2024 Program

2024 Open Book Interns

  • Olivia Garcia

    Olivia Garcia moved from New Zealand to Argentina before settling in Sydney, where she grew up immersed in languages and stories. She completed a postgraduate degree in Editing and Publishing at UTS, where she was involved with student publications. Being raised in a Spanish-speaking home, she values the importance of unique voices in the stories we share. She also loves getting involved in literary events and communities — always looking for her next favourite read despite an endless TBR pile. Through publishing she hopes to explore her passion for stories that transform, impact and inspire.

  • Tayla Goodman

    Tayla Goodman is an Indigenous woman from Sydney. She is currently completing a Business Administration certificate at TAFE. She is an avid reader and loves to track her reading goals and achievements on Goodreads and other platforms. She has always wanted to work with books and is interested in all areas of publishing, especially sales and editorial.

  • Nashin Mahee

    Nashin Mahee is a proud Bengali-Australian Muslim woman who loves all things arts and culture. She loves reading literary fiction, history, and speculative fiction. Currently undertaking the Master of Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing at the University of Melbourne, Nashin believes that storytelling is the most natural way of preserving human history and discovery. She aims to champion diversity of representation in the publishing industry by combining her lived experience with the transcendent power of storytelling. Presently, Nashin is the MZ Blog editor for Grattan Street Press and spends most of her free time reading, café-hopping and eating pastries.

Open Book: Sydney Hosts

Allen & Unwin is Australia's leading independent publisher. They publish around 250 new titles each year including literary and commercial fiction, a broad range of general non fiction and lifestyle titles and books for children and young adults. Their imprints include Allen & Unwin, Albert Street Books, Atlantic Books Australia, Crows Nest, JOAN, Murdoch Books and Pier 9. Allen & Unwin has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and London.

Ultimo Press is an independent publisher established in 2020 with the simple ambition to become home to Australia’s best storytellers. We are part of Hardie Grant Publishing. Our hallmarks will be editorial excellence, arresting design, dynamic marketing and publicity, respect and loyalty to our authors, and publishing compelling new voices and original perspectives that reflect the full spectrum of Australian life.

UNSW Press is a highly respected independent Australian publisher with a reputation for publishing thought-provoking books that create debate and tackle social, political, historical and scientific issues. Publishing a diverse range of general, literary, scholarly and illustrated non-fiction in two imprints, NewSouth and UNSW Press, our list includes titles on Australian history, politics, current affairs, biography, art and design and popular science. UNSW Press’s activities are divided equally between our own publishing program, NewSouth Books distribution and representation for a wide range of Australian and overseas publishers, and management of the UNSW Bookshop.

The mission at Hachette Australia, a division of global publishing house, Hachette Livre, is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment, and opportunity. We represent an array of authors on the international list including Stephen King, Nora Roberts, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Tom Clancy, and Delia Owens. On our Australian list, we are proud to publish two-time Golden Dagger winner Michael Robotham; bestseller and award-winner Jessica Townsend; Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks; Australia’s bestselling non-fiction writer Peter FitzSimons; New York Times bestselling novelist Natasha Lester; Miles Franklin shortlisted Michael Mohammed Ahmad; and the Lothian Children’s Books author and illustrator and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Shaun Tan. Hachette Australia proudly supports emerging writers of all ages through The Richell Prize, in association with the Emerging Writers’ Festival; the State Library of Queensland’s black&write! program; and The Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers in partnership with Express Media.

Open Book: Melbourne Hosts

Affirm Press is an independent Melbourne-based publisher dedicated to publishing great Australian stories, big ideas and the most engaging Australian authors. The company was founded by Martin Hughes (formerly of The Big Issue) but only became a full-time enterprise in 2013 when Martin partnered with sales director Keiran Rogers (formerly of Hardie Grant). Affirm Press is not only the fastest growing publisher in Australia but also, arguably, the most positive. We love what we do, and are powered by a passionate team. We publish a broad range of non-fiction books and fiction for children and adults, and our mission is to ‘influence by delight’. Affirm Press won the ABIA Small Publisher of the Year award in 2019, the last year it was eligible, and launched its own national sales team in 2023. Its bestselling authors include Pip Williams, Amelia Mellor, Christian White, Jess Racklyeft, Jess Sanders, Anna Downes and Hannah Maloney.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment ANZ meets the needs of our learners, authors and customers by bringing research, teaching, learning and assessment together. We use our local and global expertise in research, assessment and publishing to create high-quality learning experiences. We provide teachers with rich data, adaptive learning resources and assessment tools, so they can better support their students. And we ensure academics have access to high-quality, digitally inter-connected materials that enhance understanding and the global impact of their research. As a not-for-profit local publisher, we re-invest in innovative and inclusive resources that bring better support to teaching, more confidence to learning, more assurance to assessment and greater advancement to research. Together, we’re opening opportunities, discovering possibilities, and helping people in Australia, New Zealand and across the world to realise their potential, benefitting society and the planet.

