Debut Mondays: Lara Fergus, Anna Krien, Lisa Lang and Kirstyn McDermott

Anna Krien is the author of the award-winning Night Games and Into the Woods, as well as two Quarterly Essays, Us and Them and The Long Goodbye, and a novel Act of Grace. Anna’s writing has been published in ...

Lara Fergus has worked as a researcher and writer on issues of human rights and violence against

women for over a decade and My Sister Chaos is her first novel.

She grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and spent seven years living overseas where she worked with various advocacy groups, particularly for newly arrived immigrant and refugee women.

Back in Australia she has written for organisations such as Amnesty International, the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault, White Ribbon and VicHealth. She currently works for the Victorian Government on policy to prevent violence against women, and will shortly take up a consultancy with the United Nations on the same topic. She lives in Melbourne with her partner, Maryse.

Lisa Lang’s novel, Utopian Man, was co-winner of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 2009.

She is the author of the non-fiction title E W Cole: Chasing the Rainbow and was selected in 2007 for the Australian Society of Authors' mentorship program.

Kirstyn McDermott writes horror fiction including her first book, Madigan Mine.

Kirstyn McDermott was born in Newcastle on Halloween, an auspicious date which may go some way towards explaining her lifelong attraction to all things dark and mysterious. After completing a Bachelor of Arts at Newcastle University, she moved to Melbourne where she currently lives. Her passion is for speculative fiction, especially that strange beast which has been variously labeled as gothic, horror, dark fantasy, or weird fiction, and her writing has been recognised with Aurealis, Ditmar and Chronos awards, as well as publication in literary and genre journals including Island, Southerly and GUD.