Nikki Mottram is the author of Crows Nest (UQP, 2023). She has a psychology degree from The University of Queensland and has worked in London and Australia protecting and promoting the welfare of children at risk of harm. She uses her background in child protection in her crime fiction. She has been shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize and the Hal Porter Short Story Competition and was a recipient of the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writer’s Centre Fellowship. She grew up and resides in Toowoomba and brings to her work an understanding of rural communities.