Team

Elizabeth has been the CEO of the Literature Centre since 2021 where she works with some of Australia’s most acclaimed storytellers to nurture a love of reading and writing for young people.
During her eighteen years working in government in the Department of Culture and the Arts she worked on, managed and led a range of community engagement and funding and investment programs across Aboriginal arts and cultural maintenance, public art, community collections, writing, visual arts, theatre, contemporary music and creative industries. Elizabeth was Director Library Services at the State Library for seven years, responsible for leadership of services to the community to inspire creativity and curiosity and develop literacy and learning at every stage of life.

Alan grew up in the Wheatbelt. He owns and operates two of Perth’s leading independent bookshops, Crow Books in East Victoria Park and New Edition Bookshop in Fremantle.

Andrew is a Production Manager in the cultural industries and the principal of independent production company TOSOTI.  Andrew has experience in theatre and events production management in Perth, Glasgow and on tours to Japan and Australia-wide. For ten years (2009-2018) he was Production and Venue Manager for the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. He has specialised in site-specific greenfield events such as the Festival of Perth’s closing event with internationally acclaimed pyrotechnical artists Groupe F on the Swan River foreshore; Tura New Music at Wogarno Station (a working sheep station); and Australia Day concerts in Perth parklands. He was production manager and technical director for the inaugural Disrupted Festival of Ideas at the State Library of Western Australia, where he set a high bar for the production of subsequent Disrupted Festivals. He has a broad knowledge of the technical and artistic requirements for a successful event, ably supported by his knowledge of Occupational Safety and Health and his adherence to pertinent local and state legislation.

Sharon has worked across cultural industries — both in Australia and internationally — for forty years, working with many exceptional artists including Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Michael Nyman and Robert Lepage. As a London-based independent producer she conceived, curated and produced Hullamveres, Hungary’s first international contemporary arts festival in the post-communist era.
As CEO of Writing WA for more than 17 years (2005-2022) she was responsible for multi-year partnerships with the Bergen Literature Festival, Singapore Book Council and Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. She curated and produced the inaugural Disrupted Festival of Ideas (2014) with the State Library of WA; conceived, co-curated and produced Kembali Perth (2020) and the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Perth (2021 & 2022), each a partnership event with the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali; produced/co-directed the Quantum Words Perth festival of science writing (2019 & 2022) in partnership with Writing NSW; and produced/co-directed the Words on Water Festival in Mandurah (2019) with Jaipur Literature Festival. Now working as an independent producer and the principal of Sharon Flindell Australia, recent projects include Jalan Jalan Indonesia, a multi-arts program developed in collaboration with the Indonesian Consulate Perth.

Alton is a Whadjuk, Wilman, Kaneang Nyoongar man from the South-West of Western Australia. He is an author, storyteller, filmmaker and musician with three children’s titles published by UWA Publishing. Alton has been heavily immersed in his culture since he was a young boy, being fortunate enough to have access to, and engage with, a wealth of knowledgeable cultural figures. He has been dancing and playing music with the Middar dance group since he could walk, performing locally, nationally and internationally. Alton’s true passions are embedded in his culture and the Arts. This led to him to a Tourism and Australian Indigenous Studies major at Murdoch University whilst working a Cadetship with Kings Park and Botanical Gardens. Alton aims to continue to develop his skills in an array of fields, consulting and penning various projects in the film, television, theatre and creative arts industries. He believes that his strong Nyoongar identity, alongside his passion for cultural representation and education, has guided his journey and aided in his achievements to date.

David is the author of three creative non-fiction books and ten novels including four novels in the Frank Swann crime series and two in the Lee Southern series, two of which have been shortlisted for Ned Kelly Awards. David wrote the Perth book in the NewSouth Books city series, which was shortlisted for a WA Premier’s Book Award. He lives in Fremantle with his partner and three kids, and teaches creative writing at Curtin University.

Jennifer is the Director of Paper Bird Children’s Books & Arts, Perth’s only specialist children’s bookshop that is a dedicated arts centre for kids to discover and create stories. Close to other independent bookshops, New Edition, The Map Shop and Bill Campbell’s Books, along with Notre Dame University, Paper Bird is helping create a literary precinct in Fremantle’s West End. Jennifer is also a founding director of the Woylie Project (a community-led initiative to provide local Aboriginal storytellers with a place to come for mentorship, support and skills to publish and present their stories in both Indigenous and English languages) and she facilitated the development of Australia’s first dedicated Aboriginal story festival for kids in collaboration with Magabala Books.