Storytelling for Change

Heather Rose is an award winning and best selling Australian author, public speaker and teacher of creativity and imagination.

Heather’s work spans literary fiction, magical realism, crime fiction, political fiction, fantasy and memoir. Her novels have won numerous prizes including the Stella Prize, the Christina Stead Prize, the Margaret Scott Prize and the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year. Her work has been published internationally and translated into numerous languages. Heather is a passionate teacher of writing and a mentor for developing novelists. She is also one half of the children’s author Angelica Banks. Heather’s latest book is a memoir – Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here. Heather lives between mountain and sea on one of the islands surrounding Tasmania.

Maya is a director and impact producer. In collaboration with Unquiet Collective Maya directed the acclaimed feature In My Blood It Runs (2019)  about ten-year-old Arrernte/Garrwa boy Dujuan and his community, made in collaboration with those onscreen. The families onscreen led a multi-year impact campaign targeting juvenile justice, education and anti-racism. Previously, she has made short documentaries, and feature documentary Gayby Baby (2015) which screened at festivals internationally, won many awards and sparked a national conversation about the rights of children raised in LGBTIQ families. Her new documentary The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone premiered as a Netflix Original in 2022 with an impact campaign centring Georgie’s goals for change.

Berry Liberman is a podcaster and writer who focuses on themes of leadership, storytelling, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolutio and connection.

Berry, whose family office Small Giants has a 100% impact portfolio, is a pioneer in the impact investing landscape globally, across media, the built environment, venture capital, regenerative agriculture, financial services, nature-based climate solutions, biodiversity, and energy systems.

Berry is the Creative Director of Small Giants Academy, a not-for-profit accelerator, education and media initiative with a focus on leadership fora hopeful future. Berry was the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Dumbo Feather Magazine — now The Wisdom & Action Podcast — with an abundant audience of conscious leaders from all sectors.

As a mother to three beautiful children, her work is in service to them and generations to come.

Having nurtured an affection for Greenpeace from childhood, David returned to his native Australia in 2012 to assume the position of CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific after five years in a senior campaigns role at Greenpeace in London.

David's responsibilities encompass substantial writing and public speaking, highlighted by his latest publication, "The Coal Truth: The Fight to Stop Adani, Defeat the Big Polluters and Reclaim our Democracy." He holds the honorary position of fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Western Australia, while also affiliating with the Sydney Environment Institute, Sydney Policy Lab, and Sydney Democracy Network at Sydney University.

David Leser is an Australian journalist, author, public interviewer and writing mentor. A former Middle East and North American correspondent he has been a journalist for 40 years and become widely known in Australia for his in-depth profiles and stories on social and political issues. He has interviewed everyone from Meryl Streep and Ayaan Hirsi Ali to Gina Rinehart, Alan Jones and the Dalai Lama.

David is the recipient of numerous awards for his journalism and his memoir ‘To Begin To Know: Walking in the Shadows of my Father’, was short-listed for the National Biography Award in 2015. His most recent book is`Women, Men and the Whole Damn Thing’ published in Australia and New Zealand in 2019 and due for release in North America in January 2021.

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian based in Ireland, whose work centres around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. A skilled speaker, teacher and group worker, his work has won acclaim in circles of poetry, politics, religion, psychotherapy and conflict analysis.  

Pádraig presents Poetry Unbound with On Being Studios, a podcast that takes a deep dive into a single poem. With six million downloads of its first three seasons, Poetry Unbound is a powerful example of the appetite for poetry in dispersed and diverse populations.  

Pádraig’s books include Sorry for your Troubles, In the Shelter and Feed the Beast. Most recently, he has released Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open your World, following the success of his podcast with On Being.