The Board

Martin Dolan, Director, (Canberra, ACT), is a poet who has been writing and publishing for twenty-five years, alongside a 36-year-long federal public service career, which included being CEO of the Australian Energy Markets Commission and the first Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. He directed the search for the missing Malaysia Airliner flight MH 370 and retired to write full time in 2016. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra. Martin joined the Board in 2019.

David Musgrave (Newcastle, NSW) is an award winning poet and publisher. He has published several books including To Thalia(Five Islands Press, 2004), On Reflection(Interactive, 2005), Watermark(Picaro, 2006) and Anatomy of Voice (GloriaSMH, 2016), which won the QLD Premier’s Poetry Prize, the Judith Calanthe Award. He has also won the Newcastle Prize (twice), the Grace Leven Prize and the Josephine Ulrick Prize. In addition he is founder and publisher of Puncher and Wattmann, which has published many significant Australian poets as well as fiction, criticism and biography. At present he teaches creative writing at the University of Newcastle. Joined Board in 2011 as a Foundation Board Member.

Kate Stephens (Adelaide, SA) is a senior Human Resources practitioner, with many years of experience at the Executive level.  At a professional level, Kate has a strong interest in organisational change, leadership development and culture creation.  Kate’s academic qualifications consist of a combined Arts/Law degree, with Arts majors in Philosophy and Classics, as well as post graduate qualifications in public sector management. Kate joined the Board in 2017.

Yvette Holt, Director, (QLD / NT), is current Chair of First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN). A poet, academic, stand-up comedienne and photographer, she heralds from the Yiman, Bidjara and Wakaman Nations of Queensland. A multi-award winning poet, her poetry has been widely anthologised and translated. Yvette joined the Board in 2019.

Dr Bonny Cassidy (regional, Vic) lectures in Creative Writing at RMIT University. Her third collection of poems, Chatelaine (Giramondo) was shortlisted for the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Bonny’s critical essays on Australian poetry and culture have been widely published, and she’s presented her work at numerous festivals and fellowships internationally. Bonny joined the Board in 2020.

Dr Benjamin Laird (Naarm/Melbourne) is an Asian Australian poet and software engineer. His print and electronic poetry have been published in various journals. His longer works include the digital chapbook The Durham Poems, which was included in the Electronic Literature Collection volume 4. He has twice been shortlisted for the QUT Digital Literature Award in the Queensland Literary Awards, in 2018 for ‘Core Values’, first read at the 2016 Melbourne Writers Festival as part of Australian Poetry’s Transforming My Country series, and in 2019 for ‘Psychometric Researches’, written for Red Room Poetry’s Poetry Object project. In 2020, as part of a response to the pandemic, he created ‘Panacea’, an interactive online collaborative poem for Red Room Poetry. He holds a PhD from RMIT University, where he has taught digital writing. He has spoken at the Sydney and Melbourne Writers Festivals on the topic of digital poetry, edited two electronic poetry issues of Overland, and co-edited a print issue of Australian Poetry Journal.  Benjamin joined the Board in 2023.