The theme of this year's Ex Libris Port Fairy Festival of Words is 'Winds of Change', and several wonderful Text authors will be appearing to discuss this theme and their new work. They are author of Quota and the forthcoming The Rules of Backyard Cricket, and Port Fairy local, Jock Serong, as well as Anne Buist (Dangerous to Know), who will appear on a panel alongside husband Graeme Simsion. Graeme's upcoming third novel, The Best of Adam Sharp, will be available for purchase at the festival prior to publication.

Anne Buist is the Chair of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and has over 25 years clinical and research experience in perinatal psychiatry. She works with Protective Services and the legal system in cases of abuse, kidnapping, infanticide and murder. Her debut novel, Medea’s Curse, is followed by her second psychological thriller, Dangerous to Know, in 2016. 

Jock Serong lives and works on the far southwest coast of Victoria. Formerly a lawyer, he is now a features writer, and the editor of Great Ocean Quarterly.  His first novel, Quota, won the 2015 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel. 

Graeme Simsion was born in Auckland and is a Melbourne-based writer of novels, short stories, plays, screenplays and two non-fiction books. 

The Rosie Project began life as a screenplay, winning the Australian Writers Guild/Inscription Award for Best Romantic Comedy before being adapted into a novel. It went on to win the 2012 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript and has since been sold around the world to over forty countries.

Sony Pictures have optioned the film rights with Graeme contracted to write the script. The Rosie Project won the 2014 ABIA for Best General Fiction Book, and was ultimately awarded Australian Book of the Year for 2014. The sequel, The Rosie Effect, was released in 2014 to great acclaim and also became a bestseller.