THE PROJECT COORDINATORS

Professor Catherine Cole, (DCA, M.Litt (Hons), BA, Diploma of Adult Ed., Associate Diploma Writing and Editing)

Catherine Cole is Professor of Creative Writing at RMIT University in Melbourne. She supervises post graduate writing and literature students at RMIT and the University of Technology in Sydney, teaches writing and creativity and manages a range of research projects with a focus on Australian and international writers and writing.

Catherine is a novelist, non-fiction writer, essayist, reviewer and literary judge. She has delivered international and Australian conference papers on writing and literary studies and is regularly invited to present papers at literary festivals and for schools. She has published three novels - Dry Dock, Skin Deep and The Grave at Thu Le, and the non-fiction books, The Poet Who Forgot about her friendship with the Australian poet AD Hope and Private Dicks And Feisty Chicks: An interrogation of Crime Fiction. She is currently completing The Rubrics of Sleep, a novel set in Sydney, Paris and London. She is a co-editor of Fashion in Fiction (Berg UK) with UTS academics Professor Peter McNeill and Dr Vicki Karaminas and is compiling an international anthology of writing about Vietnam for UWA Press.

Catherine has been a recipient of the Keesing Studio in the Cité International des Arts, Paris and an Asialink residency in Hanoi. In 2007 she was a Visiting Writing and Research Fellow in The University of East Anglia (UK) Writing program. She has been awarded grants from the Literature Board of the Australia Council, Varuna, the Writers House and a range of research and funding bodies.

In addition to her research on Australian writing, Catherine is involved in a number of Australian and international research projects including:

• Creativity, Memory and Reenactment
• Vietnam
• Creative Practice and Pedagogy

More information about Professor Cole’s writing can be found here and research can be found here

Dr Lyn Gallacher (PhD, MA, BA(Hons), GradDip App. Film & TV, ACTL)

Dr Lyn Gallacher has worked with Australian writers for more than 20 years. A broadcaster with ABC Radio National, she has produced everything from current affairs to religious programs and social history features. As a producer with The Bookshow she researched, developed, wrote and produced many radio programs on writers and their writing. She's also presented, interviewed and recorded authors at a large number of Australia's literary festivals and events. She's currently the Executive Producer of ABC Radio's Artworks program.

Lyn was the producer of the Australian Literary Compendium's first 5 programs which focused on Australian poetry. These programs will appear on the web as podcasts and transcripts. They will also be accompanied by essays, teaching materials and links to further archival resources. She is currently developing a further series for the compendium on the ways in which iconic Australian novels have influenced and shaped a new generation of local writers.

A graduate of LaTrobe University in Melbourne, her PhD in English Literature examined the linguistics and semiotics of literature. Her thesis being 'Language the Mechanism Whereby You Know More About What I'm Thinking Than I Do.'

Lyn is a fiction and non fiction writer, an essayist and a reviewer. She has judged a number of literary awards including the Victorian Premier's Awards and Varuna Writers' fellowships. She has also received grants and recognition for her own writing from the Australia Council, Varuna, Bundanon and the State Library of Victoria.

Apart from her radio work and her passion for Australian literature, Lyn's other projects inculde reforresting South Gippsland and research into the history, philosophy and practices of magic. The title for this project is 'Gadzooks - a book about magic' and it follows the story of Will Alma, the magical son of Australia's first floating lady.

Dr Melinda Harvey (PhD, BA (Hons))

Melinda Harvey is Lecturer in Literary Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne. She teaches a course called ‘Contemporary Australian Writing’ and regularly reviews Australian literature for local broadsheet newspapers and literary magazines (The Australian, Australian Literary Review, Australian Book Review). Melinda is a Researcher on the Australian Literary Compendium project.