Author, Editor, Literary Curator et al.
ABOUT
Amy Lovat is the author of Mistakes and Other Lovers and the current program manager of the Newcastle Writers Festival. She has a PhD in English and Writing and lives with her wife, a brood of animals, and thousands of books across unceded Awabakal and Gadigal Country in NSW, Australia. Her second novel comes out in June 2025.
For the past decade, she has been teaching creative writing at the University of Newcastle and UNSW, moulding bright young minds towards her true agenda: read more books. Amy founded Secret Book Stuff in 2017 as a bookstore and literary subscription. She’s also been a bookseller, copywriter, editor, and research assistant, working on projects such as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the representation of women in the music industry, and queer representation in Young Adult literature.
BOOKS
El O'Reilly is exceptionally good at making mistakes, like falling in love with the charismatic youth pastor, Mace, while engaged to her high school boyfriend, sleepless nights with beers and bongs and boys and girls, and that’s just the start. Mistakes and Other Lovers explores the pressure, pain and freedom of being on the cusp of adulthood and realising things aren't what you thought they'd be. That disappointing the people you love (and yourself) is inevitable. That making mistakes might be the best thing you've ever done.
EVENTS
28.04.2025 | Six-week online course with Writing NSW
17.04.2025 | In conversation with Madeleine Watts at Better Read Than Dead
05-06.04.2025 | Newcastle Writers Festival
