Meet our team

At the Sydney Writers' Centre, you learn from the best. Scroll down to meet our team of excellent and experienced presenters who are all committed to helping you achieve your writing goals.

Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1, How to Write a Business Book, and Successful Freelancing

Valerie Khoo is an award-winning feature writer whose articles appear regularly in The Sydney Morning Herald. Before becoming a freelance writer 10 years ago, she was features director of CLEO. Valerie is also the journalist behind the popular Enterprise blog on smh.com.au and theage.com.au, brisbanetimes.com.au and watoday.com.au. Valerie is also editor of Latte magazine, Australia's leading magazine for businesswomen.

She has worked at the three publishing giants – ACP Magazines, Pacific Magazines and EMAP – and currently works as a freelance editor for several consumer and corporate publications. Her work has also appeared in publications such as Vogue, SHE, Australian Financial Review and The Age.

Valerie is author of five books. She is a former accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers but switched careers many years ago when she finally gave in to her passion for writing. She hasn't looked back. Many of Valerie's students end up successfully publishing their work and carving out careers as successful writers.

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Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1

Marina Go has a total of 24 years media experience with 20 years dedicated to the editorial, production and publishing of magazines. For the past two years she has focused on developing digital properties and related brand extensions as Publisher of The Hannan Group’s Independent Digital Media.

She began her media career as a newspaper journalist and worked in the news and features sections of The Daily Mirror for three years.

Marina was appointed editor of Dolly magazine at the age of 23. Since then she has been launch Editor of Australian Good Taste, Editor-in-chief of ELLE Australia, launch Editor of ELLE Cuisine, Editor of Sunday Life, Editor of Fashion for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, and launch Editor of PINNACLE magazine. She has also been the Managing Editor of Cosmopolitan, and Editor-in-chief of Pacific Publications, working on titles such as Girlfriend, Home Beautiful, Your Garden, New Idea and That's Life. 

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Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1, Travel Writing Course

Sue White is a freelance writer whose work has featured in The Sydney Morning Herald, Vogue Australia, Travel + Leisure (Australia), Sun Herald Travel, Women’s Health, Vogue Entertaining + Travel, CNN Traveller, various ABC outlets, Green Living, G magazine and numerous other publications in both Australia and overseas.

As a busy freelancer, Sue quickly learned to overcome her initial fear of pitching. She has since developed a fulltime freelance career which allows her to explore her interest in environment, career and wellbeing issues through her writing. Sue’s also particularly chuffed she now gets paid to appease her continually itchy feet through travel writing: an indulgence that sees her regularly journeying to inspiring places across the globe in the name of a good story.

Sue is a member of the Foreign Correspondents Association. When she’s not on the road, she works from her home office near the beach in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.

www.suewhite.com.au

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Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1

Allison Tait is a freelance writer with more than 20 years’ experience in magazines, newspapers and online publishing. During that time, her byline has been seen regularly in titles such as Madison, Marie Claire, CLEO, Cosmopolitan, Vogue Australia, Sunday Life,  Spectrum (SMH), Essential (SMH), Weight Watchers, Australian Women’s Health, Voyeur, the Qantas magazine, and Elle, as well as House & Garden, Belle, Vogue Living, Australian Country Style, and more.

Her writing online has included work for Ninemsn’s Finance and Careers websites, news.com.au, kidspot.com.au and her own blog Life In A Pink Fibro.

She has written four non-fiction books, including Credit Card Stressbusters (Wiley, 2009), Career Mums (Penguin Australia, January 2012) and two ghost-written memoir/biographies, and her first novel will be published by Pan Macmillan in 2013.

Having held on-staff roles, from sub-editor, to Features Editor, to Online Editor, at a range of publications, including Vogue Australia, CLEO, and House & Garden, across a range of publishing houses, Allison has a breadth of industry experience, which she looks forward to sharing at the Sydney Writers’ Centre.

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Successful Freelancing

Gayle Bryant has been a journalist for nearly 20 years and has worked in the media industry in Sydney and London. In the UK, Gayle worked full-time and freelanced for a range of publications including The Sunday Times newspaper and EuroMoney. When she returned to Sydney, she worked as the technology writer for BRW magazine.

She is now a successful full-time freelance feature writer and writes for a wide range of publications, websites and newspapers including the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, and industry and trade magazines including Medical Observer, Real Estate Institute of NSW, and Connexus. Gayle has also edited many custom publications for major financial institutions such as Macquarie Group, Aon, Ernst & Young and TD Waterhouse. She also does the occasional copywriting stint, and most recently wrote the copy for a number of Telstra BigPond ads. She has a BA (Communications) from Mitchell College (now Charles Sturt).

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Creative Writing Stage 1, Creative Writing Stage 2, Novel Writing

Dr Pamela Freeman is author of 23 books, the most recent of which, Lolly Legs, has been published by Walker Books. In 2010 Full Circle (Book 3 of the Castings trilogy), was published in the US, UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Germany as well as Australia. Another children’s book, Victor’s Challenge, was published in 2009 in Australia and the UK.

Pamela started as a children’s writer, and many of her books have been shortlisted for the State Literary Awards, the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards, the Koala Awards and the Wilderness Society Environment Awards. Pamela – who is also an accomplished script writer – has taught creative writing at the University of Technology, Sydney for many years.

She has also been a guest lecturer at the University of Sydney and taught writing workshops around Australia for the National Book Council and various State Libraries. Pamela has a Doctor of Creative Arts in Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney. She is best known for her junior fantasy novels, Victor’s Quest and Victor’s Challenge and an associated fantasy series, The Floramonde Books (The Willow Tree's Daughter, Windrider and The Centre of Magic), as well as for Pole to Pole, a non-fiction book about Arctic and Antarctic animals.

Pamela has published numerous short stories and has spoken at various writers' festivals around the country. Her most recent book for young people, The Black Dress, a fictional account of the childhood of Mary MacKillop in the Australia of the 1840s-1860s, won the NSW History Prize for Young People.

You can visit Pamela’s websites here and here.

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Creative Writing, Plotting and Planning

Kate Forsyth is the internationally bestselling author of more than twenty books for children and adults, including The Puzzle Ring, The Gypsy Crown, The Starthorn Tree, and the bestselling fantasy series 'The Witches of Eileanan' and 'Rhiannon’s Ride'.

Since her first novel was named a Best First Novel of 1998 by Locus Magazine, she has been shortlisted for numerous awards, including a CYBIL Award in the US. In 2007, Kate became the first author to win five Aurealis awards in a single year when Books 2-6 in the Chain of Charms series were jointly awarded the 2007 Aurealis Award for Children's Fiction. Book 5: The Lightning Bolt was also named a Notable Book for 2007 by the Children's Book Council of Australia.

Kate has a BA in Literature, majoring in Children's Literature, from Macquarie University, and a MA in Writing from UWS. Kate has taught creative writing from primary to tertiary levels for over ten years, including 'Writing for Children' at Sydney University. She mentors for the ASA Mentorship Program, and for the NSW Writers' Centre and the Central West Writers' Group.

She lives by the sea in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and three children, and many thousands of books.

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Creative Writing

Melina Marchetta's first novel Looking For Alibrandi was published in 1992 and was released as a film in 2000 which she also wrote. She taught secondary school English and History for ten years during which time she released her second novel Saving Francesca followed by On the Jellicoe Road.  In 2006 she left teaching to become a full time writer. Her first fantasy novel, Finnikin of the Rock was published in 2008 and in 2010 The Piper's Son, a companion novel to Saving Francesca was released. She has written a children's book, The Gorgon in the Gully, as part of the Puffin Pocket Money series.

Her novels have been published in 17 languages. Melina lives in Sydney where she writes full time.

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Creative Writing

Jeni Mawter, sometimes known as J.A. Mawter to disguise her true identity, is the children’s author of the hilarious ‘So’ series: So Gross!, So Feral!, So Sick!, So Festy!, So Grotty! and So Stinky! (HarperCollins) as well as the Freewheelers series: Unleashed!, Launched! and Extreme! (HarperCollins). Unleashed! was shortlisted for the WAYRBA Older Readers Award 2009. Other books include the junior novel Team Dream and the picture book There’s a Sun Fairy in Our Garden. 

Jeni has also published fiction, non-fiction, poetry and verse narrative for the education market. In 2007 she published ground-breaking work on Critical Thinking, Humour and Text for Macmillan Education. One of her most recent ventures was in co-writing the scripts for the interactive exhibition at The Powerhouse Museum, “The Magic Garden: MBF Foundation Healthy Kids Unit”.

With a Master of Arts in Children’s Literature and a Diploma in Book Editing and Publishing Jeni has taught creative writing for many years at Macquarie University and at writers centres. Her enthusiasm for words and books is infectious. She is a speaker for the Lateral Learning, Show & Tell and Speaker’s Ink speaker’s agencies and presents at numerous other schools, conferences and festivals. She has been a judge for the Stanton Library Creative Writing Competition and the Wakakirri National Storytelling competition.

To find out more about Jeni go to www.jenimawter.com

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Creative Writing

James Roy was born in country NSW in 1968, and grew up in Papua New Guinea and Fiji. He fell in love with books and stories at a young age, and couldn't wait until he was old enough to write his own. Since his first novel was published in 1996, James has written some twenty books, including the Children's Book Council Honour Books Captain Mack and Billy Mack's War, as well as the 2008 NSW Premier's Award-winning Town.

A much sought-after presenter, James has appeared at a number of festivals, including the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth Writers Festivals, and most of the leading children's festivals. He has worked as a guest lecturer at Sydney and NSW Universities, and visits around seventy schools a year across the Asia-Pacific region, conducting workshops and speaking with students about the joys and trials of being a writer.

James is also the Creative Program Director for the Anglican Youthworks Writers in Residence camps. He lives with his family in the Blue Mountains, and enjoys playing the handmade guitar his father made for him. His latest books are Anonymity Jones and Edsel Grizzler: Rescue Mission.

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Creative Writing

Laurine Croasdale has had over 15 books published, from young adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction, television scripts for Hi5, CD Rom scripts and adult non-fiction. She has been published by Australia's top publishers including Penguin Books, Pan Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Reed for Kids, ABC Books and the University of Queensland Press. Laurine was also awarded a scholarship to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

Laurine has been presenting workshops, talks and courses at writers' centres and high schools, libraries and community groups for the last 10 years. She not only brings her experience as a writer and presenter to her courses but also 20 years of experience working in publishing, developing books, editing, and working as a consultant.

She is one of the founding members of Literature Live!, a group of illustrators and writers who deliver creative workshops to schools via video conference. 

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Creative Writing and Writing Picture Books

Cathie Tasker is a fiction editor with over 25 years experience. Her specialisations are in children’s and young adult fiction and genre and literary adult fiction. Cathie has mentored many manuscripts to publication and is experienced at guiding and motivating writers to improve their work.

She has a clear understanding of how to turn a raw manuscript into a compelling story that would attract the interest of a publisher. Cathie has also been a judge for the Aurealis Awards, fantasy novel section. Cathie trained as a librarian, in literature, and in marketing. Her academic qualifications are: libraries and literature (BA in Library Science & Literature), children’s literature (half of a Graduate Diploma in Children’s Literature), and marketing (Graduate Diploma of Marketing).

She worked in public libraries for seven years, and has spent over 25 years in book publishing, both in editorial and marketing, in children’s publishing, and in adult fiction and manuscript assessments. Her publishing background has been at Scholastic Australia, HarperCollins and Koala Books.

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Writing Books for Children and Young Adults

Judith Ridge is internationally recognised as one of Australia’s leading experts on writing for children and young adults. In a highly specialised career spanning more than 20 years, Judith has worked as an editor, community arts coordinator, writer and critic. Her experience as an editor encompasses more than six years at the NSW School Magazine, in-house at ABC Children’s Books and as a freelancer for Random House, Penguin, Walker Books Australia and O’Brien Publishers Ireland. She has taught children’s literature at Macquarie University and established the Writing for Children and Young Adults course in the MA of Creative Writing program at the University of Sydney.

Judith has written about children’s and youth literature for journals such as Viewpoint and Magpies, The Horn Book (US) and The Melbourne Age. She has been invited on numerous occasions to speak at conferences and seminars in Australia, Ireland, the UK and the USA. She has twice been a judge on the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, is a Churchill Fellow and has an MA in children’s literature. She is currently project officer on WestWords: the Western Sydney Young People’s Literature Project.

She blogs at www.misrule.com.au/s9y

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Writing Books for Children and Young Adults

Nicola Robinson has worked in the children’s book industry for more than 20 years - as an editor, manuscript assessor, reviewer, writer and community arts organiser. She has freelanced for publishing companies like Penguin Australia, Pan Macmillan and Allen & Unwin, and is now managing editor at Laguna Bay Publishing, where she oversees the production of fiction and non-fiction titles for the primary school market.

Nicola says, “One of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received was from an author who described me as ‘the editor from heaven’. My goal is always to help authors tell their own story, in their own voice, in their own way.”

Nicola’s own short stories and non-fiction articles for children have appeared in anthologies and magazines, and in 2000 she received an emerging writers grant from the Australia Council. She is also widely published as a journalist and reviewer, in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Times Educational Supplement (UK), Australian Way, Australian Bookseller & Publisher and The New Zealand Herald. She has a BA (Communications) and a Diploma in Book Editing and Publishing.

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Thriller Writing

Thriller author, L.A. Larkin, has been likened to Michael Crichton and John Grisham. Her latest novel, The Genesis Flaw, received glowing reviews and has been nominated for four crime writing awards. Her next thriller, Thirst, set on an isolated Antarctic station, will be released in 2012. She appeared in Australia’s leading current affairs program, Today Tonight, along with her hacker source, with whom she worked to create the mesmerising hacking scenes.

This British-born author studied literature at Royal Holloway College, The University of London, graduating with honours. Whilst travelling the world, she fell in love with Sydney and emigrated to Australia in 1998. After a successful career in magazine publishing, where she became publisher, L.A. Larkin returned to university to study corporate responsibility, sustainability and strategic public relations at The University  of Sydney. She was awarded a merit scholarship for academic excellence. She went on to work for one of Australia’s leading climate change consultancies.

She now divides her time between writing thrillers, her public speaking engagements and running thriller writing courses. She has been invited to speak at numerous writers’ festival both in Australia and in the UK and has run thriller writing workshops in England. She is a member of the Australian Society of Authors and Sisters In Crime, as well as the UK’s Crime Writers’ Association.

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Food Writing

Carli Ratcliff is a freelance food writer based in Sydney. Carli’s writing appears regularly
in newspapers, magazines, food guides and online. She contributes features to The
Sydney Morning Herald (Good Living), The Australian Financial Review (Life + Leisure)
and The Age (Epicure).

She writes regularly for international magazines including, Monocle (UK) and DestinAsian (Jakarta), and online at TheRamblingEpicure.com and SBSFood.com.au. She has sub edited and contributed to guides including Cheap Eats (Sydney) and Fairfax’s Good Food Shopping Guide: Sydney. Her food-based travel stories appear regularly in SBS Feast magazine and
The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age (Traveller). In 2010 Carli was honoured at The Australian Food Media Awards.

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An introduction to Chick-Lit

Lisa Heidke writes contemporary women’s fiction. Lucy Springer Gets Even (Allen & Unwin, 2009), her first book, was quickly followed by What Kate Did Next (2010).

Claudia’s Big Break, was published in January 2011 and the following month was listed in the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the Top Ten Australian Best Sellers. In 2012, Claudia’s Big Break was a finalist in the Favourite Contemporary Romance category of the Australian Romance Readers Awards.

Lisa’s fourth novel, Stella Does Good, was released in January 2012.

Find out more about Lisa and read her sporadic weekly blog, at www.lisaheidke.com

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Screenwriting Stage 1

Tim Gooding writes for stage, film and television. He is also a musician and songwriter. Tim’s feature film credits include “Heatwave” and “On the Loose”. He is the recipient of a “Distinctly Australian” Writer’s Fellowship from the Australian Film Commission. He devised and co-wrote the ABC TV series “Sweet and Sour”, the soundtrack of which achieved platinum sales and was a nationwide hit.

He has written television comedy – The Aunty Jack Show, The Norman Gunston Show, Wollongong The Brave, Ratbags – and drama – Rafferty’s Rules, Blue Heelers, Stingers, Water Rats, All Saints ¬– plus numerous other series involving doctors, lawyers, and police officers, or a blend of the three, on land, sea, and in the air. For younger viewers, he has contributed scripts to Mortified, Time Trackers, Heartbreak High, CJ the DJ, Penelope K By The Way, and others. Tim’s episode 6 of Mortified, “The Talk”, won First Prize at the 2007 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, and the Theme Prize at 2008 Prix Jeunesse in Munich.

His theatre productions include the musical plays “King Of Country” and “Rock-Ola”, “Tentshow Pagliacci”, “The Astounding Optimissimos”, and a new translation of Molière’s “The Miser”. The Sydney Theatre Company production of his comedy “Drums Along The Diamantina” featured Mel Gibson as Wayne from Queensland.

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Travel Memoir

Claire Scobie is author of Last Seen in Lhasa, winner of the Dolman Best Travel Book Award. So far, it has been translated into German, Dutch and Korean. She writes for numerous publications including the Daily Telegraph and the Observer Magazine in the UK, and is a contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald, Marie Claire Australia and the Qantas in-flight magazine, The Australian Way. She’s gone on the trail of rhino poachers in Assam, done heli-fishing in Patagonia and crossed the Tanami Track in Australia.

Claire started her career as a journalist working for London’s Telegraph Magazine. In 1997, after winning a national award as Best Young Woman Journalist of the Year, Claire went to Tibet in search of a rare red lily. Six more journeys to Tibet followed, resulting in her acclaimed travel memoir Last Seen in Lhasa, published by Random House, about her friendship with a wandering Tibetan nun.

She teaches writing workshops across Australia, mentors writers, and appears at international literary festivals as a speaker and facilitator. In September 2010 she appeared on ABC TV’s First Tuesday Book Club in ‘On the Road’, a special show dedicated to travel writing.

Claire has taught journalism at Macquarie University in Sydney and been a judge in the Australian Society of Travel Writers Travel Journalism Awards. Since 2008 she has been a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers. Currently working on two new books, a novel and a second travel memoir, she is completing a Doctor of Creative Arts.

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Your Story Structure

Dr Kathryn Heyman is the author of four novels, all published internationally and in translation. She's been nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe Critics Awards, the Orange Prize, Scottish Writer of the Year Award, the Kibble Prize, the West Australian Premiers Prize. The Accomplice won the Arts Council of England Writers Award and Captain Starlight's Apprentice was serialised on BBC Radio and is now in development as a feature film.

Kathryn has been a Royal Literary Fellow and the Writing Fellow for the University of Glasgow. She has taught Creative Writing for the University of Oxford, and mentors writers in Australia and the UK. 

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Writing About Interiors, Style and Design

Nigel Bartlett is a freelance writer and editor with more than 20 years’ experience in magazines. He has written and edited interior design features for Belle, Inside Out, Real Living and other magazines. His work has included house and apartment stories, before-and-after pieces, kitchen and bathroom supplements and interviews with architects, interior designers, furniture makers and store owners.

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From Blog to Book

Kerri Sackville joined Twitter in May 2009 and began blogging shortly afterwards at lifeandothercrises.blogspot.com. She published her first book, When My Husband Does the Dishes: A Memoir of Marriage and Motherhood, in 2011. Her second book is due to be released in April 2012.

In 2010 she was shortlisted for Australasian Blogger of the Year. Kerri is also a regular contributor and popular figure on the enormously successful website Mamamia.com.

As a blogger, Kerri has been interviewed several times on ABC radio, and has been profiled in the Sunday Magazine and Sunday Life magazine. She has been featured as a panellist at the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival 2010 and the Sydney Bloggers Festival 2010, and was recently named as one of Kidspot.com's Top 10 Bloggers.

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Life Writing

Patti Miller has taught creative writing, with a particular focus on autobiographical writing, for 20 years. At the Sydney Writers' Centre, you learn from the best – and we believe Patti is the best life writing teacher in Australia.

She is the author of Australia 's best-selling autobiographical writing text, Writing Your Life and of The Last One Who Remembers (life-writing), Child (novel) and Whatever The Gods Do. Her latest book, The Mind of a Thief, will be released late April 2012.

She is published regularly in newspapers and magazines including essay pieces in the Good Weekend, SMH and is available for speaking engagements to clubs and other groups. She has a BA (Communications) and MA (Writing) from UTS. Many of her former students have been successfully published. Her latest writing book, The Memoir Book was released by Allen & Unwin in May 2007.

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Introduction to Travel Writing, How to Get Your Book Published, and Self-publishing

Geoff Bartlett is an author, journalist, actor and producer. He has filed articles and interviews for over 20 major newspapers and magazines around the country, including The Sydney Morning Herald, Courier Mail, Canberra Times, West Australian and Australian Style.

Geoff has worked as a freelance travel writer and photographer for magazines and websites for the last six years. His current areas of focus are the islands of the South Pacific and Asia. He is a regular contributor to Pacific Island Paradises and Asian Paradises.

In 1999, Geoff's first book, was published in Australia and New Zealand through Harper Collins. Comedians in the Mist was a series of interviews with top Australian comedians.

In the electronic media, Geoff has written for Good News Week, Backberner, Life Support, The Comedy Channel and 2MMM. He also writes regularly for the finance and travel industries. His latest books are Cattitude, released in 2006 and Mutterings which was published in 2007.

www.lhaproductions.com.au

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Grammar and Punctuation, Editing Essentials, and Perfect Your Proofreading

Deb Doyle is an experienced editorial-training consultant and publication editor. She specialises in publication editing and in training company and government employees to improve their skills in grammar and punctuation, writing, editing, proofreading and plain English. Deb has conducted courses for the Productivity Commission, AMP, Wizard Home Loans and the RTA as well as many other corporate and government entities located in Sydney or Melbourne. Deb's courses are interactive and fun.

She is passionate about enabling writers and editors to prevent embarrassing errors from occurring in print and online publications and to bring any type of document to an acceptable standard for publication. She bases her teaching methods on the belief that education and entertainment don’t have to be mutually exclusive!

You'll be amazed at how engaging and interesting workshops in grammar and punctuation, writing letters and emails, and editing can be. 

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Business Writing Basics

Tony Spencer-Smith is a corporate writer, editor and trainer, an award-winning novelist and former Editor-in-Chief of Reader’s Digest magazine.

Over the last eight years he has delivered writing training courses to many hundreds of people from numerous organisations including the ABC, Allianz, Austrade, AMP, Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Macquarie Bank, Optus, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children and the Wesley Mission.

Tony is managing partner at one of Sydney's leading corporate editorial consultancies. He has written and edited speeches for top executives, thought leadership pieces, brochures, case studies and many other documents for blue-chip clients including ASIC, the COAG reform council, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the University of Newcastle and Westpac.

Trainees benefit not only from his wealth of writing and editing experience, but also his enthusiasm for words and the power of language.

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Blogging for Business, Sell Your eBook on Amazon, and How to use Twitter

Steven Lewis has consulted on blogging, podcasting and other Web 2.0 tools for companies such as Westpac and IAG. For Tourism Tasmania he created a ground-breaking series of travel podcasts, with similar projects in the works for companies like V Australia and Time Out.

Steven has also promoted blogs, wikis and podcasts as a corporate insider, having worked for AMP as an in-house evangelist for its enterprise 2.0 tools.

Before moving into the world of Web 2.0, Steven had a long history in translating online tools for non-technical audiences writing as a journalist for mainstream publications around the world.
Steven blogs at www.taleist.com

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Writing for the Web

Grant Doyle is an experienced copywriter, content manager and web editor. After many years as a print journalist and author, Grant has spent the last 11 years in web writing and has been contracting or consulting to major corporations in various online content capacities since then.

Former clients include financial services, telecommunications and IT companies as well as government agencies. Grant continues to initiate and teach many in-house web writing programs in addition to developing corporate web writing style guides. He is currently studying for a Master of Arts in Writing.

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PR and Media Releases that Get Results

Catriona Pollard is director of public relations consultancy, CP Communications. She has 17 years experience in developing and managing public relations and marketing programs. Prior to establishing CP Communications in 2001, Catriona set up the marketing communications department for a leading software company and managed a diverse range of accounts within PR agencies. She also has extensive experience in managing public affairs and marketing in federal and state governments.

She regularly authors articles on PR and marketing which are published in many business publications. Catriona has won an award in the Public Relations Institute Association Awards for Excellence and holds a BA and a Graduate Diploma in Professional Communication.

Catriona regularly provides comments to journalists on PR and marketing and she was labelled a leading public relations blogger in Enterprise and is listed as one of the top 100 PR people worldwide to follow on Twitter as well as on the Top 100 PR. The lists only include PR people who participate and contribute to their Twitter page, share valuable information, and contribute to the profession. The lists, consisting mainly of US PR directors, featured only three Australians.

Catriona's blog Public Relations Sydney was shortlisted for Mumbrella's media & marketing blog of the year 2009. She is a co-founder of Social Media Women, a formal online and in person networking group that encourages and assists women to participate more prominently in social media.

Catriona is actively involved in many business networks, is a Mentor in the NSW Government’s Women in Business Mentoring Program and a Professional Member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA).

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Manuscript Assessment

Dr Rose Moxham writes for adults and children and has published short stories and two young adult novels. Her most recent work is a novel, Teeth Marks (Allen & Unwin), April 2007.

She has served as a judge for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards (2000) and on the committee of the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge.

Rose has designed, developed and delivered undergraduate and post-graduate courses in writing and editing (non-fiction and fiction) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and Macquarie University since 1997. In her capacity as lecturer in Writing and as a supervisor of numerous MA Writing candidates, she has vast experience in manuscript assessment. She has reviewed peer textbooks on writing techniques (eg. Hazel Smith, The Writing Experiment, Allen & Unwin 2004) and mentored various authors.

Rose has worked as a freelance reader and part-time editor for publishing houses including Random House, McGraw-Hill.

Course Manager

Danielle Williams is the course manager at the Sydney Writers' Centre. She has a long background in writing and adult education. Danielle coordinates our courses and workshops and is passionate about helping our students get the most out of their experience with us. She's formerly worked at the University of Sydney's Centre for Continuing Education and the NSW Writers' Centre. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New England and enjoys reading and writing.

New Media Manager

Tracy Tan is the new media manager at the Sydney Writers' Centre. With a Bachelor of Science (Media and Communications) from the University of New South Wales under her belt, she coordinates the technological side of our online courses, blog, website, newsletter, podcasts and more. She has been with the centre since it was founded and loves reading, writing - and technology!

Communications Coordinator

Rose Powell is the communications coordinator at the Sydney Writers' Centre. With a background in social enterprise network management and freelance copywriting, she coordinates our blog, Facebook, Twitter and works on our customer liaison and marketing. She has a Bachelor of Communications (Creative Writing and Cultural Studies) from the University of Technology Sydney and loves reading, writing and everything to do with words.

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