Workshop Presenters

Dr. Pete Court

Novelist, television and radio comedy writer, Podcaster, satirist, former advertising creative director, columnist and journalist.

Dr. Pete Court stands as a distinguished media analyst and operator, celebrated internationally for his contributions as an author, satirist, and columnist. With over four decades of experience, he brings a rich tapestry of knowledge to the lecture rooms of Tabor, embodying a passion for connecting with people and sharing profound insights. Beyond academia, Dr. Court remains at the forefront of creative endeavors, actively shaping stories, radio content, advertising, and professional communications. His teaching philosophy prioritizes real-world experiences, seamlessly integrating outside opportunities into the classroom. Through his guidance, students and clients actively engage in a collaborative journey, contributing to the creation of highly creative work and the development of successful, effective, and impactful creative lives.

James Cooper

James Cooper is a published poet, novelist, academic and writing professional who excels at sharing the joy of language and literature with young and old alike. He brings to his role as Program Coordinator over fifteen years’ experience in tertiary education, following an early-career in English literacy education and research. James is a founding member of the Stories of Life initiative, founder and Senior Editor of inScribe journal, and is well-known and respected among Australia’s growing network of Christian creative writers. His approach to teaching incorporates creative wordplay, close reading and collaborative workshop techniques, motivated by a strong desire to equip and inspire the storytellers of tomorrow.

“I see creative writing as a powerful means of deepening our connection to God and neighbour and the world we share. Throughout my life, the world of words – discovered in stories and poems and other writing – has enlarged my sense of self and the life I’m called to live. My passion is for writing that reveals the extraordinary in the ordinary, and for bringing the world of words to life for others.”

Debra Tidball

Debra is a children’s author of award-winning picture books. The Scared Book won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Australia and New Zealand, and is a CBCA Notable Book. When I See Grandma won the Caleb Award and both books were shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book Of the Year. Anchored was listed in the London Times and The Week Magazine as being among the best books for children in summer 2023 and was a CBCA Notable Book in two categories (Picture Book and Early Childhood). Lights Out, Little Dragon! has just been released. Debra also has flash fiction, short stories, poems and plays published in anthologies and The School Magazine.

A zealous supporter of book creators in Australia, Debra is the Regional Director of her NSW CBCA local region, and you can read her interviews with authors on the Just Write For Kids blog, and find her tweeting @debratidball. 

Debra has a Bachelor Degree in social work and a Masters in children’s literature and lives in Sydney with her family, sometimes surrounded by furry and feathery friends. For more information, visit Debra’s website at: http://www.debratidball.com

Nicole Partridge

Nicole Partridge is a journalist, author, writing coach and literary agent whose work has been featured in leading magazines and newspapers around the world, including Marie Claire, The Guardian Weekend magazine (UK), Good Weekend, The New York Times, Readers Digest Australia and Europe, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Sunday Telegraph, Daily Telegraph, AAP, Grazia, Body and Soul, WorldNews.com and Charisma magazine. She has co-authored several books, including the best-selling, Heart of a Lioness and Lofty: My Life in Short – Harper Collins and in 2022, she applied her passion for storytelling to the world of social media by capturing a compendium of powerful faith-based stories, reaching a global audience of over 3 million people. In addition to her extensive body of writing, Nicole occasionally teaches creative writing and storytelling and has mentored hundreds of Christian writers. Nicole offers support and coaching to anyone who wants to write a book. Nicole is a member of the Australian Society of Authors.

Karl Faase

Karl Faase is a well known Australian Christian communicator, media presenter, leader and social commentator. He is the CEO of Olive Tree Media, the organisation through which he produces programs of excellence for Christian media and local church use internationally. He is also widely known as the presenter of the Daily Nudge – short, thought-provoking devotionals heard on radio and landing in inboxes for over 10 years.

Karl is in demand across Australia as a speaker, with a special interest in encouragement & motivation, leadership, ministry development and communicating to those exploring faith. Karl is regularly called upon as a Christian spokesperson and commentator on a variety of social issues. He is passionate about reclaiming the Christian Gospel as word as well as deed.

With over 20 years of involvement in media, Karl is one of Australia’s most experienced Christian radio and television presenters, with his programs broadcast and distributed in the USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany and New Zealand.

Olive Tree Media’s latest production which Karl hosts is the documentary series, Faith Runs Deep (2022) which unearths stories of faith from across Australia. He also hosted and created three series of Jesus the Game Changer in the last few years, which tell the on-going story of the impact and influence of Jesus on lives and on our world.

