Welcoming new staff, Jasmin McGaughey and Erin English

We are thrilled to be welcoming two new staff members to Varuna in 2026, Erin English, who joined us as Residency Producer last week, and Jasmin McGaughey, who will join the team as Creative Producer - First Nations in early March. We are so excited to welcome these wonderful people to our growing team!

Jasmin will be known to many across the literature sector as an author and editor, and locals may have seen her featured at this year’s Blue Mountains Writers Festival, in both our Schools Program and sessions across the Festival weekend.

A Torres Strait Islander and African American woman, Jasmin is a black&write! editor alum, and has written for Overland, Kill Your Darlings, SBS Voices, and Griffith Review; she also recently co-edited Words to Sing the World Alive. Her most recent YA novel, Moonlight and Dust, was shortlisted for the 2025 VPLAs, and she is is the author of Ash Barty’s collection of children’s books (illustrated by Jade Goodwin) and The Missing Pencil Case from the Your Next Read series.

Jasmin has won the 2019 Wheeler Centre Next Chapter fellowship, the 2021 Nakata Brophy Short Story prize, and the 2023 Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award. 

Erin has volunteered for the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival, writes for MTNS MADE and has over a decade of experience in management and logistics. Her role as Residency Producer combines her love of planning and organisation with genuine hospitality and her deep love of books. 

Whilst this is her first role in the arts sector, Erin has a lifelong love of reading, reinforced by her BA in writing and publishing at UNE.

Born and bred in the Blue Mountains Erin is known locally as an advocate for slow food and sustainable fashion.