Coming soon…


Saturday 7th of October
10:00am to 3:00pm

Are you interested in telling stories and want to be inspired by others who have found their voice in writing? Join us at the Grafton Library for this years Mini Writers Festival! We have an exciting line up of authors from all over Australia including your very own backyard.

Lunch and afternoon tea provided.

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
Book Your Tickets Here

The Line Up

About the Authors

Greg Barron

Greg Barron has qualifications in education and science and studied terrorism at Scotland’s prestigious St Andrew’s University. He has lived in both North America and Australia and travels widely, combining his interests in politics and current events with a passion for new horizons. His favourite places include the African savannah, the Canadian Rockies, and Australia’s Top End. Along with abseiling, offshore boating, skin diving and canoeing, his greatest adventure was a three-hundred-kilometre trek through the wild East Alligator region of Arnhem Land. Greg lives on the North Coast of New South Wales with his wife and two sons.

Melanie Jay

Melanie Jay: mother, daughter, sister, friend, colleague, worker, volunteer, social butterfly—by day and night. Madeline J: author— by life. Melanie has an alias author name because writing is outside of her. It’s something that just happens. Madeline J is in the midst of writing a few amazing creative fiction novels; they are entirely made-up stories, and they all connect in weird and wonderful ways. Blame it on The Macallan, Jinx, The Butterfly Necklace, The Gaffer, Tigerlily Queeen (spelt with a triple e.) She self-published a personal story, Bee Sting – My Bali Diary, ten years ago and again one year ago, Bee Sting My Bali Diary – Edit 2022, an edited version of the same story with twenty years of reflection. Her first husband was killed in the Bali bombings of 2002, and she has grown through the grief of his loss over the past twenty years, partly because she was able to express her deepest emotions through words and poetry. Her story is intended to help others to learn to live through grief and beyond it.

Deborah Wray

Deborah Wray grew up in Grafton. Her mother and grandmothers were all very good cooks and quality food was always an important part of family life. Deborah’s career has been many and varied from actress, choreographer, speech and drama adjudicator to wine consultant, wine judge and retailer. Always interested in health and a love of cooking, it was not until her son became unwell that Deborah’s true education about food began.

Kathryn Goldie

Kathryn Goldie lives in Yamba, on Yaegl Country. Her short stories have been published in Island Online, Westerly, Newcastle Short Story Anthology, Grieve and The Canary Press. In 2023,she won the Tasmanian Writers’ Prize and was shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction. In 2022, she won a Byron Writers Festival Residential Mentorship and was shortlisted for the Newcastle Writers Festival Fresh Ink Emerging Writers Prize. In 2021, she won the Long Way Home short story prize and second prize in the Kyogle Writers Festival Poetry Competition. Her short plays and monologues have been performed throughout Australia, and her award-winning short films have appeared at more than 60Australian and international festivals.

Peter Watt

Peter Watt has spent time as a soldier, articled clerk, prawn trawler, deckhand, builder’s labourer, pipe layer, real estate salesman, private investigator, police sergeant, surveyor’s chainman, and advisor to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. He speaks, reads, and writes Vietnamese and Pidgin. He now lives at Maclean on the Clarence River in northern New South Wales. He has volunteered with the Volunteer Rescue Association, Queensland Ambulance Service and currently with the Rural Fire Service. Fishing and the vast open spaces of outback Queensland are his main interests in life.

Renee James

Renee is a local author based in Yamba NSW and the mastermind behind Patroosh, the Pelican. She is a creative powerhouse with a background in communications and commercial television. With over 15 years of experience, she is now the boss lady of Mystery Lane Media, her own video production company, and the mastermind behind Patroosh, the Pelican an online shop – https://patroosh.com.au/

Elizabeth Macintosh

Elizabeth is passionate about the beauty of words and manipulating language. Her main interests are writing short stories for children and Young Adults. Her Junior Fiction and Middle Grade tales often contain an element of danger and a humorous twist. Many are inspired by real places or events. Some of her stories have won awards in various competitions such as The Creative Kids Tales Author Competition, the Port Stephens Literature Awards, Scribes (Victoria) Literary Awards and the Rolf Bold rewood Literary Awards.

Julie Campbell

Julie’s talk will summarise her story and family life living with loved ones suffering from the neurodegenerative disease of CBD or Corticobasal Degeneration. Julie’s book also offers lots of hope and constructive ways of dealing with life in this situation. Julie’s book is The Butcherbird sings: A memoir of hope and help born from a neurodegenerative disease. Julie is passionate about the value of sharing stories as a tool to learn and to connect with others. She is a strong believer in living a life of kindness, with a positive attitude and gratitude for every day.

Paul MacNamara

School can be hell when some of your students are serving ten years to life. As an everyday teacher who made the precarious transition to Education Officer in the prison system, Paul A. MacNamara has one of the most fascinating – and volatile – jobs. Paul’s compelling debut novel, The Criminal Class: Memoir of a Prison Teacher, is based on his personal experiences as an outsider on the inside, beyond the razor wire of some of Australia’s toughest adult and juvenile correctional centres. This riveting read has attracted rave reviews and nationwide media coverage.

Bruce McLennan

Bruce A. McLennan this year produced “The extraordinary memoirs of Sandy McLennan, Gambler” – a book about one of Grafton’s famous sons. Sandy the Gambler was the grandson of the well-known “Sandy” McLennan who, with his brother-in-law, found the route from the New England to Grafton. Sandy the Gambler started life as a peddler in the Clarence and New England before heading overseas for many adventures. Bruce is the worldwide co-ordinator of the Clan MacLennan Genealogy at www.clanmaclennan-worldwide.com – including a collection of over 80 books. Production of this Grafton book required a number of important decisions that he will share with us.

Gary Davis

Gary Davis grew up on a dairy farm in Jiggi, a small rural valley outside of Lismore. He lives in Glen Innes on the New England Tablelands of New South Wales. After thirteen years of working in banking and finance, he practiced as a corporate solicitor and attorney for twenty-seven years, followed by fourteen years in the business sector. His love of writing dates back to winning a regional writing competition as a twelve-year-old. His first novel Tom Mortimer Pitt Street Bankers is inspired by actual events.

Graeme Gibson

In 2013 Graeme started presenting Life Writing workshops. This is creative non-fiction that supports family history, local history, personal essay, feature article writing, autobiography or memoir. Since then, he has presented more than 80workshops. ‘In Life There is Luck: A memoir of an ordinary life with reflections on memoir writing,’ and ‘A Pocket Guide to Memoir Writing,’ are responses to what Graeme has learned through these workshops and his understanding of the needs of workshop participants. Graeme works as a mediator, assisting people to find a solution to their conflict rather than having a solution imposed on them. He is active in the local community in a variety of ways, including Kyogle Readers and Writers. Graeme says he finds joy in personal relationships, ideas and nature. His current writing focus is a social and environmental history (an eco-biography) of a local river, The Richmond.