Most Underrated Book Award Edition

Melissa Cranenburgh is a writer, broadcaster, editor and educator. She spent more than a decade in senior editing roles, including associate editor and acting editor of the Big Issue, and co-editor of the magazine’s annual fiction edition. She now teaches in RMIT’s Professional Writin... Read more

Sue McPherson is a visual artist living in Eumundi, Queensland. She was born in Sydney to an Aboriginal mother, from Wiradjuri country. Sue was adopted into the McPherson family, landowners from the Batlow area in New South Wales, when she was very young. A weekend writing workshop inspired Sue to j... Read more

Lenka Vanderboom grew up in the Kimberley on her Yawuru homelands. She is engaged as a Teaching Artist and Coordinator of Melbourne Theatre Company’s First Peoples Young Artist’s Program and is an ensemble member of Melbourne Playback Theatre Company. Lenka is a Director of Magabala Books In... Read more

James Cristina was born in Malta. His parents migrated to Australia in the late sixties and he grew up in Melbourne. He has taught English in Australia, Malta, England, the U.S., Jordan, Bahrain, Switzerland, Belgium, South Korea and Oman. He holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of ... Read more

Ilka Tampke teaches fiction at RMIT University. Her first novel, Skin, was published in eight countries and was nominated for the Voss Literary Prize and the Aurealis Awards in 2016. Her second novel, Songwoman, was published in October 2018. Ilka lives on five acres in the Macedon Ranges of Vict... Read more