Our Team
Lori-Jay Ellis
CEO
Lori-Jay Ellis is a creative executive leader, with a diverse and eclectic background in global marketing. She is a skilled builder of brands and a talented business strategist, with a passion for fostering talent and empowering teams to achieve their potential. Lori-Jay embodies creativity and innovation, bringing a wealth of management experience and a particular passion for the role of innovation in building strong and connected communities. She has produced and directed funded short films and has a personal passion for the written word and a genuine love for all things indie. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Visual – QUT) and has been CEO of a community arts studio in Sydney, marketing director at a large multinational, and managed a New York art gallery. She has been CEO of Queensland Writers Centre since 2018 – leading the organisation through what has been a challenging few years!
Sandra Makaresz
Publications & Grants
Sandra has a background as a freelance writer and has worked in film and television production as a writer/producer. Her children’s concept was one of five global projects selected for Kids Live Action Pitch at MipTV in Cannes, 2019. She was a writing consultant for the Regional Arts Development Fund and holds a Master of Arts in children’s and youth writing. Sandra is a recipient of the ASA Edel Wignell Mentorship and a Varuna Residential Fellowship. Sandra is the editor of WQ magazine and aims to provide an inclusive platform for emerging and professional voices.
Charlie Hester
Operations
Charlie is a writer, arts worker and musician who joined the Queensland Writers Centre team in 2019.
As Operations Manager, Charlie works behind the scenes on office processes, communications and the daily functions of the Centre, and also publishes Pen & Pixel – Queensland Writers Centre's weekly newsletter filled with news, events, competitions and opportunities for writers. Charlie is a graduate of UQ’s Writing, Editing & Publishing program, and completed an invited residency at Varuna, The National Writers’ House in 2024.
Anne Varnes
Services & Projects
Anne has a background as a psychologist working primarily with children and adolescents. A mid-life change of direction led Anne to complete a Master of Arts: Editing & Publishing, and a stint with a preeminent Awards organisation developed Anne's love of children’s and YA fiction and non-fiction. Anne also has experience editing/proofreading academic works such as theses and journal articles and working with picture book authors to develop their ideas and writing.
Cody Hargreaves
Program of Events & Projects
Cody is a fiction writer studying marketing and writing at UQ. He writes Young Adult and Middle Grade fantasy, with a creative mission to create more fiction for young people by young people. He joined Queensland Writers Centre in 2022 and currently looks after our program of workshops, youth writing. During his time at QWC, Cody has been especially proud to present at GenreCon and the Outback Writers Festival, and to have his writing published in our WQ magazine as well as the 2024 Young Queenslanders Strategy Action Plan.
Helen Roche
Library Services & Projects
Helen is an emerging writer of short stories, poetry and novels. She looks after Queensland Writers Centre’s regional programs, organising workshops in country areas of Queensland and arranges facilitators for the Centre’s local library programs.
Helen recently completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Creative Writing at QUT.
Simone Everingham
Graphic Design & Community
Simone is the membership officer and graphic designer at Queensland Writers Centre, with a passion for connection and creativity.
She holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication and Marketing from QUT, she creates engaging promotional materials and collateral for the Centre, manages QWC social media presence and help to arrange community-focussed events.
Michelle Birrell
Reading & Projects
Michelle is an independently published author with over sixty books under her nom de plume. She is in her final year of a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and English at UniSC.
Michelle joined Queensland Writers Centre as a projects officer in 2024 after completing an internship placement. She is a self-confessed story structure nerd and is passionate about helping emerging authors realise their publication goals.
Keigo Seki
Event Coordinator
Lizzee Mills
Event Coordinator & Office Support
Lizzee is a horror fiction writer and currently studying their Masters in archiving and information science at Charles Sturt University. Lizzee works at Queensland Writers Centre as an Event Coordinator and Projects Officer.
They facilitate in-person, hybrid, and online workshops and enjoy providing a high quality, engaging experience for QWC members and the writing community. Lizzee also assists in the presentation of the Youth Writing programs and supports the new generation of writers to celebrate and showcase their work.
Ryo O'Loingsigh
Projects & Event Coordinator
Ryo is a writer and filmmaker studying film and television at the Griffith School of Film and Television. As a project officer and workshop coordinator at Queensland Writers Centre, he is also a photographer and videographer for various events.
Over the course of several years, he has built a repertoire of original online fiction, a short film winning top places at Heart of Gold and Lantern and Light International Film Festivals, as well as award-winning scripts from the Australian International Film Festival and QWC's Scriptable.
Phoenix Senhenn
Photography & Event Coordinator
Phoenix Senhenn is a graduate of QUT’s Bachelor of Creative Industries, majoring in music, sound and screen content production.
He joined the Queensland Writers Centre team through an internship placement in 2023 and has since contributed to live streaming and coordinating workshops and courses, producing video content, and photographing QWC events. Phoenix is passionate about developing music and film projects, and creating and making stories accessible to audiences.
Management Committee
Queensland Writers Centre is supported by a voluntary Management Committee who oversee the governance of the organisation.
Jemma Pollari
Chair
Jemma Pollari is an author from the Sunshine Coast and has been a member of Queensland Writers Centre since 2012. As well as being mum to two young sons, she teaches high school physics, builds websites for creative people, and writes for photographers across a range of publications. Her writing has appeared in Writing Queensland and has been shortlisted for the Albedo One Aeon Short Fiction Award. Her adventure novel Code Bravo was published in 2016. Jemma holds a Bachelor of Science Communication (Honours), a Graduate Diploma of Education and a Master of Education. In 2022 Jemma worked with the Queensland Writers Centre to run Brisbane Children’s Writers Festival and she is devoted to helping writers of all ages connect and find their tribe.
Stephen Torre
Vice Chair
Stephen Torre BA (Hons) PhD Qld is a former Professor of English at James Cook University. His teaching and research interests are in the short story, writing and culture in the tropics, and twentieth-century avant-gardes. Stephen was the executive director of the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies and chair of the judging panel of the annual Colin Roderick Award for 10 years and is now a Life Governor of the Foundation. Stephen is the patron of Tropical Writers Inc, a member of the founding committee of the Cairns Tropical Writers Festival, and a continuing member of its program advisory committee.
Justin Malbon
Treasurer
Justin is an Adjunct Professor at the Griffith Law School, where he was at one time the Dean. He was a board member of Qpix for 10 years. For over 2 decades Qpix trained aspiring Queensland filmmakers and financed over 350 films that accumulated more than 120 awards. Justin is a former Professor at the Monash Faculty of Law, has published 10 books and numerous articles on a range of topics including Indigenous rights under the constitution, consumer law, intellectual property and international trade law. He is a former ombudsman of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. He is a former board member of the Queensland Competition Authority and is a barrister.
Colin Hester
Secretary
Colin is an applied scientist (applied chemistry) and graduate of Queensland Institute of Technology (1985). He has a long association with the water industry and is currently the Head of Environmental Solutions and unofficial historian at Urban Utilities. In 2017, Col was awarded the Australian Water Association Queensland Water Professional of the Year. A keen writer, Col is the author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers and is happiest when researching and writing about local history and industrial heritage. Through his role at QWC, Col aspires to help others find enjoyment, expression and knowledge in the art of writing.
David Shield
Member
David Shield is a professional Japanese interpreter and translator. He graduated from Griffith University with a B.A in Japanese language, Asian Political Studies, and history and holds a Master’s of International Studies as well as a Master of Japanese Interpreting and Translation from the University of Queensland. Prior to opening his own translation house in 2021 David worked as a senior international relations officer for Oyama City in Japan.
David writes in several genres, including fantasy, historical fiction and sci-fi and his middle-grade fiction work My Dad’s an Evil Necromancer was shortlisted for QWC’s Publishable competition in 2022, and his short story translation won the New Translator Prize (Japanese to English) from the Australian Society of Interpreters and Translators in 2021.