Karl also released a book in 2019, The Stuff of Life. This book deals with the issues we all face every day. It covers the challenges and questions of life in the middle; loss, love, forgiveness, relationships, money, and it asks the question: can Christianity speak to the middle issues of life?

Olive Tree Media’s previous documentary includes Towards Belief, a 10 part documentary DVD/TV series which looks at the belief blockers to faith in western countries. The Daily Nudge is one of Australia’s best-known and most widely used one-minute spots on Christian radio internationally with over 900 in circulation.

Karl finished in his position as Senior Pastor of Gymea Baptist Church in late 2014 where he served for over 20 years. Karl maintains leadership roles in the Christian community as a board member of organisations such the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (Australia), Samaritans Purse and the Sydney Prayer Breakfast.

Karl was the co-founder and Executive Director of the Australian Arrow Leadership Development Program until December 2010 – a national leadership development program for emerging Christian leaders across Australia and the co-founder of the Media Project, Jesus. All About Life – a high profile media campaign working in conjunction with local church participation.

Katrina Roe

Is a children’s picture book author, podcaster, audiobook narrator and book reviewer. In her day job, she does marketing and publicity for a large regional library service and run over forty book clubs. She’s also a Mum of 3 kids, two of whom are neurodivergent.

She used to be a radio announcer for many, many years. Sydneysiders may have heard her as the host of Hope Mornings on Hope 103.2. She was also the founder and original host of The Hope Book Club podcast and created Australia’s Invisible History podcast with her father-in-law, Dr Paul Roe, The Outback Historian.

Christine Dillon

Christine is Australian and was a physiotherapist but now she writes ‘storyteller’ on any airport  forms. She can legitimately claim to be this as she has written two books on storytelling and spends much of her time either telling Bible stories or training others to do so. She was based in Taiwan from 1999-2021 but has recently returned to Australia, although continuing to work with OMF International. Believing so much in the power of stories has led her to fiction. Her first novel, Grace in Strange Disguise was released October 2017 and in 2021 she completed the sixth novel in the series.
In her spare time, she enjoys being active: hiking, cycling, and swimming. Of course, she’s a bookworm too.

Jenny Glazebrook

Jenny Glazebrook loves writing inspirational Christian fiction.

She grew up in the small town of Gundagai, Australia and after many years living in other parts of Australia, returned with her husband Rob and four children, Micah, Merridy, Clarity and Amelia.

They have added many pets to our family including two blue-tongue lizards, a cat, a goose, a budgie (parakeet), many chickens, rescue birds (including a cockatoo, galahs and rosellas), a sheep who thinks she’s a dog and a dog who thinks he’s a sheepdog.

Jenny had a difficult childhood struggling with medical issues (including a cleft lip and palate and type 1 diabetes) and came to a point of complete brokenness when she was 13. It was at this point God reached in, showed His love through Jesus, and gave her a reason to live. She is now passionate about helping people understand what it means to have a deep and real relationship with God and sees writing fiction as an enjoyable way to show others how to live with joy and purpose in this broken world.

Jenny is the author of more than a dozen novels, several of which have been finalists in the CALEB awards for faith inspired writing.

Steph Penny

Steph Penny is the author of Surviving Childlessness, the second book in the Survival series following her debut book, Surviving Singledom. She is currently working on her third book in the series, Surviving Chronic Illness. She writes a weekly blog called Countercultural Conversations which challenges cultural norms in church and society in general.

In 2022 Surviving Childlessness was listed as a finalist in the CALEB awards! The CALEBs (Christian Authors Lifting Each other’s Books) are awarded by Omega Christian Writers, an international writers’ group.

She has been published in multiple anthologies, including Praying Through Infertility, a collection of devotions for those living with infertility.

Steph is also a singer/songwriter and publishes original songs online. Click here or visit YouTube to watch.

She also helps out with worship ministry at her local church, where you can usually find her singing and jumping around behind the keyboard.

In her spare time, she works as a psychologist, helping individuals struggling with addiction and mental health issues.

When not at work, you’ll find Steph writing, chilling out with her husband and furbaby, eating chocolate (the darker the better, amIright?), buying more books than she’ll ever read and dreaming of travel!

Helen Rosenzweig

Helen has been in the IT industry for more than 20 years. She loves nothing more than helping growing businesses build a powerful online presence that goes beyond mere web design.

As a strategist, she has the innate ability to figure out what’s working for your business and what can be improved. Her ultimate goal is to watch you succeed and become an industry authority.