David Haskell is a professor of biology and environmental studies at the University of the South and a Guggenheim Fellow. He is the author of the multi-award-winning books The Forest Unseen (2012) and The Songs of Trees (2020), which won the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. Along with his scholarly research, Haskell has also published essays, op-eds and poetry.

Author photo by Katherine Lehman.

David Marr’s books include Patrick White: A Life, The High Price of Heaven, Dark Victory (with Marian Wilkinson), Panic, My Country and six best-selling Quarterly Essays. He has written for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian and The Monthly, and served as editor of The National Times, reporter for Four Corners and presenter of ABC TV’s Media Watch.

Laura Tingle is chief political correspondent for ABC TV’s 7.30. She won the Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism in 2004, and Walkley awards in 2005 and 2011. She is the author of Chasing the Future: Recession, Recovery and the New Politics in Australia and two acclaimed Quarterly Essays, Great Expectations and Political Amnesia.

Erik Jensen is the award-winning author of I said the sea was folded; On Kate Jennings; Acute Misfortune, which was developed into a film; and the Quarterly Essay The Prosperity Gospel. He is founding editor of The Saturday Paper and editor-in-chief of Schwartz Media.

Andrew Ford's music has been performed and recorded around the world, played by ensembles such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet and the New Juilliard Ensemble, and sung by the likes of Yvonne Kenny, Katie Noonan and Iva Bittová. He presents The Music Show on ABC Radio National and has written ten books ranging from a study of sound in film to the songs of Van Morrison to the compulsion of composers to explore the primitive in their music.

Author …

Dr Anita Heiss AM is the author of non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women's fiction, poetry, social commentary and travel articles. She is a Lifetime Ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation of central NSW. Anita was a finalist in the 2012 Human Rights Awards and the 2013 Australian of the Year Awards. In 2022 she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal. She lives in Brisbane.

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, as well as 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 …

Meshel Laurie is a comedian and radio and television personality. She is a regular panellist on The Project, and has also appeared on Spicks and Specks, Good News Week and Rove. She is the author of The Fence-Painting Fortnight of Destiny, Buddhism for Break-ups and Buddhism for the Unbelievably Busy, and produces and hosts two of Australia's most downloaded podcasts, Australian True Crime and The Nitty Gritty Committee.