Our Team
Our Staff
Varuna is managed by a team of dedicated staff who are responsible to a volunteer Board
VEECHI STUART, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Veechi's career has taken her on many adventures, including working as a journalist, writer, editor, publisher and business consultant. Before working at Varuna, Veechi worked as a columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald and as Publishing Manager for Woodslane Press. She is the author of over a dozen non-fiction titles, including bushwalking guides for both the Blue Mountains and Sydney.
Veechi has been a director on several community organisation boards, and has acted as an advisor to many businesses and non-profit organisations for over 20 years. She recently completed her MBA studies, including a research project into the contribution of regional writers’ centres to social inclusion. Veechi was recently nominated as a Cultural Leader by the Blue Mountains Artists Network.
Veechi loves finding ways to make the arts accessible to as many people as possible, and is proud to be part of the creative community in the Blue Mountains.
MAEVE MARSDEN, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Maeve is a writer, producer and theatremaker who has presented work at major festivals and venues across Australia and the UK. She is best known for producing Queerstories, a national storytelling project that has brought more than 400 LGBTQI+ writers to stages around the country, with a collection published by Hachette.
A well-respected cultural commentator, Maeve is regularly called upon to host at writers festivals, and she has been published widely. Maeve has held curatorial, management and communications roles in both the arts and disability sectors, including at Sydney Mardi Gras, Arts on Tour, the ABC and National Disability Services.
Maeve is a Blue Mountains local and is in the office Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, working from home Friday.
AMY SAMBROOKE, DIGITAL PROGRAMS PRODUCER
Amy Sambrooke is the Digital Programs Producer at Varuna. Formerly the Creative Director of Varuna and the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival (2017 – 2023), Amy has held senior roles in program leadership, education and communications in the arts and in public policy.
Amy started her career as a Producer at ABC Sydney, and is a graduate of Macquarie University and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Amy has served on advisory committees for visual arts, heritage and not-for-profit organisations, and has served on community boards.
Amy works Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
JAALA HALLETT, RESIDENCY PRODUCER
Jaala is primarily responsible for making sure residencies at Varuna run as smoothly as possible. She looks after the house bookings and general maintenance, as well as supporting writers in residence and the delivery of programs at Varuna, including the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival.
Jaala has held various Communications, Marketing and Public Relations roles within the arts sector after completing a Bachelor of Mass Communication at QUT and is a lover of the arts in all its forms. A poet with Dunghutti and Gumbaynggirr ancestry, Jaala is currently based on Dharug & Gundungurra country in the Blue Mountains.
Jaala is in the Varuna office Monday - Thursday.
WEI CLERKIN, PROGRAMS ADMINISTRATOR
Wei’s work at Varuna involves assisting the Creative Producer to deliver Varuna’s Creative Program, which includes coordinating and promoting fellowship programs.
Wei’s career has spanned from children’s book publishing to marketing and project management at Sydney Opera House and The Ethics Centre. She has worked on multiple speaker events including Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI), All About Women and has most recently produced the first TEDx event in the Blue Mountains, TEDxKatoomba.
Wei is a Blue Mountains local and is in the office on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
CHRIS CANNELL, FESTIVAL MARKETING AND TICKETING OFFICER
Chris returns to the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival in 2024 after Varuna’s biggest and most successful writers’ Festival in 2023.
Chris is an experienced marketing, design and hospitality professional based in the Blue Mountains. Chris was known locally for managing, renovating and bringing life back to one of the Mountains’ historic guesthouses, however, has since gone on to specialising in digital and events marketing. Chris is a social media, CRM, graphic design, photography and website design specialist, as well as having served on as a board member of Blue Mountains Tourism and the Blue Mountains Regional Business Chamber.
More recently, Chris is known for Music in the Mountains, a live music promoter coordinating live music every weekend at several venues across the Blue Mountains.
