The 2008 National Young Writers' Festival takes place from October 2 - October 6 in Newcastle, NSW. It's our 10th anniversary - put it in your diaries now! >> read more

Amy grew up in the Barossa Valley in South Australia where she learned to appreciate the fine skill of boozing up. She then moved onto study acting at The University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba where needless to say she honed her skills. Since graduating she has done continuous work as a performer/ director and creator with Switchboard Arts out of the Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane. She has also worked with Backbone Youth Arts on projects such as the 2high Festival. As well as being one of the new directors for the NYWF, this will also be her first year in attending where she plans to display her hard found skills obtained in the Barossa Valley to her best ability.

Daniel Evans is a writer, listener, libertine and pop aficionado.

Partial to the fantastical and absurd, Daniel has written numerous works for the stage. His family’s favourite is the one about the talking avocado who wants to be magician. Daniel is mad keen about a) creating work with and for young people, b) bringing the stories of life’s Others to the fore, and c) collaboration.

To earn a crust he edits, teaches, designs and performs – sometimes all at once and often with no hands.

In 2008, he joins the National Young Writers Festival as co-director and could not be more stoked.

Originally a kiwi, Nic has spent the last four years making mischief in Melbourne. As well as co-directing the National Young Writers' Festival and writing for various Australian publications, he makes interventionist installation art for festivals around the country, runs a web/graphic design practice (DISLOCATED), is co-editor and designer of the Nomadology travel writing project and in his more lucid moments sits on the curatorial board of the Next Wave arts festival. He is also currently finishing his first novel as part of a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne.

link:
DISLOCATED

Born and bred in Wellington, NZ, Tom has been working and playing in Melbourne for the past six years – five more than planned. Tom edited
Voiceworks magazine (www.expressmedia.org.au/voiceworks.php) from 2004-2006, is responsible for a number of atrocious interpretive dance performances (don't mention the catfood!), and is currently doing research for a comedy show about David Hasselhoff and Adolf Hitler, as part of an MA (Creative Writing) at the University of Melbourne.

link:
Tom's Nomadology blog

Tom Keily has recently released an album reinterpreting the poetry of Rumi into a series of Australia-scented rhymes over beats and Persian instrumentation. Tom's MySpace.

link:
www.myspace.com/thomasjackofhearts

Brea is a singer and songwriter, composer of electro-acoustic works and music for theatre, musical theatre and voice installations. In 2007 she will have her spoken word/song composition, Quiet on the Bridge, released on contemporary music group re-sound's latest album. She is currently writing a deranged musical.

Sonya is a girl, writer and maker-of-things. She embraces all of the girl-writer clichés including consuming copious amounts of caffeine, oversized shirts, moleskin diaries and The Beatles and has written for The International Herald Tribune in Seoul, Dazed & Confused AUS/NZ, SydneySide magazine and currently edits the Arts section of Vibewire.net.

She’s also responsible for leaving matchboxes containing tiny presents around each week, as part of her Matchbox project, in the hope that an unsuspecting strangers will find and open them.

link:
The Matchbox project