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HELPING WRITERS REALISE THEIR
CREATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL DREAMS

Staff

Jessica Alice

Chief Executive Officer

Jessica Alice is the CEO of Writers SA. She is a poet, critic, broadcaster and artistic director from Melbourne’s west living on Kaurna country in Adelaide. Jessica is also Chair of the Arts Industry Council of South Australia (AICSA), and a committee member of the Kat Muscat Fellowship—a prize for writers and editors.

Jessica was formerly Program Manager of Melbourne Writers Festival and Co-Director of the National Young Writers’ Festival. She has served on boards including SYN Media and Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Jessica’s writing and criticism is published in The Guardian Australia, Metro Magazine, Overland, VICE, The Lifted Brow, Cordite Poetry Review, Australian Poetry Journal, and the anthology Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word (UQP).

Bronwyn Tilley

Operations Manager

Bronwyn Tilley (writing as Bronwyn Stuart) is a multi-published award-winning author of 19 novels, novellas and short stories in both contemporary and historical romantic fiction, traditionally published and self-published. She is an advocate for fair deals for authors and a font of knowledge about the literary industry both here in Australia and overseas.

Bronwyn is a skilled public speaker and MC. She appeared at the Clare Writers Festival and on several publishing panels around the country. From 2016 to 2018 Bronwyn programmed and managed conferences for Romance Writers of Australia as well as sitting on the committee for the not-for-profit for two of those years. Her non-writing jobs have included: retail manager, office manager, call centre worker, checkout chick and other not-so exciting positions.

Bronwyn and her vast collection of shoes reside in the Adelaide hills on Paramangk land along with her husband, kids and dogs.

Lana Guineay

Marketing Coordinator

Lana is a freelance writer and author based by the beach, with a diverse background in digital, media, and publishing.

Her debut book Dark Wave was winner of the Viva La Novella prize. Her non-fiction has been published widely, and her award-winning fiction has appeared in Going Down Swinging, Anthology of Australasian Stories, and was a daily winner of the 2019 Swinburne Microfiction award.

Lana graduated from the University of South Australia with a degree in Creative Writing, and followed a career as a fashion editor for global brands before returning to her hometown.

Lana is passionate about supporting, promoting, and getting to know South Aussie writers at Writers SA, and is currently writing her second book.

Lauren Mullinder

Program Manager

Lauren is a published children’s book illustrator, art teacher and tea drinker based in Adelaide’s north-eastern foothills. With a background in design, advertising and event management, Lauren is a passionate contributor to many local literacy organisations, serving on committees and advocating for connection and engagement between creators and community.

In her work, Lauren strives to connect readers with the whimsy and imagination of childhood – drawing inspiration from nature and her own nostalgic memories and experiences.

When not illustrating, Lauren likes to spend time outdoors – gardening, hiking and scuba diving.

Edoardo Crismani

First Nations Writers Coordinator

Edoardo Crismani is a film director, writer, singer-songwriter and is a descendant of the Wiradjuri people. He is the Coordinator of the SA First Nations Writers Group.

Edoardo was nominated by the Australian Writers Guild for a 2017 AWGIE Award for writing The Panther Within. In 2020 he directed Deadly Family Portraits: Crombie Crew for ABC TV, available to watch on iView.

Edoardo is working on his first novel, Finding Billy Brown, which was shortlisted for the Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship.

Vern Schulz

Finance Officer

Vern has a diverse background and broad experience in all facets of office and finance management. Starting out in the graphic arts industry as a photo retoucher and desktop publisher, he then transitioned to working in a business doing website design and publication, in the role of Director and Office Manager. Following that, he moved to the Pink Sofa, a lesbian dating website, as Office Manager, doing payroll, accounts and selling online advertising. After 4 years working in that interesting and diverse role, he moved to one of Adelaide’s leading law firms as a Legal Administrator, and then Payroll Administrator.

Out of work hours, Vern has subcontracted his time to one of Adelaide Hills’ favourite pizza and wine bars, Lost In A Forest, doing HR, Finance and Payroll. An avid (and competitive) sailor and certified RYA Keelboat Instructor, you will often find him off sailing locally, interstate and overseas whenever possible.

With a keen interest in the arts, Vern is pleased to be working with Writers SA and brings a broad range of skills to the organisation.

Kirste Vandergiessen

Riverland Regional Coordinator

Kirste is a writer and digital illustrator from the Riverland. She graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Writing in 2016 and has since been reconnecting with her hometown where she has jumped into developing events to support young Riverland creatives. She collaboratively produced the workshop mini-festival Symposium, a space to encourage connection and to learn new skills, co-facilitated Mono Club, a virtual bookclub, and I Feel Like Writing, a weekly workshop to foster the importance of young regional voices in the community and writing industry.

She is writing a young adult fantasy novel about magic gemstones, mermaids, and the importance of self-value, growing, and learning.

She lives for all things magical and if fairy wings don’t sprout from her back, or if fire doesn’t spark from her palms, one day, she’ll head down her destined path as a Capricorn villain.

Alfie Simpson

Event Assistant

Alfie Simpson is a writer and editor currently living in Adelaide. When he’s not removing words from manuscripts, he writes for an online magazine called Breach, where he specialises in stories about plant-monsters and extremely deep oceans. His piece ‘Sub-Urban’ won the 2018 Aurealis Award for best horror short story. Another of his stories, ‘The Endless Below’, was shortlisted for the same award in 2017. His other works include ‘All the Long Way Down’, published in Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 3 in 2021.

Nelya Valamanesh

Digital Event Assistant

Nelya Valamanesh is an Adelaide-based artist who has produced works on a range of platforms. Nelya’s vision through all of her creative avenues has been to speak her truth as a proud queer Persian/Australian woman, and elevate unspoken voices of colour and other marginalised groups.

During her career she has DJed, co-facilitated theatre workshops, and freelanced in the film industry. Currently, she is in script development for her own web series with funding from the South Australian Film Corporation. She was also a finalist in the Mercury CX’s Pitch-o-Rama competition in 2019 and 2020, was accepted into AFTR’s National and State Talent Camp.

Nelya has also worked in numerous theatre developments with ActNow Theatre, STCSA, and an Arts SA-funded narrative podcast with other local creatives.

Ryan J Morrison

Digital Event Assistant

Ryan J Morrison is an emerging author and academic with an interest in genre fiction and disability studies.

Currently in the fourth year of a PhD in Creative Writing, Ryan is researching how artificial intelligence is depicted in science fiction, which is informing a genre-bending adaptation of the Jewish legend of the Golem of Prague.

When he isn’t obsessing over board games, card games, and pen & paper roleplaying games, Ryan also streams video games on Twitch as SciFiAIguy, and creates a weekday webcomic called Only the Truest of Facts. Ryan is passionate about education, and is eager to provide support to both workshop attendees and facilitators.

Audrey Menz

Regional Program Assistant

Audrey Menz is an emerging queer writer based in Mount Barker, South Australia. She is a recent Graduate of a Bachelor of Creative Writing, a current student of a Graduate Diploma of Digital and Social Media, and lover of all things literary academia.

She is particularly interested in fostering and developing spaces for diverse writers, and in her downtime is an avid Slushpile Screener and Reader for the young adult magazine, ‘Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things.’

In her own work Audrey explores how ‘the fantastical’ can be used to deconstruct and investigate social issues. She is currently writing a dark fantasy novel about monsters, gods, and how to heal after experiencing trauma.

When not reading or writing, Audrey is a self-proclaimed ‘nerd’ who can be found delving into her new favourite fandom.