The Emerging Writers’ Festival work, learn and play largely on the land of the Kulin nation, and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

EWF celebrates the history and creativity of the world’s oldest living culture.

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Artist

Madeleine Cleary

Madeleine Cleary’s debut novel, The Butterfly Women (2025, Affirm Press), was shortlisted for 2025 Dymocks Book of the Year and the 2026 Indie Book Awards. Her writing has been shortlisted for The Australian Fiction Prize and featured in The Australian Weekend Magazine. Madeleine is the co-host of The Book Deal Podcast, a popular podcast where she interviews writers about their pathway to publication. Before she became a published author, Madeleine was a bookseller and served as an Australian diplomat in China. Madeleine is from Melbourne/Narrm and lives at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges.