Celebrating local and emerging Authors

Celebrating local and emerging authors is hosted by FALS & ETAQ (Townsville) recognising the depth and breadth of local & emerging authors.

Celebrating local and emerging authors is hosted by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies (FALS)and the English Teachers Association of Queensland (Townsville Branch) [ETAQ]. This collaboration recognises the depth and breadth of local and emerging authors living, studying, and working in North Queensland.

Join us at Umbrella Studios to celebrate the occasion where we are asking each writer to talk for 10 minutes about why they write and their latest book, play or research project. The event will be facilitated by Heather Fraser, President of ETAQ (Townsville Branch). Local writers include:

Tenille McDermott

Catherine McKernan Doris

Cathy McLennan

Lyndon Megarrity

Q&A session to follow

Helene Kotzas, Chair of the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies has facilitated the FALS Narrative Writing Competition for Senior Students in 2023, 2024 and again in 2025. The number of entries received continues to grow each year. Helene will announce the short story winners for the school competition together with the Judges Emeritus Professor Nola Alloway and Adjunct Associate Professor Cheryl Taylor.

This event is aimed at members and supporters of the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies together with teachers of English and Literature. There will be plenty of time to network before and after we hear from our local authors.

There will be an opportunity to view Critical Mass: 2026 Umbrella's Members' Exhibition and mingle before the 6 pm start.

About the presenters:

Tenille McDermott is a writer and PhD candidate exploring the intersection between time, narrative, and machine-generated text. She is the co-editor of Sūdō Journal and the co-host and co-producer of the literary podcast Edits & Annotations. She was the recipient of a 2025 Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre Fellowship and longlisted for the 2025 AAWP/Westerly Life Writing Award. Her work has been published in Griffith Review Online, Meniscus, Jacaranda Journal and Antler Velvet Arts Magazine.

Hailing from Ireland, playwright Catherine McKernan Doris immigrated to Australia in 1998. Catherine has always been involved in theatre in some capacity, but her love of writing dialogue began in 2014. She has completed numerous short plays, and four full-length plays under the tutelage of dramaturg, Peter Matheson. She has also completed courses with JUTE Theatre Company and has workshopped three of her plays through Theatre iNQ's 'Playground' program. Catherine's work has been produced all over Australia and overseas and she has won numerous awards. Her latest production was "The Moon's Awake" for Townsville Little Theatre which was included in NAFA's program in October 2025. She is currently working on a new play, "The Warp and The Weft," a dual timeline piece based here in Townsville.

Magistrate Cathy McLennan is an Australian bestselling writer, lawyer and magistrate best known for her multi-award-winning memoir, Saltwater. She is the first graduate of James Cook University to have been appointed to the Bench.

Cathy is a recipient of the United Nations Association of Australia Queensland Award and was presented with the 2015 Chancellor's Award for Alumni of the Year, as well as Outstanding Alumnus, College Winner, Law, Business and Governance. She also has a Masters of Law from the University of Queensland.

Born and educated in Townsville, Lyndon Megarrity completed his PhD at the University of New England (2002). He is the author of several books and articles, many of which focus on the history of Queensland, international education policy, Northern Australia and Commonwealth politics. In 2010-11 he was an Australian Prime Ministers Centre Fellow during which time he produced research on Commonwealth local government and regional policies.

Megarrity was the inaugural history lecturer at the Springfield Campus at the University of Southern Queensland (2012-13) and subsequently taught history and political science at James Cook University in Townsville between 2014 and 2025. As of February 2025 is a Senior Lecturer in History at Central Queensland University (Townsville campus).

His book "Northern Dreams: The Politics of Northern Development in Australia" won the 2019 Chief Minister's Northern Territory History Book Award. With Carolyn Holbrook and David Lowe, he co-edited "Lessons from History: Leading Historians Tackle Australia's Greatest Challenges" (2022). In 2022, an extensively revised version of his PhD thesis was published as Robert Philp and the Politics of Development. More recently he published the first biography of Whitlam Minister Dr Rex Patterson (2024).

Heather has been an English teacher for forty-two years in the Northern Region and a Head of Department English in a variety of schools for many years. Heather has been President of English Teachers' Association of Queensland – Townsville Branch for thirty-three years.

Heather has won an ACEL award for highest result in Masters in Educational Leadership and has won two national Teaching Awards for Educational Leadership and Teaching. She is also a Peter Botsman and Life Member of ETAQ. Heather is currently lecturing at James Cook University in English Education.