KATHY DOBSON, ACCOUNTS
Kathy is Varuna’s bookkeeper and has worked in the Varuna office for over 20 years. A true legend, we do not know where we would be without her! Kathy can be found in the Varuna office on Wednesdays.
SHEILA AND JANE ATKINSON, CATERERS (FOR EVENING MEALS)
Sheila is Varuna’s chef extraordinaire and has become legendary in Australia’s writing community for her wonderful meals for Varuna guests. While running her restaurant in Katoomba many years ago, she was asked to cater meals for Varuna guests. For two years she did both jobs, eventually selling her restaurant because she loved the Varuna job more. Sheila's many professional lives have included being a makeup artist for television, an organiser of arts festivals and a restaurateur.
Luke Atkinson, Sheila’s grandson, has been coming to Varuna with his mother (Jane) and grandmother (Sheila) for as long as he can remember. Jane now helps Sheila, coming to Varuna most evenings in a week to help prepare our evening meals.
ROD DARK, GARDENER
Rod Dark, grandson of Eleanor and Eric Dark, tends the two-acre grounds of Varuna twice a week. Under his care, the heritage orchard is flourishing, flowers can be found throughout the garden all year round, and our drystone walls are being restored. The garden has always held a very special place in the hearts of the Dark family and indeed for all visitors to Varuna.
ANITA HOVING, HOUSEKEEPING AND CASUAL ADMIN
Anita is the Varuna housekeeper, and she steps in to help during busy times, wrangling our database, configuring forms and coordinating festival volunteers. Previous to working at Varuna, Anita has 20 years working at the University of Sydney in various roles in administration, staff development and knowledge management. Anita holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Masters in Art History, a Graduate Cert. in Learning Science and Technology, as well as a Graduate Dip. Ed in secondary art teaching.
Anita is at Varuna on Mondays and Thursdays.
DIONNE KANKINDJI, CASUAL CLEANING AND CATERING & MASSAGE THERAPIST
In addition to assisting Anita in the keeping of the Varuna house, Dionne spends three nights a week preparing the evening meal for the writers in residence at Varuna. Dionne holds a BA in French & Archaeology, Cert IV in Aromatherapy and a Diploma in Remedial Massage and can sometimes be found at the house in another nurturing capacity - offering her services of massage therapy to writers in residence. Since 2011, Dionne has run her practice as a massage therapist and supports people with various needs.
She has lived in the Blue Mountains for over 23 years and in her spare time likes to garden, cook, paint, and spend time in nature.
Our Board
CHAIR, DAVID HAMMON
David is currently CEO and a Director of Hammons Holdings, the company which owns Australia’s most visited privately owned tourism attraction, Scenic World. Under David’s leadership, Hammons Holdings was recently appointed to operate tourism activities on the Sydney Harbour Bridge following a rigorous tender process driven by the NSW State Government.
As Scenic World’s former Joint Managing Director, David has a strong business acumen, having worked alongside his sister Anthea Hammon to lead the business through a sustained period of growth and innovation, including a $30 million redevelopment of the iconic Scenic Railway.
With a solid background in commerce and economics, David currently leads the diversification strategy of Hammons Holdings. The company is an investor in the URBNSURF Melbourne project and David sits on the Board of Sydney Zoo as part of Hammons Holdings’ cornerstone investment in the project.
DEPUTY CHAIR, ERIC SIDOTI
Eric Sidoti is a self-employed consultant and adviser in addition to his position as Adjunct Professor and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at Western Sydney University. He is currently Project Lead for the collaborative national initiative Music Education: Right from the Start, led by Alberts The Tony Foundation.
Over the years, he has held senior leadership positions in a number of organisations including Amnesty International and the Human Rights Council of Australia. More recently, he was the inaugural Executive Director with the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, and prior to that, Director of the Whitlam Institute (2007-2017) within Western Sydney University.
