Authors: M-O

Michael MacConnell
Michael MacConnell was born in Australia and travels extensively to compile research for his novels. He has a degree from Sydney University, majoring in International Relations, History and Ancient History. He currently works in NSW state law enforcement. He is married and lives on the NSW Central Coast.

For more information, go to michaelmacconnell.com.

Lyn Macpherson
Informed by her studies of psychology and spirituality, and her experiences as a mother, Lyn Macpherson wrote Intuitive Mothering as a guide for mothers to 'tune in' to their instincts on a range of mothering issues. You can visit Lyn's website at lynmcpherson.com

Bronwyn Marquardt
Bronwyn Marquardt is a writer with 19 years’ experience in journalism. She has written for leading magazines and newspapers in Australia and overseas, commissioning features, writing and editing. She has also taught feature writing and freelancing at university, worked in television and radio, and appeared on national television and radio shows. Bronwyn was inspired to write her first book Happily Ever Parted (Surviving Separation and Divorce), after coming through her own divorce in one piece – much to her surprise. She is now happily married and lives in Queensland with her husband, children, and a menagerie of pampered pets. Visit Bronwyn’s website at dizzydaisy.com

Sheree Marris
Aquatic Scientist and award-winning author Sheree Marris is passionate about the environment. Through her communications business Visions of Blue, as well as public speaking engagements, media appearances and documentary making, Sheree raises awareness of environmental issues in a fun and entertaining way. Her commitment has been recognised with numerous accolades including being named Young Australian of the Year - Environment in 2002.

Angela Martin
Angela was born in Sydney, grew up around Duck River and descends from a unique mixd ancestry: Sydney Aboriginal and British. Beyond Duck River, published in 2001, is her first novel.

Geoff McGeachin
Melbourne born author Geoff McGeachin has spent much of his life shooting pictures for advertising, travel, theatre and feature films. His work has taken him all over the world including stints living in Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong. He is now based in Sydney where he teaches photography and writes.

His first novel, FAT, FIFTY & F***ED! won the inaugural Australian Popular Fiction Competition and was published by Penguin in August 2004. Described by the Sunday Tasmanian as "one of the most exhilarating debut novels in many moons...wildly imaginative, irreverent, bitingly funny, beautifully paced and populated by the sort of characters we'd all love to know", it continues to entertain and amuse Australian and international readers.

Geoff followed this up with the hilarious adventure thriller D-E-D DEAD! which introduced Alby Murdoch - Australian secret agent and international photographer - a man with a taste for good coffee, fine food and interesting women and described by the Sunday Age as "a genuine action hero, with a truly Australian irreverence". D-E-D DEAD! published by Penguin/Viking and nominated for a Ned Kelly Award in 2006 was followed in 2007 by SENSITIVE NEW AGE SPY, also nominated for a Ned Kelly Award and described by the Sunday Tasmanian as “cheekier than a runway full of g-string models”.

The third Alby Murdoch adventure DEAD AND KICKING hits the bookstores in January 2009. Find out more about Geoff at his website at geoffreymcgeachin.com.

Charles Miranda
Charles Miranda is a senior reporter with Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper. He has followed the story of the 'Bra Boys' and the killing of underworld figure Tony Hines from its very beginning and co-wrote My Brother's Keeper, with fellow reporter Angela Kamper, about the murder.

John Misto
John Misto has been writing for the stage and screen for over two decades. His play, Harp on the Willow, won the Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award for Best New Australian Play. John also wrote The Shoe-Horn Sonata, which won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Best Play and the Australia Remembers National Play Competition, and many series and mini-series for television. For his work as a scriptwriter, John has won three AFI Awards and three Writers’ Guild Awards. His novel The Devil’s Companions, a thriller, was published with success in 2005.

Scott Monk
Scott's first novel, Boyz 'R' Us, was written when he was 19. It won the Royal Blind Society's Talking Book Award in 1997. He has two other published novels - Raw and The Crush.

Kate Morton
Kate Morton grew up in the mountains of southeast Queensland. She has degrees in Dramatic Art and English Literature, and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland. In 2006, she published The Shifting Fog, which sold all over the world. Kate lives with her husband and young son in Brisbane. You can find more information about Kate Morton and her books at katemorton.com

Di Morrissey
Di is a bestselling Australian author with eight fiction novels to her name. Her work includes The Last Mile Home and The Songmaster. For more information on Di and her books, visit her website at dimorrissey.com

Tara Moss
Tara Moss has successfully made the transition from international top model to bestselling author of the crime novels Fetish, Split and Covet. Her work has been published in eight countries and five languages. In 2006 her first two novels were published in the US to critical acclaim.

Moss began writing gruesome "Stephen King-inspired" stories for her classmates when she was only 10. She earned a Diploma from the Australian College of Journalism in 1997, and in 1998 won the Scarlet Stiletto Young Writers Award for her story, Psycho Magnet. Her crime novels have been nominated for both the Davitt Award and the Ned Kelly; two of Australia's most prestigious honours. Not a writer to rely solely on imagination, Moss is known for her in-depth research which has seen her do everything from loops over the Sydney Opera House flying with the RAAF Roulettes to spending time in prisons, the Hare Psychopathy Lab, and criminology conferences world-wide.

Moss' is currently host of the crime documentary series "Tara Moss Investigates" for television, on the well-respected National Geographic Channel in the UK, and she has hosted documentaries on National Geographic Presents in Australia and New Zealand, has mediated a GNW TV Debate, served as an MTV Canada guest host, and participated as a panellist on popular Australian programs such as "The Panel," "Beauty and the Beast," as well as Canada's "Viewpoint." Moss is also in demand as a popular public speaker and emcee, at writer's festivals, universities and corporate events.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Tara travelled the world as a top model before becoming a resident of Australia in 1996. She is now a proud dual Australian/Canadian citizen, and resides in Melbourne with her film producer husband, Mark Pennell. Tara's fourth novel, HIT, was published in 2006. For more information visit taramoss.com.au.

Brigette Muir
Brigitte Muir is the first Australian to climb the highest mountain on each continent, and the first Australian woman to climb Everest. Her autobiography was published in 1998.

Mary Murray

Jason Nahrung
Jason Nahrung grew up on a Queensland cattle property and now works as a newspaper journalist in Brisbane. His work covering the Australian speculative fiction scene has won him a William Atheling Jnr award for Criticism or Review. A member of Vision writers group and the Writers on the Edge critique circle, he has had several short stories published. His debut novel, The Darkness Within, is out now through Hachette Australia. The supernatural thriller is based on a story written with his partner Mil Clayton by email when they were living three states apart. The couple travel as much as they 'can't afford' and have a collection of 24 native geckoes and one snake... so far. For more information visit jasonnahrung.com or myspace.com/jasonnahrung

Joanne van Os
Joanne van Os grew up in Melbourne, but has lived in the Northern Territory for 30 years after taking on the job of radio operator at a remote Aboriginal community in 1976. She has had many incarnations in the NT - bull catcher, pet food shooter, mechanic, cook, teacher and more recently, illustrator and cartoonist. Her first book, Outback Heart (Random House, 2005) is a memoir of her life with the 'real Crocodile Dundee' Rod Ansell, and gives the background to his tragic end, as well as being a fascinating account of a very unusual lifestyle.  

Brumby Plains, a children's novel, is Joanne's second book, and was published by Random House in 2006. It is aimed at 10 to 14-year-olds, and is a mystery/adventure story set on a buffalo station in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Joanne has been contracted by Random House for two more books in the same series. Her next ‘Brumby Plains' book is due out in September 2007.    

Visit her website at  joannevanos.com for more information about her books.