Katrina Roe and and her father Nick with my grandfather’s POW diary, one of the sources for When I Was Twelve.
The Jugiong Writers Festival is thrilled to announce an exciting initiative bringing two acclaimed local authors, Gabrielle Tozer and Katrina Roe, into schools across the region. As part of the festival’s outreach, the authors will lead writing workshops for students at high schools in Gundagai, Cootamundra, Harden-Murrumburrah, and surrounding small schools.
“Giving local students the opportunity to meet and work directly with published authors, to be inspired, and to develop their writing skills, has always been a strong focus of our Writers Festival,” said committee member Sally Keatinge.
To complement the workshops, a short story competition will be held for high school students, providing them with an opportunity to showcase their storytelling talents and apply what they’ve learned during the sessions. Meet the Authors Gabrielle Tozer is an award-winning author with eight novels to her name. Her latest book, The Unexpected Mess of It All, won the 2025 ACT Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction.
Gabrielle’s debut novel, The Intern, earned the Gold Inky Award from the State Library of Victoria, and her novel Remind Me How This Ends was listed as a Notable Book for Older Readers by the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
A passionate advocate for young writers, Gabrielle regularly mentors aspiring authors and has worked with the Regional Arts Network’s Horizon program, Regional Arts Australia’s Regional Scribes program, and the ABC’s Haywire initiative. She is currently working on three new titles for HarperCollins.
Katrina Roe is a children’s picture book author, podcaster, audiobook narrator, and book reviewer. She also coordinates marketing and publicity for a major regional library service and manages over 40 book clubs. Katrina spent many years as a radio host on Hope 103.2, where she created and presented the popular Hope Book Club and co-produced Australia’s Invisible History with her father-in-law, Dr Paul Roe, The Outback Historian.
Her books include Lily’s Balloon, Same, Gemma Gets the Jitters, and most recently, the audio podcast When I Was Twelve, a touching true story about her father, Nick Hutchins, who was just six years old when his own father left for the Second World War. Now 90, Nick recalls his wartime childhood with vivid clarity and reflects on the emotional impact of growing up without his dad.
The Jugiong Writers Festival committee is incredibly proud to support our local schools and inspire the next generation of writers. These workshops and competitions are more than just events, they are opportunities to spark creativity, build confidence, and connect young people with the power of storytelling. We will warmly welcome Gabrielle Tozer and Katrina Roe to our community and can’t wait to see the amazing stories our students will create. Together, we celebrate the vibrant literary future blossoming right here in our region.
For more information contact JWF Committee member Sally Keatinge (0456199298).
The South West Slopes Times covers an area approximately the size of Fiji in country NSW. We look after a population of more than 50,000 people with our staff servicing 7 major towns and dozens of villages with our story telling footprint.
We offer weekly print editions at $3 a copy and we also offer digital subscriptions across 3 months $30, 6 months $60 and 12 months $120.
We are one of the last truly local independent family run newspaper businesses in the state.
Contact us today to find out how we can promote your business or organisation across our huge network by emailing ads@thetimes.net.au or by calling 0413 763 216.
If you have a news tip, lead or scoop for us please make contact as we love celebrating our communities. You can contribute articles via our South West Slopes Times website.