Dr Lynda Hawryluk has been the Southern Cross University representative on the Festival board since 2013. She is a Senior Lecturer in Writing at SCU, and Course Coordinator of the Associate Degree of Creative Writing. Lynda teaches undergraduate writing subjects, supervises Honours, Masters and PhD students and has facilitated writing workshops in regional Queensland, NSW and Canada. Lynda’s research interests include celebrity authors, writing and responding to landscapes and art and teaching strategies for creative writing. She is the current President and Chair of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs and has been published in a variety of academic and creative publications, mainly as a poet.

Lynda enjoys reading creative non-fiction and exploring the Northern Rivers as a bushwalker and surfer