Family History Month - Writing Club and Society Histories

Celebrate a milestone or anniversary of your club, school, or church by writing an engaging history!
Carmel Phelps and David Whitbread are published authors who approach history in different ways. They have also worked together on organisational histories. Focusing on what's interesting for a reader, they will share their research techniques, writing approaches, and production secrets.

TICKETS WILL OPEN FOR BOOKING AT 9AM ON 14 JULY.

MEET CARMEL

Carmel Phelps has been writing organisational histories and biographies since 2001. Comprehensive research, a collaborative interpersonal style and passionate enthusiasm for her subjects underpin her reputation for weaving fascinating stories from potentially dry legal and administrative history. Last year, she wrote, More Than Numbers: 200 Years of Audit Impact, for the Audit Office of NSW. On one of her previous titles, Professor Dennis Pearce said Carmel is to be ‘commended on taking a subject that could have been excruciatingly boring and providing an interesting and illuminating read.’

MEET DAVID

David Whitbread is the author of, The Design Manual, encyclopaedic third edition. He was art director and one of the co-authors of the Australian Government’s, Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 6th edition (Wiley, 2002), and an adviser and expert reviewer on its 7th edition (online, 2020). Last year, he edited and designed Carmel Phelps' book, More Than Numbers. This year he has written, edited and published, Magic Moments in Theatre: A History of the CAT Awards 1994–2024.