<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339183</docID> <postdate>2025-02-27 10:41:22</postdate> <headline>Emerging author takes charge of writers’ festival</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339184" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Putnis-Thorson.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Andra Putnis. Photo: Amanda Thorson</caption> <p><strong>An emerging local author, Andra Putnis, has been appointed as the new artistic director of the Canberra Writers Festival for 2025, after the surprise departure of Beejay Silcox from the role. </strong></p> <p>Putnis’s debut book, Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me, featured at the 2024 festival, and also received the Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for Memoir/History.</p> <p>She will be supported by writer Qin Qin, who joins in the newly-created role of artistic associate.</p> <p><img class="size-full wp-image-339187" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Qin-Qin-2-e1740613082818.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /></p> <caption>Qin Qin.</caption> <p>Named one of the 40 Under 40: Most Influential Asian Australians, Qin Qin<strong>, </strong>who works at the National Library, is a former Harvard student whose book, Model Minority Gone Rogue: How an unfulfilled daughter of a tiger mother went way off script, tells it all.</p> <p>“Andra and Qin Qin together bring fresh energy, diverse perspectives, and a commitment to deepening the festival’s reach," CEO Travis Green said.</p> <p><em>The 2025 Canberra Writers Festival, October 22-25. </em></p> </body>