The Rising

Jo Riccioni graduated with a Masters in Medieval Literature from Leeds University, where her studies included Icelandic saga and the Arthurian and Robin Hood legends. Her short stories have won awards in the UK and Australia and have been anthologised in Best Australian Stories. Jo's first novel, The Italians at Cleat's Corner Store, won the International Rubery Award for fiction and was long-listed for the New Angle Prize in the UK. The Branded is the first book in her epic fantasy duology and The Rising completes it.

Leah Filley holds a Masters in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School in NYC, and her acting highlights include a yearlong national tour with National Players, playing Goneril in the feature film of King Lear and touring an all-female Julius Caesar with Essential Theatre to Melbourne, Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringe festivals. Leah also produced and starred in the Australian premiere of Tennessee Williams’s Summer and Smoke, and co-wrote, produced and acted in the new play Mullygrubs for Melbourne Fringe 2019 which was subsequently nominated for Best Theatre.