|
Following the success of our 2024 event, the Rose Scott Women Writers Festival Gala returns by popular demand; an evening that has quickly become a highlight of the Club’s cultural calendar.
This year, we are delighted to welcome Jan Fran as our Emcee, bringing her signature wit and sharp insight to the evening. We are equally honoured to present Antoinette Lattouf as our keynote speaker, marking the launch of her new book Women Who Win - a timely and powerful contribution to the national conversation on women’s voices and leadership.
The evening will feature the return of the much-loved Immortality Auction, alongside a Silent Auction, with a number of unique and thoughtfully assembled prizes created in collaboration with past Festival writers and partners. Further details will be revealed on the night.
We will also make a very special announcement unveiling a new partnership dedicated to supporting mid-career women writers; an important and often under-recognised stage of creative development.
Guests can expect an evening of exceptional quality, including live entertainment, a three-course dinner with canapés, and premium beverages throughout. Importantly, 50% of every ticket sold is a direct contribution to the Festival, ensuring the ongoing platforming and development of women’s literary voices.
This is more than a gala! It is an investment in the stories, voices and ideas that shape our cultural future.
Introducing our speakers and writers for the evening:
Jan Fran is one of Australia's most versatile journalists and creators, bridging both traditional and social media. She is a Walkley-award winner whose twenty year media career has spanned television, documentary, podcasts and comedy. She’s hosted the ABC's Question Everything and before that, Channel 10's The Project and SBS's The Feed. She’s also a social commentator best known for her sharp commentary videos and interviews on social media, which attract millions of views. She’s apparently writing the next great Australian essay collection. No further questions. Jan spends way too much time on the internet and has definitely acquired some sort of low-level brain injury as a result.
Antoinette Lattouf is an award winning journalist, presenter, author and human rights advocate whose surname has now become a verb - Lattoufed: to be sacked or silenced for standing your ground. Her landmark win, Lattouf v ABC, became a flashpoint in debates about free speech, employee rights, institutional cowardice, and what happens when a journalist speaks truth to (media) power. She’s the co-founder of Media Diversity Australia, a TEDx speaker, and a regular fixture on lists like the AFR’s 100 Women of Influence. Her first book, How to Lose Friends and Influence White People, somehow won her friends. She’s now finishing her second -Women Who Win - an exploration of women who saw the rulebook, chuckled and used it as a coaster (out April 2026). Antoinette’s work spans commercial and public broadcasting, boardrooms, courtrooms, and the occasional Murdoch media pile-on. And no, she’s not done yet.
Candice Fox is the author of eleven crime novels and a three-time Ned Kelly Award winner. She has co-written seven New York Times bestsellers with James Patterson, and her novels Crimson Lake and Redemption Point were adapted into the ABC series Troppo. Known for her immersive research, Candice has interviewed a serial killer on Death Row, visited prisons as part of her work, and travelled extensively to real-world crime locations to inform her writing.
Belinda Alexandra is an international bestselling author renowned for her sweeping historical novels set across Europe and beyond, with her work translated into multiple languages and widely read both in Australia and abroad. Her recent novels include The Italian Correspondent and The Masterpiece as well as non-fiction works like Emboldened. Her next novel is set in the early 1800s, offering a rare opportunity to step into a richly imagined historical world.
Jessy Wu is a debut novelist on a remarkable trajectory, her first novel Good Intentions will be published this July, with a second already underway. The book has been optioned for a television series and will be released in the United States in January 2027, with strong early acclaim from writers and journalists. Born in mainland China, raised in Auckland, and now based in Sydney, Jessy previously worked in venture capital before founding her own communications agency.
Your participation is pivotal. Not only does it support a festival that champions and advances women writers, but it also fosters the growth of Australia's only literary festival run by women, for women - The Rose Scott Women Writers Festival.
|
