Sydney Writers' Festival 2010

ELIZABETH FARRELLY (LOCAL)
ELIZABETH FARRELLY is a Sydney-based columnist and author. She holds a PhD in architecture from the University of Sydney, where she is also adjunct associate professor. Before becoming a full-time writer, she was assistant editor on Architectural Review in London, an independent councillor in the City of Sydney, special projects manager for the City during the Olympics and inaugural chair of the Australia Award for Urban Design. Elizabeth has received many national and international writing awards including the Paris-based CICA award for architectural criticism, the Adrian Ashton Award, the Marion Mahoney Award and the Pascall Prize for criticism. Her books include Three Houses and Blubberland: The Dangers of Happiness, longlisted for the 2008 Walkley Award for Nonfiction.

KATHY CLELAND (LOCAL)
KATHY CLELAND is a curator, writer and lecturer specialising in new media art and digital culture at the University of Sydney. She has written for a number of arts and cultural publications, and was guest editor of a special new-media issue of Artlink. Her PhD research investigated avatars, digital portraiture, virtual characters and representations of the self in virtual environments. In 2008 she co-curated the Mirror States exhibition. She also curated Face to Face: Portraiture in a Digital Age, a digital portraiture exhibition touring throughout Australia from 2008-2010.

PETER COUSENS
PETER COUSENS is a well-known stage, cabaret and television performer, and founder of Kookaburra, Australia’s only national musical theatre company. A NIDA graduate, he played the Phantom in the original West End production of Phantom of the Opera. He has featured in lead roles in Showboat, West Side Story, Miss Saigon, Aspects of Love, Les Miserables and Eureka the Musical. His solo albums include Corner Of The Sky, From A Distance, A Life On Earth and Are We Nearly There Yet.

TONY BILSON (LOCAL)

TONY BILSON is one of Australia’s leading chefs. For 40 years his restaurants have been milestones in the advance of Australian gastronomy: Tony’s Bon Gout, Berowra Waters Inn, Kinselas, Bilson’s at Circular Quay, Fine Bouche, Treasury at Sydney’s Inter-Continental Hotel, Ampersand, Canard, Bilson’s Restaurant at the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Number One Wine Bar. Bilson’s Restaurant was awarded three-hat status in the SMH Good Food Guide in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with a rating of 18/20. In 2006 Tony was inducted into the Restaurant & Catering Hall of Fame.

Tony promotes Australian food and wine overseas, working as guest chef in some of the world’s most prestigious hotels. He has published five books, and writes articles for the Australian Financial Review, Good Weekend as well as major wine and food magazines.

CHIP ROLLEY (LOCAL)
CHIP ROLLEY is the 2010 guest artistic director of Sydney Writers’ Festival. A writer, editor and Chinese translator, he has worked in Australia, the US and China. A strong advocate for freedom of expression, Chip was made a life member of Sydney PEN. In 2008 he created and co-organised the International PEN Poem Relay, an online event that called for free expression in China through the translation of a Chinese poem into 100 languages. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal (Asia), The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, Griffith REVIEW and others.

also appearing at...
118: Expats in China
163: China Cuckoo: Mark Kitto in Conversation