Dr Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of over 20 books; non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women’s fiction and children’s novels. She is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central New South Wales and an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the GO Foundation. Anita is also the Publisher at Large of Bundyi, an imprint of Simon & Schuster cultivating First Nations talent. As an artist in residence at La Boite Theatre, she adapted her novel Tiddas for the stage. It premiered at the 2022 Brisbane Festival and was produced by Belvoir St for the Sydney Festival in 2024. Her novel, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray, about the Great Flood of Gundagai, won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Indigenous Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize and the 2022 ABIA Awards. Anita’s first children’s picture book is Bidhi Galing (Big Rain), also about the Great Flood of Gundagai. Anita released Dirrayawadha (Rise Up) in about the frontier war in Bathurst in 2024. Her most recent novel is The Paradise Pact.
Tasma Walton is a Bunurong woman from the saltwater country of Melbourne. As an award-winning actor, she has appeared in many films and television series, including Reckless, The Twelve, Mystery Road, Sweet As, Rake, Deadloch and Blue Heelers. As a writer, her first novel, Heartless, was nominated for an ABIA Award; the first book in her children’s series, Nerra: Deep Time Traveller, was longlisted for the DANZ Children’s Book Award; and her latest novel, I Am Nannertgarrook, has been longlisted for the Indie Book Award; shortlisted for the NIB Literary Award, the Stella Prize and the WA Premiers Awards; and co-won the ARA Historical Novel prize. Tasma’s first TV series as creator and writer, Pilli Sisters PI, will air on the ABC in 2027.
Dr Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of over 20 books; non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women’s fiction and children’s novels. She is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central New South Wales and an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundati...