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Audience: Academic
Kelly Gardiner
Author
Kelly Gardiner writes historical fiction for readers of all ages. Her books range from a picture book, to adventure tales for younger readers, to acclaimed young adult novels. Her latest book is 1917, part of Scholastic’s Australia’s Great War series. Her previous novels include Goddess, based on the true-life story of a seventeenth century swashbuckling opera singer. An engaging speaker and educator, she most enjoys those moments of connection between author and audience – that instant camaraderie that brings together readers, writers, and stories. Kelly is also the co-host of Unladylike – a podcast on women and writing.
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Maxine McKew
Author, Corporate, Education Consultant, Journalist, Speaking Out
Maxine Mckewʼs background is in journalism and politics. For many years she was a familiar face to ABC TV viewers and was anchor of prestigious programmes such as Lateline and 7.30 Report. Her work has been recognised by her peers and she is a recipient of both Logie and Walkely awards. When she left broadcasting and made the switch to politics, she wrote herself into the Australian history books by defeating Prime Minister John Howard in the Sydney seat of Bennelong. In government she was both parliamentary secretary for early childhood, and later for infrastructure and local government.
Following the success of her political memoir, Tales from the Political Trenches, published in 2012, Maxine McKewʼs new book Class Act looks at some of the most important questions in Australian education. Maxine has been a Vice Chancellorʼs Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Located in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education she has drawn on the expertise and substantial research of the school to inform her stories of success and challenge in Australian education.
Maxine now lives in Melbourne where she continues to work on a range of activities at the University of Melbourne. She is a director of three boards, Per Capita, the John Cain Foundation and the State Library of Victoria.
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Waleed Aly
Author, Corporate, Journalist, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Author, academic, broadcaster, rock musician, former human rights lawyer and AFL mascot, Waleed Aly is one of Australia’s most exciting political and social commentators. Waleed is known in the public eye as a host on The Project, and from appearances on Q&A, Meet The Press, The 7.30 Report, Enough Rope with Andrew Denton and the host of ABC’s Big Ideas. In December 2014 he finished a two-year stint as the presenter of ABC Radio National’s Drive program.
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Maree Coote
Author, Illustrator, Speaking Out
One of the very first to identify the contemporary rise of Melbourne’s cultural and place power, Maree Coote is an energetic inspirational speaker. Her unique understanding of her topic (Melbourne) is made accessible through her command of history, culture, art and design for a wide variety of audiences. According to Philip Adams, “Melbourne never had a more ingenious ambassador.” Coote’s first book The Melbourne Book: A History of Now is in its fourth edition after 12+ years in print, and has been dubbed ‘Melbourne’s Bible’.
Maree’s ingenious typography has caught the attention of international design bodies with her book Spellbound: Making Pictures with the A-B-C winning the coveted Bologna Ragazzi 2017 Special Mention Prize in Italy. (She’s the first Australian to win this prize since Shaun Tan 10 years ago.) It was also shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year awards.
An earlier book Alphabet City Zoo also won a Distinction Prize in Korea’s Nami Concours Awards in a field of entries from 149 countries.
Lance Balchin
Author, Illustrator
Lance Balchin is a children’s illustrator and author who has internationally published two books in the ‘Mechanica’ series with the Five Mile Press, Simon & Schuster, Little Bee Books and Bonnier Publishing. There are a further seven picture books to follow as well as a set of four novels. The books carry a strong environmental message and are written for children aged from 8 to 14. The illustrations in the books have all been made by Lance using the same parts and techniques that feature on the OS Mechanica website.
Lance is also an educator in the creative industries, with over 15 years hands on experience teaching Photoshop. Lance’s relationship with PhotoshopTM started in 1991 with Version 2.5 (pre layers!) and he has built a substantial understanding of the software over 25 years. Lance currently lives in Brisbane, Australia and was admitted to practice law two years ago.
Dr Susan Carland
Corporate, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Dr Susan Carland is an academic, author, and social commentator. She has a PhD from Monash University’s School of Social Sciences, and she is the director of the Bachelor of Global Studies, also at Monash University.
Susan is a regular Friday panellist on ABC TV’s News Breakfast, and hosted the ABC Radio National Series Assumptions. She has guest-hosted on ABC Melbourne radio, and was co-creator and presenter of SBS’s Salam Café. She has appeared on the Agony series, Lateline, Q and A, The Project, 7:30, The Drum, Home Delivery, and has featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Dumbo Feather, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sunday Life, and 200 Women. Her first book was Fighting Hislam, was published by Melbourne University Publishing in 2017, and her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Saturday Paper, in academic publications, and numerous anthologies. In 2017, she presented on a panel at the United Nations in Geneva as a guest of The Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement.
In 2018 she was named on Who magazine’s “Women Who Fight” list, and in 2017, she was named on the “Who’s Who of Australian Women” list, in InStyle as a “Woman of Style”, and in Elle as one of 17 women “To Know and Be Inspired by”. In 2012 she was named on the “20 Most Influential Australian Female Voices” list by The Age. She has also been named on the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World list, and as a “Muslim Leader of Tomorrow” by the UN Alliance of Civilisations.
Susan is an ambassador for UNICEF Australia, and is also a certified scuba diver!
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