when she decided to start writing as a creative outlet. The more she wrote, the more she loved it, so she decided to complete a few courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre to hone her craft. After finishing her first crime manuscript, she entered it in the Banjo […]

Petronella McGovern’s fiction writing origins

The course that changed Jess Horn’s life

Jess Horn was a busy working parent with no time for hobbies, but she decided she could just squeeze in a few minutes to enter the Furious Fiction competition at the Australian Writers’ Centre. After that, she was hooked. With her childhood love of writing rekindled, Jess enrolled in Creative Writing Stage 1 and then dived into Writing Picture Books.

Jemima Parker – on becoming a children’s author

The only thing that Jemima Parker regrets about the Writing Picture Books course is not doing it sooner! With a varied career that spanned law, communications and visual arts, Jemima knew she wanted to take a writing course ‘one day’. But it wasn’t until she was knee-deep in wedding decorations that she finally made the commitment to herself.

Susannah Glenn’s reinvention to become an author

When Susannah Glenn faced the triple turmoil of an empty nest, job redundancy and a new relationship, she chose an unexpected way to cope – she decided to finally pursue her dreams of becoming a published novelist. “My earliest memories were of reading and writing and dreaming of becoming a full-time writer. Instead, I became […]

How Penelope Janu built a bestselling romance fiction career

It’s never too late to become an author – and you need only look to bestselling author Penelope Janu – now one of Australia’s beloved romance authors – for proof of this. A decade or so ago, Penelope had the grand sum of zero published books to her name – but she did have a […]

Reece Carter’s spooky success as a full-time children’s novelist

“I enrolled in Writing Middle Grade Fiction and became a much better writer for it,” Reece told us. “I took everything I’d learned and wrote a fourth manuscript, A Girl Called Corpse, and the rest is history!”