About Us

We recognise Australia’s First Peoples as the first storytellers and value their stories as a core component of Australia’s cultural identity.

We value Northern Territory writing and storytelling and recognise the unique contribution they make to the nation’s literary wealth.

We value the creativity and illumination that comes with diversity, and encourage writing and storytelling from people and places across Australia (and beyond).

We create opportunities and remove barriers to allow more people to access literary activities.

We work to provide the best and most relevant activities and services for our members and sector.

Sally Bothroyd was the Executive Director of the NT Writers Centre from 2015-2019. Her first novel, Brunswick Street Blues was published in March 2022 (HQ Australia). 

Dina Davis’ most recent title is A Dangerous Daughter published by Cilento in 2021. She holds an MA in English and Linguistics, and across her career worked in the areas of governance, anti-discrimination and equal opportunity. 

Michelle Bates lives on Arrernte country and is a descendant of the Anaiwan people of the great range and tablelands area, inland from the east coast, Michelle’s willingness and commitment to working with first peoples and others is grounded in the personal as well as the professional.

Cerys Lloyd – Alice Sprigs

Brian Tucker worked as an accountant and Auditor for over thirty years, and has held the role of Treasurer for a number of arts organisations including the Queensland Writers’ Centre for over 10 years. He is now retired but continues to be actively involved in supporting arts organisations with financial and governance advice.

Sally Bothroyd was the Executive Director of the NT Writers Centre from 2015-2019. Her first novel, Brunswick Street Blues was published in March 2022 (HQ Australia). 

Mililma May (Darwin, 2023 to present). Mililma May is a Kulumbirigin Danggalaba Tiwi woman living, working and learning on Kulumbirigin Country. Mililma is CEO of Uprising of the People Ltd. Mililma was employed as a paralegal cadet at Gilbert + Tobin. In that role, Mililma learnt from the staunch women in the pro-bono team the importance of challenging the colonial system through clever articulation and comprehension of laws. Mililma sees this work as critical advocacy that influences genuine change.

Janet Marles is the Manager of Operations and Research Strategy at Charles Darwin University. She is a teacher and oral historian and holds a PhD in memory and narrative from Griffith University.

Kyla St Jaye is based in Katherine NT, writing from Jawon | Dagoman | Wardoman land. She studied BA Comms Creative Writing on Ngunnawal country at University of Canberra. She sees stories as sites of transformation. She writes to understand. Kyla’s workshop series ‘She Sees Distance in all Directions’ was created for women experiencing domestic violence in the refuges on Yuin country. For years, the series saw writing as an act of power that repositioned women as the authors of their own lives. Kyla’s work has been featured in several publications including Heroines Anthology where she placed in the Joyce Parkes Women’s writing prize.

SezzaJai Sykes is a writer, and beekeeper, they write mainly about bees, beauty and belonging in the natural world and the importance of looking after all our relations. They’ve worked in community development, high performance sport, education and business development. They are delighted to be threading all these skills into this role to advocate, support and promote storytelling, in all its forms, inspired by place.

Rita Horanyi is a Hungarian-Australian literary critic and programmer with a PhD in Comparative Literature. In 2018, she was a recipient of the Copyright Agency/Sydney Review of Books emerging critics fellowship. She has published essays, reviews and prose in Sydney Review of Books, Hungarian Literature Online, Limelight Magazine, imprint and elsewhere. She was Editorial Assistant at Off the Leash magazine and is currently part of the editorial team for Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (JLLC). She has worked for the NT Writers’ Centre since 2019.

Bernadette Ryan grew up in a small town in rural Victoria before heading into the big smoke of Melbourne. It was then she started work in the music industry from running venues to much larger gigs in Australia and overseas. Artists she managed included The Mavis’s, The Avalanches, DJ Dexter & CW Stoneking. After a one year stint in the UK and Sicily she returned to Australia in 2017 to live in the Northern Territory, first with a three year stint in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. It was there that she became heavily involved in books and reading in her work at Red Kangaroo Bookshop. Living now on Larrakia Country in Darwin she has kept up her links in the book world and looks forward to working with the NT Writers’ Centre and its members.

Betty Sweetlove is a writer, theatre-maker and performer who has been based in Mparntwe since 2015. Betty grew up in London and south-east England before studying History at SOAS. In recent years, she has trained and worked with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre in Meanjin/Brisbane, developing her skills in theatre production, dramaturgy and performance. Her short plays have been read at Brown’s Mart Theatre, Totem Theatre and the National Young Writers Festival, and she was a 2020 Fresh Ink writer with Australian Theatre for Young People. Her debut play, The Nestmakers, exploring the phenomenon of prepping for climate disaster, premiered at the Desert Festival in 2022 through the Red Hot Arts Project Seed program.

Fiona Carter holds a Masters in Management and Cultural Policy from the University of Warwick (UK). She has been a manager at several arts organisations in the NT, including Corrugated Iron Youth Arts. She is passionate about Asia and completed an Asialink Management Residency in Indonesia in 2003. Amongst other things, she now produces independent arts projects, linking Asian and NT artists.