Sophie Cunningham – Chair

Sophie Cunningham is the author of nine books, the most recent of which is This Devastating Fever. Sophie began her career as an editor and then publisher for McPhee Gribble, Penguin and then Allen & Unwin. She was a co-founder of The Stella Prize, former editor of Meanjin (2008 – 2011) and former chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts (2011 – 2014). A Member of the Order of Australia for her contributions to literature, Sophie currently sits on the boards of University of Queensland Press, the Copyright Agency, and the Australian Society of Authors.

Kelly Gardiner - Deputy Chair

Kelly Gardiner writes historical fiction for all ages. Her latest series is The Firewatcher Chronicles.

Her other books include Goddess, based on the life of Mademoiselle de Maupin; 1917: Australia’s Great War, shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Young People’s History Prize and Asher Award; the Swashbuckler pirate trilogy; and a picture book, Billabong Bill’s Bushfire Christmas. Her young adult novels Act of Faith and The Sultan’s Eyes, were both shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, while Act of Faith was shortlisted for the ASA’s Barbara Jefferis Award.

A former journalist and editor, Kelly now teaches creative writing at La Trobe University.

Kirsty Murray - Treasurer

Kirsty Murray is a multi-award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and young adults. Based in Melbourne, she is passionate about Australian stories. Her work is published internationally and includes eleven novels as well as non-fiction, junior fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction and picture books. Kirsty's work is widely studied in schools and universities and she has taught creative writing to thousands of writers in schools, universities and libraries around the world. Kirsty has been a Creative Fellow of the State Library of Victoria and an Asialink Literature Resident in South India. She is currently the ASA's nominated director on the board of the Copyright Agency and is an advocate for readers and writers of all ages.

Sarah Ayoub - Director

Sarah Ayoub is a journalist, author and sessional academic whose work has been published in mainstream media and literary publications including The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Sydney Review of Books, Griffith Review, Meanjin and more. She has a PhD in intersectional teen literature and teaches journalism and creative writing. Sarah has been a mentor for the youth curators of the Sydney Writers Festival YA Day, an Incubate Artists Studios Writer-in-Residence, and a Writer-in-Residence at Sweatshop Western Sydney. She is currently a Stella Prize Schools Ambassador. Sarah is a regular fixture at schools and writers festivals where she promotes her YA novels, Hate is Such a Strong Word and The Yearbook Committee. She will be releasing a new YA title, The Cult of Romance, in May 2022, as well as her debut picture book, The Love that Grew, in March 2022.

Bronwyn Bancroft - Director

Dr. Bronwyn Bancroft is a proud Bundjalung woman and artist who has been exhibiting nationally and internationally for over 3 decades. Bronwyn has illustrated and/or written 42 children’s books and has been a Director of her own company, Designer Aboriginals Pty Ltd since 1985. She holds Board positions with Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) and Commonwealth Bank Indigenous Advisory Council and has been a volunteer Senior Strategist at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative since 2009. Bronwyn has a Diploma of Visual Arts from Canberra School of Art, 2 Masters degrees, one in Studio Practice and the other in Visual Art, University of Sydney. She was awarded her Doctor of Philosophy in 2018 and the Sister Alison Bush Medal from the University of Sydney in 2020 for her contribution to the Indigenous Community. Recently Bronwyn was awarded the NSW State Library Aboriginal Creative Fellowship for research into her family.

Danielle Clode - Director

Danielle Clode is the author of ten books including Killers in Eden, Voyages to the South Seas and, most recently, The Woman who Sailed the World. Her writing encompassing natural history, essays, science-writing, historical fiction, science fiction and children’s books. Danielle’s books have won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for non-fiction, FAW award for excellence in nonfiction, a Whitley Award for popular zoology and have been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia and National Biography awards. She has worked as a full-time freelance writer for the last 20 years, holding several writing fellowships and serving on various state and national literature judging panels. Her supplementary work includes teaching creative and academic writing, technical writing and grant editing and research consultancies. She is a senior research fellow at both Flinders and Melbourne Universities in creative writing and zoology.

Jock Given - Director

Jock Given researches, writes and teaches about media law, policy, business and history. He is
professor of media and communications at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne and writes regularly for the current affairs and culture site Inside Story. His work has been published in
journals including Telecommunications Policy, Business History and Media International Australia.
He was previously Director of the Communications Law Centre and Policy Advisor at the Australian
Film Commission. He served for ten years as a director of Screenrights, the Audio Visual Copyright
Society, including five as deputy chair. He has degrees in Arts, Law, Economics and Commerce from
the University of Queensland and a PhD in history from the University of Melbourne.

Malcolm Knox - Director

Malcolm Knox is the author of seven published novels, 14 works of nonfiction, and more than 15 co-written or ghost-written works of nonfiction for well-known Australians from sporting, military, business and philanthropic backgrounds. He is also an acclaimed journalist, having written for The Sydney Morning Herald since 1994. He has been shortlisted for and won several awards for fiction, nonfiction and journalism, including a Ned Kelly Award, a Colin Roderick Award, an Ashurst Business Literature Prize, and three Walkley Awards. Malcolm previously served as a Board Director of the Copyright Agency from 2008-2016, and a Board Director of the Chappell Foundation from 2017-2021, acting as honorary secretary from 2019-2021.

Jennifer Mills - Director

Jennifer Mills is an author, editor and critic based on Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide). Her latest novel, The Airways (2021), was longlisted for the Miles Franklin award and shortlisted for an Aurealis Award for Horror. Dyschronia (2018) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, Aurealis (for Science Fiction), and Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature.

Mills’ fiction, essays and criticism have been widely published, including in Best Australian Stories, Best Australian Essays, Griffith Review, The Guardian, Lithub, Meanjin, Overland, Review of Australian Fiction, The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Mills was fiction editor at Overland from 2012-2018. In 2022 Mills is Artist in Residence at Vitalstatistix.

A full-time writer for fifteen years, Mills is a strong advocate for better rates and working conditions for writers and artists, both in her own writing, research and activism such as #paythewriters, and as part of the National Freelance Committee at MEAA.

Nicholas Pickard - Director

Nicholas Pickard has been Chair of the ASA from 2019-2022 where he has overseen a renewed governance framework for the Society to ensure the Board reflects the full breadth and diversity of its members and Australia’s literary sector. Nicholas is one of Australia’s leading government relations, public affairs and communications specialists working across the creative and cultural industries. Nicholas currently heads up public affairs and government relations for APRA AMCOS, Australasia’s music rights organisation representing over 111,000 songwriters, composers and publishers. Prior to this he was the Director Corporate Affairs for the Copyright Agency where he created a major campaign for creators and the content industries against sweeping and damaging proposed changes to copyright. A former journalist, theatre critic and ministerial adviser with experience in London, Canberra and Sydney, Nicholas was central to the team that created, devised and launched Australia’s national cultural policy – Creative Australia. Nicholas is Deputy Chair of Regional Arts NSW, non-executive director of Music Australia and a member of the NSW Government's 24 hour economy industry advisory group, music festivals roundtable and festivals artform advisory board. Nicholas is also a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

Louise Pocock - Investment committee member

Louise Pocock is the Deputy Executive Director of the AICD Governance Leadership Centre, Australia’s leading think-tank on corporate governance. She is also a Director of the Future Business Council and the Australian Children’s Music Foundation. Louise has 15 years’ experience in corporate law, governance and policy, including as a lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills specialising in dispute resolution. Louise is currently working on her second children's book.