2024 Open Book Shortlist

  • Emelia Adams-del Pilar

    Emelia is of Filipino-Australian descent and calls the city of Sydney home. She is in her final year of her Bachelor of Business degree, pursuing a major in Human Resource Management. She has had a profound love for reading and writing from a young age, with big dreams of having a career within the writing industry. She loves a good cosy romance, but has also found herself indulged in psychological thrillers. Emelia hopes to combine her passion for reading and her professional degree of HRM to achieve her dream career role in the publishing industry

  • Aries M. Gacutan

    Aries M. Gacutan is a poet, editor and digital writer who works on the traditional lands of the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung people of the Kulin nation. They are interested in the role that space and place play in forming identity, and in particular how these roles manifest within developing and deteriorating digital spaces. In 2024, they were awarded the Emerging Poets Residency with Red Room Poetry. They currently edit for Voiceworks Online and NEOKOSMOS by Russell Cragg. They can be found @the.aries.zone on Instagram or @thearieszone on X/Twitter.

  • Hellai Gul

    Hellai Gul (she/they) is a literary critic, writer, and poet. Living and working on sovereign Burramattagal and Gadigal lands. She is passionate about diverse voices in contemporary Australian writing and is currently curating poems for a collection. Their work can be found in Sydney Review of Book, Cordite, Swim Meet Lit and more. Connect with via Insta: @hellai.gul.

  • Lychee Lui

    Lychee Lui is currently studying a Bachelor of Education/Arts majoring in English with a minor in Modern History at the University of New South Wales. Fruitful in her endeavours, she founded the UNSW English & Creative Writing Society where she fosters a literary community on campus, organises book-related events, and interviews authors like Michelle de Kretser and Shirley Le. She is currently working as the UNSWeetened Literary Journal Coordinator where she oversees the entire publishing process for, often many, first-time authors. She is interested in editorial, production, logistics, and product roles where she can uplift diverse voices and make meaningful contributions to the industry.

  • April Park

    April Park is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusivity within the publishing and media industries. She is currently pursuing a Master of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne, holding a bachelor’s degree in Arts with a double major in Criminology and Asian Studies. As a Korean woman navigating her identity in Australia, April recognises the importance of representation and amplifying diverse voices in literature and media. With various interests spanning from translation in publishing, graphic design and fashion magazines, April is eager to explore roles in marketing, social media, PR and graphic design within the publishing and digital media industries.

  • Nilab Siddiqi

    Nilab Siddiqi is an aspiring editor based in western Sydney with a love for writing, reading, and learning as much as she can. She holds a Bachelor of Psychology, and a Bachelor of Arts (English and Creative Writing) from Macquarie University, where she spent her time working as an Editor for the university magazine. It is at this magazine where her widespread curiosity about the Australian publishing industry began, with her interest in editing expanding into an interest in all sections of the industry. Currently working as a Bookseller, she is dedicated to not only working in the Australian publishing industry, but also ensuring that the industry reflects the true, diverse nature of the communities she grew up in.

For an introduction with any of the Open Book shortlisted candidates, please contact us.

Open Book Mentor

Olivia Whenman is the Digital Business Manager at Pan Macmillan Australia. She has over 8 years’ experience in the publishing industry - working in the audiobook, ebook and digital publishing space. A passionate advocate for innovative storytelling, she has worked on award winning audiobook productions and bestselling digital releases. She leads Pan Macmillan Australia’s Cultural Competency Group and has sat on the Open Book Advisory Board since 2022.