TREASURER, BIANCA NOGRADY
Bianca Nogrady is a freelance science journalist, author and broadcaster. Her work has appeared in outlets including Nature, The Atlantic, MIT Technology Review, The Guardian, Undark, Scientific American, the ABC and BBC. She is a two-time editor of the The Best Australian Science Writing anthology (NewSouth Books, 2015 and 2019), author of The End: The Human Experience of Death (Penguin Random House, 2013), and co-author of The Sixth Wave: How To Succeed In A Resource-Limited World (Penguin Random House 2010). She is also founding president of the Science Journalists Association of Australia.
SECRETARY, SANKI (SASANKI) TENNAKOON
Sanki (Sasanki) Tennakoon (she/her) is a Western Sydney-based artist, arts worker and copywriter residing on Darug and Gundungurra lands. Sanki has worked in arts and not-for-profit organisations since 2012 including Blacktown Arts, Urban Theatre Projects, the Feminist Killjoys Reading Group and Story Factory. She has been published online in RAVEN Contemporary and The Ladies Network and was a founding member of the artist-run initiative Pari. Sanki studied at National Art School, completed her postgraduate studies in Communications – Information and Knowledge Management at UTS and holds a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults.
CHARMAINE LEDDEN-LEWIS
Charmaine Ledden-Lewis is a proud Bundjalung woman and award winning illustrator, residing on Dharug & Gundungurra Country in the Blue Mountains, NSW. Charmaine has collaborated with such celebrated authors as Bruce Pascoe, Cathy Freeman, Edith Wright and Dr Anita Heiss, bringing vivid and emotive visual story telling to each book she creates. Charmaine is passionate about sharing First Nations experiences and perspectives, through the language of art & visual literacy with everyone she meets, and encourages all to transcend inhibition and find their creative outlet.
DOLLA MERRILLEES
Dolla Merrillees is the Director Western Sydney Creative, Western Sydney University and was previously the Director and CEO of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney and the Associate Director, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. She is a member of the Sydney Review of Books Advisory Board, the Arts and Cultural Advisory Panel - Western Sydney Parklands Authority, and sits on the board of FORM Dance Projects and Varuna, the National Writers' House and the working group of Western Sydney Arts Alliance.
URSULA KING
Ursula is a researcher with an eclectic background. In the mix are community development, clinical medicine, sustainability, media/communications, epidemiology, humanities, and advocacy. Several decades juggling directorship of a national service sector consultancy, community-academic-industry partnering on international ecology/health projects, and a career as an emergency medicine doctor have now given way to writing. Ursula engages with essay, critique, experimental non/fiction, poetry and creative documentary, along with a side-hustle in food ecosystems research. Ursula is also on the board of Accessible Arts.
GRAHAM AKHURST
Graham Akhurst is an Aboriginal writer and academic hailing from the Kokomini of Northern Queensland. His research sits in the disciplines of creative writing, Australian literature, and Australian publishing studies. Graham is currently a Lecturer of Indigenous Australian Studies and Creative Writing in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney. His research has been published as a book chapter in Indigenous Postgraduate Education: Intercultural Perspectives and he has had articles published in The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education and Artlines. He is a contributing editor at Kweli Journal, New York City.
Graham’s debut novel Borderland was published in September 2023 by The University of Western Australia Press. Graham also sits on the board of the Sydney Review of Books.
MEREDITH CURNOW
After studying literature Meredith Curnow joined the Australian Publishers Association (APA) which provided a thorough overview of the publishing industry. After some further study, Meredith was appointed the inaugural festival director at the newly free-standing Sydney Writers’ Festival where the business of books from the writers’ perspectives was more to the fore. After a frenetic and fabulous five years she moved across to what is now Penguin Random House where Meredith has been publishing fiction and non-fiction for twenty years.
Meredith chairs the editorial working group for the APA and is on the board of Express Media, the only national organisation devoted to developing, supporting and promoting young writers, editors and arts administrators.