Sydney Writers' Festival

NICK DRAKE (UK)
Nick Drake adapted Raimond Gaita's memoir, Romulus, My Father to screen. He is also an acclaimed poet, with The Man in the White Suit winning the Waterstone's/Forward Prize Best First Collection Award and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. His new poetry collection, From the Word Go, was released in 2007 and his latest novel, Nefertiti, is an historical thriller set in ancient Egypt. His participation is supported by the British Council Australia.

also appearing at...
42: Romulus, My Father premiere
101: Poetry from Around the World II
182: Romulus, My Father

SOPHIE GEE (USA/AUST)

Sophie Gee grew up in Sydney and won a scholarship to Harvard, where she received a PhD in 2002. She was appointed assistant professor to the English department at Princeton, held a fellowship at UCLA and has recently taught at University College London before returning to Princeton. The Scandal of the Season is her first novel. Her participation is supported by Random House Australia.

A keen wit turned on an age of indulgence - read The Sydney Morning Herald's interview with Sophie Gee?

also appearing at...
106: Glittering Debuts
138: Aristocratic Antiheroes
298: Sunday Afternoon Tea and Readings

ALON HILU (ISRAEL)
Alon Hilu has written radio plays and has published short stories in literature magazines in Israel. He has a degree in dramatic writing from Tel Aviv University, studying under Israel's leading playwrights, such as Yehoshua Sobol and Shmuel Hasfari. His plays, The Wedding and The Day of the Dogs were produced in theatre festivals in Israel, and were both translated into English for the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club. His award-winning first novel, Death of a Monk, is based on the blood libel against the Jews in Syria. His participation is supported by the Embassy of Israel.

also appearing at...
158: Writing and Research
194: Death of a Monk

RACHEL KAHAN (USA)
Rachel Kahan has been a senior editor at G.P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin US, since 2005. At Putnam she has edited authors such as Kate Mosse, Stuart Woods and Jack Whyte. Before coming to Putnam Ms. Kahan spent eight years at Crown Publishers where she published non-fiction bestsellers like The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne and Tulipomania by Mike Dash. At Crown, she created and ran a specialised program of historical fiction that published many internationally known authors. She is a guest of the VIP Program.

also appearing at...
96: The Rise of Popular Fiction