Bonita Mersiades

Bonita Mersiades founded the Manly Writers' Festival in 2024 to give local and newer authors an opportunity to talk about their books, as they tended to be overlooked by established, larger festivals. She is also an author of three books and the publisher and director of Fair Play Publishing, a Northern Beaches based traditional publisher. Prior to Fair Play Publishing, she worked as a senior executive in the federal government in Canberra and in the non-profit health and sporting sectors. Internationally, she is known as a FIFA whistleblower.