Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology

Danielle Binks is an author and literary agent from Melbourne, Australia. The Year the Maps Changed was her debut novel and has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award and was a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book. She has since written her first young adult novel, The Monster of Her Age, and has edited and contributed to Begin, End, Begin, an anthology of new Australian young adult writing, which won an Australian Book Industry Award. To learn more about Danielle, visit her online at www.daniellebinks.com.

Michael Pryor has published more than thirty novels and fifty something short stories. He is one of the co-publishers of Aurealis, a premier Fantasy and SF magazine. He has been shortlisted for the Aurealis Award seven times, and seven of his books have been CBCA Notable books. Visit michaelpryor.com.au to find out more.

Lili Wilkinson is the award-winning author of ten YA novels, including Scatterheart, Pink and Green Valentine. After studying Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne, Lili established the insideadog.com.au website, the Inky Awards and the Inkys Creative Reading Prize at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria. She has a PhD in Creative Writing, and lives in Melbourne with her husband, son, dog and three chickens.
Visit liliwilkinson.com.au to find out more. 

Gabrielle Tozer is an award-winning author based in regional New South Wales. Her latest works include The Unexpected Mess of It All, which won the 2025 ACT Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction, beloved picture books Before We Met and Tiny Good Things (illustrated by Sophie Beer) and Can't Say It Went to Plan.

Over the years, Gabrielle has received honours including the State Library of Victoria's Gold Inky Award for The Intern, and appeared on the CBCA's Notable List for Older Readers for Remind Me How This Ends.

Gabrielle loves sharing her passion for creativity, and has spoken at the Sydney Writers' Festival, Canberra Writers Festival, CBCA national conference and more. She has also worked as a mentor for the Regional Arts Network, Regional Arts Australia and the ABC's Heywire initiative.

Gabrielle's seventh novel, This Is How It Should Be, hits shelves in 2027.

Say hello: gabrielletozer.com

Melissa Keil has lived in Minnesota, London and the Middle East, and now resides in her hometown of Melbourne. Her YA novels, Life in Outer Space and The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl have both been shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year and the Gold Inky awards. 

Amie Kaufman is a New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult and middle grade fiction and the host of the podcast Amie Kaufman on Writing. Her multi-award-winning work is slated for publication in over thirty countries and has been described as “a game-changer” (Shelf Awareness), “stylistically mesmerizing” (Publishers Weekly), and “out-of-this-world awesome” (Kirkus Reviews). Her series include the Illuminae Files, the Aurora Cycle, the Other Side of the Sky duology, the Starbound trilogy, the Unearthed duology, the Elementals trilogy, and The World Between Blinks. Her work is in development for film and TV and has taken home multiple Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, and a Gold Inky, made multiple best-of lists, and been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Raised in Australia and occasionally Ireland, Amie has degrees in history, literature, law, and conflict resolution and is currently undertaking a PhD in creative writing. She lives in Melbourne with her husband, daughter, rescue dog, and an extremely large personal library. Learn more about her and subscribe to her newsletter at amiekaufman.com.

Will Kostakis is an award-winning author, but his real claims to fame are a Twitter spat with Guy Sebastian, and that time a member of Destiny's Child said his name. Visit willkostakis.com to find out more.

Ellie Marney is a teacher and author of the Every series (Every Breath, Every Word, Every Move), a highly-awarded YA crime trilogy. She advocates for and promotes Australian YA literature through #LoveOzYA, hosts an online book club - #LoveOzYA book club - and is a Stella Prize Schools Ambassador. She lives near Castlemaine, Victoria, with her partner and four sons.
Visit elliemarney.com to find out more.

Alice Pung OAM is an award-winning writer based in Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of the memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter, and the essay collection Close to Home, and the editor of the anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, One Hundred Days was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin and Voss literary prizes and longlisted for an ABIA Award in the category of Literary Fiction. Alice was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to literature in 2022.