About Us

What is Booked Out?

Booked Out is a speakers agency for writers, artists and thinkers.

With roots firmly planted in Australian literature, Booked Out has long-established connections with all major and independent publishers and we count some of Australia’s most popular authors among our friends and colleagues.

Our speakers hail from a broad range of disciplines but are all tied together by the written word and a passion for progress. If you’re looking for a writing workshop or a literary luncheon, you’ve certainly come to the right place. You’ll be equally satisfied if what you’re looking for is fresh ideas from tomorrow’s leaders.

A little bit of Booked Out history

Established in 1994 by former English teacher Lauris Pandolfini, Booked Out started life as a niche agency with the sole purpose of organising school visits for children’s authors and illustrators. Working out of a small home office, pens and paper (and the occasional fax) were the tools of the trade.

Things grew organically to include different kinds of speakers relevant to schools and by 2004, inspirational speakers were a significant part of the business. An antidote to the cliche’ of tacky motivational speakers, our roster of such speakers is strong on comedians and other authentic voices of leadership for young people. In the first ten years of Booked Out, clients other than schools began to emerge: public libraries, councils, universities and conferences were starting to seek out our services.

A facelift or two later (website, of course) we find ourselves in 2022 and while we’re proud of our continued work with Australian schools, we’re pleased as punch to be representing our speakers to an ever broader range of clients. We’re still bookworm nerds though and our range of speakers will continue to be linked to the written word.