Committee

Catchfire Press itself has only a short, though fertile, history, but many members of the committee have been generous contributors to and workers for the literary culture of Newcastle for many years—though, fortunately, there are also some new influences. Each entry has been left in the presentation preferred by its author, giving another indication of the range of the Committee’s style and taste.

Don Cohen(Convener)
Margaret Gibberd (Secretary)
Jackie Jools (Treasurer)
Anne Brown(Committee)
Margaret Frost (Committee)
Zeny Giles (Committee)
Joanna Hampson (Committee)
Michael Jameson(Committee)
Holly Blake(Committee)
Carla Edwards(Committee)
Jo Tregellis (Committee)

Convenor:  Don Cohen, BA, M.Ed. Stud
Active in Newcastle Literary organisations and theatre since 1992. Prior to this, active in theatre in the Port Stephens area since 1981.
Administrative positions: Literary organisations—committee member, Fellowship of Australian Writers (1993-1996); President, Poetry at the Pub (1996-1997); selecting co-editor for Catchfire Press’s The Christmas I’ll Never Forget (2002).
Current positions held—Secretary and Newsletter Editor, Catchfire Press Inc (1998-), Treasurer, Poetry at the Pub (1998-)
Theatre organisations—Involved in various capacities with a number of Newcastle theatre groups: Newcastle Repertory Club, Metropolitan Players, Newcastle Dramatic Art Club, Intimate Theatre Company, Club 71.

Secretary: Margaret Gibberd, BSc, BA, Dip. Ed.
Born 1945, Adelaide. 1965 BSc, University of Adelaide. 1993 BA, University of Newcastle. Margaret completed a Creative Writing Course with Paul Kavanagh in 1992. After completing a Dip Ed in 1994 at the University of Newcastle she taught literature in various primary schools. She trained to be a Reading Recovery teacher in 2002, 2003 and taught RR for the next four years to Year 1 students. Became secretary of Catchfire in January 2008. Publications: Two articles in From the Earth to the Table.

Treasurer: Jackie Jools
Born of a Dutch father and a Swiss French mother, I came to Australia at an early age. I was educated in Sydney and later in Lausanne, Switzerland.
I returned to Sydney and was employed in advertising, which I interrupted by a working holiday around Australia. I was by turns waitress, barmaid and hostess on Barrier Reef cruise ships. Back in Sydney, I worked in the clothing industry in sales, publicity and production management. I also drove a taxi, did catering and for a time ran—and cooked in—a pub bistro. Intending to retire to Newcastle (I came here in 1998) I have again become involved in catering. I am convenor of the Catchfire Press Cookbook Committee.

Committee: Katharine Aitken
Born in Scotland, Katharine moved to Australia in 1998.  She has a BA (Hons) from Monash University and a PhD in Creative Writing from Newcastle University.  Katharine currently works for the Hunter Writers Centre and is the coordinator of the Newcastle Poetry Prize.  Katharine is interested in community arts, publishing and oral histories and is mum to daughter Lily.

Committee: Anne Brown
Anne’s biography will be added soon.

Committee: Margaret Frost
Margaret was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1945 of Dutch and German parentage. She came to Australia in December 1969. She has studied at Universities and colleges in South Africa, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Newcaslte. Margaret became a teacher, sociologist, historian, therapist, theologian, linguist, writer, artist and musician. She has had articles published in many newspapers, like: Die Burger, The Age, The Courier Mail, and the Newcastle Herald.

Committee: Zeny Giles (Zenovia Doratis)
Born 1937, Sydney. 1957 BA, Dip. Ed. Sydney University. 1971 MA (English) University of Newcastle. 1980, Dip. Special Education, Newcastle CAE. Taught in various NSW schools, as tutor for the WEA and at the University of Newcastle. 1991 Writer-in-Residence, Migrant Resource Centres Hobart and Launceston. 1997 to date, Creative Writing Tutor, University of Newcastle.
Publications:
1981 Between two Worlds (novel) published by the Saturday Press.
1984 Zorica (play) written and performed with Freewheels Theatre in Education.
1989 Miracle of the Waters (short stories) published by Penguin Books.
1998 Inside the Storm (libretto) sung by the Hunter Singers, music by Michael Atherton.
Stories and poems in literary magazines.
1999 Vintage Crop (short story) published by Catchfire Press as SEAMARK 3, with illustrations by Ruth Uhrig Samuels.
2002 Caught in the Light (mixed mode, stories, poems, autobiography and essays) published by Catchfire Press.
Awards:
1981′The Economies of Mourning’ won the Age-Tabloid Story Competition.1981 ‘River’ won the Newcastle Herald’s Ann Danckwerts Prize for poetry.
1989 Miracle of the Waters highly commended in the Literature and other Writing section of the National Human Rights Awards.
1995 ‘Vintage Crop’ a winner in the ABC Radio National Books and Writing Short Story Competition.

Committee: Joanna Hampson
Born and raised in Oxfordshire, England Joanna moved to Australia in September 2007 after completing a BA in English Literature and Language at Leeds University. Joanna is now enjoying the ever-sunny Australian way of life, happily living by the lake in Fassifern. As a member of Catchfire she is keen to gain some experience in publishing whilst also learning more about Newcastle and its surrounds.

Committee: Michael Jameson
Michael was born in the UK in 1967 to Australian parents, and the family returned to Australia in 1978 to settle in Newcastle. At the University of Newcastle he worked in all aspects of production for the student magazine, OPUS, including writing, proofreading, layout and design, darkroom, advertising, and eventually a period as co-editor. In 1989 he founded a publishing company with a friend and produced twelve books over five years, primarily collections of poetry and short stories, including Poetry at the Pub anthologies. As a freelancer he has produced books, corporate submissions, advertising materials and other publishing requirements for a diverse range of clients. He joined Catchfire in 2004.

Committee: Jo Tregellis
Jo (Josephine) Tregellis was born in Newcastle in 1941.  Educated at St Joseph’s Merewether and Newcastle Teachers’ college Jo taught infants, primary and ESL in schools in the Hunter Valley, western Riverina and Sydney. Her career included time as Executive Teacher and Assistant Principal.  The multicultural composition of her last school was a constant source of surprise, joy and satisfaction. In 1998 Jo retired to Lake Macquarie and now lives at Cooranbong. Jo’s poetry is published in Yellow Moon (a literary magazine)  Eucalypt (a tanka jounal) freeXpression and on line with haikuoz.  In 2007 she won the Macarthur FAW free verse competition.  Her writings are included in the Catchfire Press anthologies Beneath the Valley, Stories for a long Summer, Through the Valley and People of the Valley. In September 2009 Jo will be a delegate at the Pacific Rim Haiku conference at Terrigal NSW.  She is an active member of Lake Macquarie Fellowship of Australian Writers, Catchfire Press and Bowerbird tanka poets.