Lisa Dempster - Director/CEO of Melbourne Writers Festival

Lisa Dempster is a leader in Australia's creative sector and Director/CEO of a world class literary event, Melbourne Writers Festival. In her previous role as Director of the Emerging Writers’ Festival (2010-2012), Lisa delivered dynamic, diverse and accessible events, including several interstate roadshows. Lisa pioneered digital literary programming in Australia and was the founding Director of the Digital Writers' Conference and EWFdigital, an innovative online programming stream. In 2012 Lisa curated an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Future Bookshop, which explored how Australians will be reading, writing and publishing in the future. She has previously programmed the Academy of Words writers' conference at Format Festival in Adelaide (2010) and undertaken an Asialink residency with the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Indonesia (2012). Before she got into festivals, Lisa was a writer and editor with several book titles, a personal blogger, and the indie publisher at Vignette Press.  @lisadempster || www.lisadempster.com.au