Some bad news for Courtney Collins fans. She has had to pull out of this year’s festival as she has recently relocated to Arnhem Land to join her partner and work on an exciting project there. She is creating amazing digital stories with Indigenous artists so we understand why it’s something she didn’t want to let pass. Based in Ngukurr, which is about a nine hour drive to Darwin airport, with a few rivers and unsealed roads thrown in for good measure, the trip to St Albans would be a bit much to ask! Fingers crossed we can see her at future festivals.

However, we are very exciting to announce that Stephanie Bishop, author of The Singing, which saw her named as  one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Australian Novelists, has agreed to take Courtney’s place. Her second novel, The Other Side of the World was recently shortlisted for the 2014 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award. She holds an Australia Council New Work Grant, an Asialink Fellowship, and Australian Society of Authors Mentorship, a Varuna Mentorship Fellowship and Varuna Residency Fellowship. She has a PhD from Cambridge and is currently a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of New South Wales. She is currently at work on two new projects – a third novel and a collection of essays.