Mandurah Readers & Writers Festival 2026 - Day One

The Mandurah Readers’ and Writers’ Festival is an annual adult literature event presented by City of Mandurah Library Services. The aim of the festival is to foster a love of reading and literature and encourage creativity in our community.

In 2026 the festival will be held from 8 - 10 January at Seashells Mandurah, bringing together an array of established and emerging storytellers from across Western Australia. This three-day festival includes author talks, and panel discussions.

Day Ticket - All four events $15.00 (non-refundable)

What to Expect:

9.30am: David Price - The Shameful Isles: the true story of north-west Australia's fatal experiment with medical apartheid

11.00am: Gemma Nisbet - The Things we live with: essays on uncertainty

2.00pm: Leigh Straw - The Kennedy's at Cape Cod, 1944: the summer that changed everything

4.00pm: New Romance - Panel Discussion with Emma Pignatiello, Rebecca Raisin and Sasha Wasley

5.00pm: Drinks & Nibbles

Authors

David Price

David Price is a Western Australian educator and writer who grew up in the small northwest town of Carnarvon. His first book, Dark Tales from the Long River, was published by Fremantle Press in 2021 and explored some lesser-known and sadder historical events of the Gascoyne and Murchison Regions. Now living in Perth, David continues to be intrigued by the unspoken history of his home state and committed to bringing sometimes uncomfortable truths into the light.

Gemma Nisbet

Gemma Nisbet is a writer and academic living and working on Whadjuk Noongar Boodja. She is a Lecturer in Professional Writing and Publishing at Curtin University and holds a PhD in Creative Writing from UWA, where she is an Adjunct Research Fellow. Her writing has appeared in publications including Australian Book Review, Axon, Life Writing, Text and Westerly, and her first book, The Things We Live With: Essays on Uncertainty (Upswell), was shortlisted for the 2024 WA Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer.

Leigh Straw

Leigh Straw is Associate Professor of History at Notre Dame University, Fremantle, where she teaches in Australian, European and Modern US history. She is the author of several books including The Petticoat Parade: Madam Monnier and the Roe Street Brothels (2021) for which she was joint winner of the 2022 Margaret Medcalf Award for Excellence in Research and Referencing. Her most recent publication focuses on the Kennedy Family, The Kennedys at Cape Cod, 1944 : The Summer that changed Everything. Leigh is currently writing a feminist biography of Patricia Kennedy Lawford.

Emma Pignatiello

Emma Pignatiello wrote her debut romantic suspense novel, Last Shot, because not enough people were being murdered in the romance books she was reading. She lives by the coast in Western Australia near Walyalup (Fremantle) on the land of the Whadjuk Noongar people. In disguise at her day job, she attempts to make teenagers care more about writing than about how many days she’s worn her cringe millennial shoes in a row. Emma is dedicated to making her stories authentic – she frequented many wineries in the name of research for the Blood Wine Dynasty series but has not (yet) committed any murders.

Rebecca Raisin

Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She’s been published in various short story anthologies and in in fiction magazines and is now focusing on writing romance.

Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships, and most importantly believe in true love.

Sasha Wasley

Sasha Wasley was born and raised in Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia. She holds a PhD in feminist literature and loves nature, Jane Austen and puns.

Sasha writes contemporary and historical fiction but can’t seem to constrain herself to one genre, and also writes middle grade fiction and urban fantasy as Ash Harrier. Her debut novel was published in 2015. Today, she lives in the Perth hills region with her partner and two adult children, surrounded by dogs, cats and chickens.

Facilitators

Kathy Heys

Kathy Heys graduated from UWA with a degree in English Literature and a Graduate Diploma of Education and embarked on a career teaching in public schools. Recently retired from her role as Head of English at Coodanup College, after 18 years at the school, she is completing a creative writing and professional writing course at Curtin University.

Kathy is looking forward to having more time to devote to developing her creative skills, while also working for Curtin University, supervising beginning teachers as they embark on their internships.

Teena Miller

Teena Miller is Coordinator Library Services for the City of Mandurah. In addition to her Bachelor of Arts degree, Teena also has a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies and recently completed an Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Teena has what some might consider an unnatural enthusiasm for crime, which stems from her undergraduate degree in Sociology / Anthropology, not her family history (although rumour has it, she does come from convict stock).

An avid reader, Teena has a particular fondness for Australian crime, both true and fictional and also loves dinosaurs and primates. But that’s a whole other story!

You are invited to join us at the end of the day for drinks and nibbles.

Tea & Coffee provided

Festival Bookseller is Dymocks Busselton

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Host or Publisher City of Mandurah