Kathryn is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, public speaker and writing coach who creates inspiring writing workshops. She has numerous TV and film credits - The Tender Trap, Under The Vines, Fresh Eggs, The Sounds, The Cul de Sac to name just a few. She is also a writer on the latest series of “My Life is Murder” starring Lucy Lawless and her latest play “The Campervan” is scheduled for production in September 2021.

She is the creator of the Writing Room and has helped many newer writers start their writing journey. Kathryn is a dynamic tutor and has run popular workshops all over NZ including at the Auckland Writers Festival and the Wanaka Autum Art School.

Two-time international Bram Stoker Award-winner, Lee Murray is New Zealand’s most awarded speculative fiction writer and editor (twelve-time winner of the Sir Julius Vogel Award and three-time winner of the Australian Shadows Award). She is currently an acquiring editor, Omnium Gatherum Publishing US and a Grimshaw Sargeson Fellow, 2021.

She is the author of numerous novels, novellas, and short fiction including the double award-winning Taine McKenna speculative thriller series (Severed Press), supernatural crime-noir series Path of Ra (Raw Dog Screaming Press) which she co-writes with Wellington author, Dan Rabarts, and debut collectionGrotesque: Monster Stories. She is proud to have edited seventeen anthologies of dark fiction.

Ruby Porter is a writer, artist and teacher. She tutors creative writing at the University of Auckland,and in high schools. Ruby was the winner of the Wallace Foundation Short Fiction Award in 2017, and the inaugural winner of the Michael Gifkins Prize in 2018, with her debut novel Attraction which was written during her Masters of Creative Writing at the University of Auckland, and published in 2019 by Melbourne-based Text Publishing. It is distributed throughout Australia, New Zealand and North America.

Kirsten McKenzie is a full-time author who fought international crime for fourteen years as a Customs Officer in both England and New Zealand.  Her historical time-slip series - The Old Curiosity Shop Series (which includes Fifteen Postcards, The Last Letter, and Telegram Home), has been described as 'Time Travellers Wife meets Far Pavilions', and 'Antiques Roadshow gone viral'. The series was acquired by Podium Audio in 2020 and is now available as audiobooks. Her work has appeared in anthologies in NZ and the UK, including the NHS fundraiser - Noir From The Bar.Her spare time is spent organising author events and appearing on literary panels at festivals around the world.

Ellie is one half of the team that set up Writers’ Café Auckland in2018. Writers’ Café Auckland runs creative writing workshops and in 2020 published Best of Auckland, a collection of short stories and poetry from Auckland authors. Alongside her Writers’ Café role, Ellie has spent much of the past year working with the Coalition for Books on activities promoting New Zealand books and authors. Her current fiction project is a contemporary/fantasy crossover set in Wellington.  

Janice is the co-author of four popular books on memoir, and a prize winning children's author with wide-ranging experience of the publishing industry. She is a much published poet and a prize-winner in the Kevin Ireland Poetry competition.  She also has a unique ability to tutor others to achieve their goals. A rare breed of award-winning writer and educator, she has helped over 600 students find their voice and write with style.