An emerging local author, Andra Putnis, has been appointed as the new artistic director of the Canberra Writers Festival for 2025, after the surprise departure of Beejay Silcox from the role.

Putnis’s debut book, Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me, featured at the 2024 festival, and also received the Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for Memoir/History.

She will be supported by writer Qin Qin, who joins in the newly-created role of artistic associate.

Named one of the 40 Under 40: Most Influential Asian Australians, Qin Qin, who works at the National Library, is a former Harvard student whose book, Model Minority Gone Rogue: How an unfulfilled daughter of a tiger mother went way off script, tells it all.

“Andra and Qin Qin together bring fresh energy, diverse perspectives, and a commitment to deepening the festival’s reach,” CEO Travis Green said.

The 2025 Canberra Writers Festival, October 22-25.