The Melbourne bid steering committee: Eric Beecher, publisher, news website Crikey (chairman); Joel Becker, director, Victorian Writers' Centre; Tom Bentley, executive director, policy and cabinet, Department of Premier and Cabinet; Grant Caldwell, board member, Australian Poetry Centre; Rosemary Cameron, director/CEO, The Age Melbourne Writers' Festival; Morris Gleitzman, author; Sandy Grant, CEO, Hardie Grant Publishing; Penny Hutchinson, director, Arts Victoria; Kirsty Murray, author; David Pitchford, CEO, City of Melbourne; Mark Rubbo, director, Readings Books and Music; Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, CEO, State Library of Victoria; Bob Sessions, publishing director, Penguin Group (Australia); Rohini Sharma, artistic director, Express Media; Carrie Tiffany, author; Michael Webster, senior lecturer, RMIT and Principal Consultant, Nielsen BookScan.