Authors: B

Jennifer Bacia
Jennifer Bacia's first novel Shadows of Power sold for a record advance, was a lead title in the UK and hit the best seller lists. Her novels have been published internationally and her short stories appear regularly in magazines such as Woman's Day and The Australian Women's Weekly. She has written eight novels as well as non-ficiton work (Creating Popular Fiction - How to Write Novels That Sell) which is widely used in writing courses throughout Australia. Visit Jennifer on her web site at JenniferBacia.com

Bessie Bardot
Bessie Bardot began Australia's biggest body model agency, she has been a TV anchor for channel ten and fox sports. She had a top rating, talkback radio show on Triple M and is a regular columnist for two magazines. Bessie's first book (co-authored with husband Geoff Barker) Casting Couch Confidential was a fly-on-the-wall look at the modelling world, "The good, the bad and ugly business of the beautiful people". Her second book Bessie's Body Secrets: the busy girls guide to weight loss and wellbeing was published in 2004 and she has followed it up with her latest book, a guide to taking control of your mind, body and style, Bessie's Guide for Girls Who Want More from Life.

Geoff Barker
Geoff Barker left his career as a Green Beret in the UK Marines at 19 years of age and worked his passage to Sydney on board ship. The son of a naval captain, he became a household name when he starred in the Australian TV series "Gladiators" as Commando. He is a regular columnist for two magazines and has authored and co-authored many books including Fat Free Forever, Easy Exercise for Everyone, Casting Couch Confidential and Bessie's Body Secrets, due out this year. He is now working on his first novel.

Gail Bell
Drawing on her background as a practising pharmacist, educator, writer, and lover of elegant prose, Gail Bell has written her first full-length work of non-fiction, The Poison Principle, which was published in June 2001 by Picador and went straight into the bestseller lists where it stayed for ten weeks. The book has been bought by Macmillan U.K. and St. Martins Press USA, where it was released in hardcover in July and October 2002 respectively. The Poison Principle was shortlisted for 4 major prizes and in 2002 won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for non-fiction.

Her second book Shot: a personal response to guns and trauma was released to critical acclaim in November 2003. In this book Gail relives the night in 1968 when she was shot in the back while walking home from the train station, and broadens its scope into a discussion of guns and gun control in our society. The book was shortlisted for the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Ned Kelly Award and most recently the 2005 One Book One Brisbane Award.

In June 2005 Gail's 25,000 word essay The Worried Well: the depression epidemic and the medicalisation of our sorrows was published by Black Inc. in Quarterly Essay Magazine # 18. Described as "an elegant essay" & "intensely literate and thought-provoking", the essay provoked much public debate and award nominations.

Gail's third full length book, The Secret Life of Drugs, will be released early in 2007.

See Gail's website at gail-bell.com

Craig Bennett
Craig Bennett is an entertainment reporter and has written for a variety of publications including the Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph. He is a regular on television and he can be heard on radio across Australia and New Zealand dishing out the latest Tinseltown news. Craig lived in Hollywood from 1999 to 2001 and reported on everything from the Oscars to Elizabeth Taylor's newest health crisis and the contents of Pamela Anderson's handbag. He now lives in Sydney with his pet pythons.

Annarosa Berman
Annarosa Berman is a journalist with several years' experience writing about women's issues and the arts. After a career as women's and features editor on newspapers in South Africa and New Zealand, she was appointed editor of the Sydney classical music magazine, Fine Music. More recently, she has embarked on a career as a freelance music writer. Sex at 6pm, a memoir of her IVF treatment, was published by New Holland in 2006. She is currently working on a book on Opera Australia, with photographer Bridget Elliott, to be published later this year by Currency Press.

Catherine Bird
Catherine is a Sydney-based qualified Aromatherapist, Medical Herbalist and Massage Therapist specializing in treating animals. She has written two books about natural therapies for horses. To learn more about Catherine visit her website at hartingdale.com.au/~happyhorses/

Milton Black
Milton is one of Australia's leading astrologers. Milton has written several astrology books, including Dreamtime Horoscopes, as well as a yearly zodiac guide. To learn more about Milton visit his website at miltonblack.com.au

Royce Bond
Royce Bond is the author of Mars Attack, The Case of the Smelly Armpit and Spare Body Parts, a young readers’ guide to science in the real world. He is also a teacher at Capella State School. He designed the ‘Kitchen Science’ program, and wrote its accompanying reference text, now being used in 2000 schools throughout Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.

Emilia Bresciani
Emilia was born in Peru of Peruvian and Italian parents. At the age of eighteen she travelled to Australia on a journey of adventure and later graduated as a journalist. For fifteen years she worked in radio and television, devoting her time to the promotion of cultural diversity and the fight for social justice. Her vision and commitment to work for a harmonious society earned her a series of highly regarded awards. The Raw Scent of Vanilla is her first book, and tells the story of her spiritual journey.

Samantha Brett
Samantha Brett is a writer of popular on-line dating column and blog Sam and the City in The Sydney Morning Herald. Her first column, "Why I hate Valentine's Day", went up on 14 February 2006 and received a response of 200 blogs and dozens of emails. Today, Sam and the City has an average 50,000 page impressions a day, and up to 600 responses per topic.Visit her website at: samanthabrett.com

Karen Brooks
Dr Karen Brooks - mother of two - has an international reputation for her work on popular culture.  She is an Associate Professor of Media Studies at Southern Cross University in Lismore, a columnist for the Courier-Mail and a regular expert commentator in the media.  Karen is a feature writer for the Child series of magazines, which offer parenting advice to more than one millions readers.

Frances Burke
Francis has written several period novels set in both England and Australia. Her work has been widely published in Australasia and the UK, and one of her novels, Endless Time, was a winner in the Random House Competition of 1991.

Nathan Burrage
Nathan Burrage has had short fiction published in Australian magazines such as Aurealis, Orb and Shadowed Realms, along with other assorted anthologies. A graduate of Clarion South, the 6-week writing workshop, his first novel Fivefold is being published by Random House in January 2008. Nathan lives in Sydney with his wife & daughter, and can be found on the web at nathanburrage.com

Robyn Lee Burrows
Robyn is best-known for her Australian historical novels such as When Wattles Bloom and Tea Tree Passage. She has also written non-fiction, including a biography of one of Australia's most loved poets, Henry Lawson. To learn more about Robyn visit her website at robynleeburrows.com.