Louise Adler, Nikki Christer, Phillipa McGuinness, Lenny Ann Low (facilitator)
Come ready to pitch your story proposal to three expert and (merciless) judges: publishers Nikki Christer (Random House), Phillipa McGuinness (NewSouth Publishing) and Louise Adler (Melbourne University Publishing). Ten aspiring writers will be selected (by lucky draw) to take the spotlight and make their strictly three-minute pitch. The judges’ decisions are final! Chair: Lenny Ann Low.
Louise Adler (Australian)
Louise Adler AM is the CEO and publisher-in-chief of Melbourne University Publishing. She has served as a member of the Monash University Council for over a decade and is also a member of the board of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and the Monash University Museum of Art. Louise is a deputy chancellor of Monash University and is president of the board of the Methodist Ladies' College.
Nikki Christer is publishing director at Random House Australia. She has been in the book industry for more than 25 years; prior to joining Random House she was the Picador publisher for 13 years. She has published some of Australia's best-known writers.
Phillipa McGuinness (Australian)
Phillipa McGuinness is publishing director at NewSouth Publishing in Sydney. She has published prize-winning history, politics, memoir and literary non-fiction, including the acclaimed City series, where Australian authors write about their home towns.
Lenny Ann Low (Australian)
Lenny Ann Low is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald and has co-created and performed theatre and comedy with Frumpus and double-act Hart & Low in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Edinburgh. Lenny has been MC for Sydney Writers’ Festival’s So You Think You Can Write for the past two years and the School Days events at Sydney Theatre for the past four years.