LITERATURE BOARD MEMBERS
Sophie Cunningham, Chair
Brenda Walker (WA)
Brenda Walker is Winthrop Professor of English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia. Her early research was on the fiction of Samuel Beckett. She currently works on Australian and American literature and autobiographical narrative.
Walker is a novelist with a particular interest in historical fiction and her most recent novel, The Wing of Night is an exploration of the experiences and consequences of the First World War. She has also written a novel, Poe’s Cat, set in contemporary Australia and in America in the nineteenth century.
The Wing of Night won the 2006 Nita B. Kibble Award and the 2007 Asher Prize. Her memoir, Reading by Moonlight, won the 2010 Victorian Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction and the 2011 Nita B. Kibble Award.
Patricia Cornelius (VIC)
Patricia is a founding member of Melbourne Worker's theatre. A playwright, novelist and dramturge, she has been the recipent of many awards including a fellowship from the Theatre Board of the Australia Council, the NSW Premier's Literary Award, the Patrick White Playwright's Award,the Richard Wherrett Prize, the Wal Cherry Award, the Jill Blewitt Award and the R. E. Ross Trust Award.
Her plays have earned her 10 Awgies for stage, community, theatre for young people, and feature film adaptation. She has written over 25 plays, and her most recent works are Do Not Go Gentle, Savages, Slut, Love and The Call.
Dyan Blacklock (SA)
Dyan Blacklock began her career in publishing at Rigby before moving to teaching where she worked as both classroom teacher and preparatory school librarian. She returned to publishing in 1994 and became publisher at Omnibus Books in 1997.
Having seen first-hand how a love of reading can transform a child’s life Dyan is passionate about producing good and involving books for children. Her first creation as publisher at Omnibus was the Solo series, an important step towards providing a high-quality, high-interest experience for beginner readers. The multi award-winning Solo series is still in print, with most titles still available, a sure sign of the series' success with its audience.
Dyan has published much award-winning non-fiction and fiction as well as discovering many of Australia’ s best-known children’s writers including Markus Zusak, D.M. Cornish and Michael Bauer. Fiction by well-established Omnibus authors Emily Rodda, Michael Gerard Bauer, D.M. Cornish, Ruth Starke and Dave Luckett, and newcomers such as Don Henderson and Allayne Webster as well as picture books by famous Australian illustrators Julie Vivas, Freya Blackwood, Ann James and many others continue to strengthen the Omnibus list.
Dyan is also an author in her own right and is the winner of the Centenary Medal for Services to Literature as well as the CBCA's Eve Pownall Award for Nonfiction.
Dyan has been Convenor of the Australian Children’s Publishing Committee since 2006, a member of the APA board and also a founding board member of ACLA – the Australian Children’s Literature Alliance.
Dr Stuart Glover (Qld)
Dr Stuart Glover is a Senior Lecturer in the School of English Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland with a special interest in creative non-fiction writing and publishing studies. He is the co-editor with Robyn Sheahan-Bright of Hot Iron Corrugated Sky: 100 Years of Queensland Writing.
Stuart was the founding Director of the Brisbane Writers’ Festival and of QPIX: the Queensland Screen Industry Development Centre, Manager for Writing at Arts Queensland, Deputy Chair of the Queensland Writers Centre, founding Chair of Multi-Media Art Asia-Pacific, Chair of Q Music (the Queensland Music Industry Association), and a member of the Queensland Theatre Company Board. He has published widely, on Australian publishing and literary institutions, and regularly, as a freelance journalist, columnist, and reviewer.
Jason Nelson (Qld)
Jason Nelson is a Gold Coast-based digital poet and electronic literature writer. Jason is a lecturer of digital art and writing at Griffith University, and a founder and board member of the Electronic Literature Organisation of NetPoetic.com - a think-tank for all things E-lit.
Jason's work has won numerous awards, including the Paris Poetry Biennale Prize for New Media, The Vinaros Prize for both digital fiction and poetry and has been exhibited widely. And while he is considered one of the world’s top digital poets, he is most proud of the millions of visitors/reads who visit his secrettechnology.com each year. Jason adds his expertise in all forms of new media and technology mediated creative writing to the Literature Board.
James Roy (NSW)
James Roy is the internationally published author of some twenty books for young people, including the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Honour Books Captain Mack and Billy Mack's War, several CBCA Notable Books, and work that has been shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Award and the Western Australian Premier's Award. In 2008, his collection of short stories, Town, won the Golden Inky teen choice award and the NSW Premier's Award (Ethel Turner Prize) and was recently nominated for the prestigious German Youth Literature Prize.
In addition to writing books, James also works as a freelance writer and photographer, teaches at the NSW and Sydney Writers' Centres, and visits around fifty local and international schools a year. He plans to commence his research Masters in 2012.
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