Held at Bradman Museum, the Sunday afternoon sessions provided an insight into the lives, experience and writing methods of Tara Moss and Blanche D’Alpuget.

The event took place ahead of the 2015 Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival which will kick off with a fantastic range of events, workshops and author sessions in July.

The theme of the festival this year is women writers and their contributions to literature throughout the ages.

Tara Moss, a prominent Canadian/Australian novelist, journalist, blogger, model, TV presenter and outspoken advocate for the rights of women and children was the first speaker.

Australian Commonwealth Games gold medalist and writer Lisa Forrest led the talk with Tara Moss, which included discussion on her first non-fiction and most recent book The Fictional Woman.

Speaking of her time in the modelling industry, Ms Moss said the pressures placed on her as a 15-year-old child to be “Paris-thin” were unreasonable and unacceptable.

“I was working in an adults’ world as a child... I had cheekbones that could cut cheese.”

“I would like to see adults modelling for adults.”

The literary afternoon was broken up by an afternoon tea, an interval session titled “Stella’s Book Club and Afternoon Tea” with a visit from founder of The Stella Prize, Aviva Tuffield.

One attendee of the session, Virginia O’Neill, said the discussion over the afternoon tea was “absolutely brilliant”.

Attendees of this session enjoyed a glass of bubbles, nibbles and received a copy of the 2015 Stella Prize winning book, The Strays by Emily Bitto.

SHWF creative director Michaela Bolzan said the thought behind this complementary book was that attendees would have a chance to read the book before meeting Emily Bitto at the upcoming writers’ festival events in July.

“Our aims are to continue to build a sense of community and promote literacy, and Emily Bitto’s book The Strays is the perfect book to kick-start our initiative.”

Ms Bolzan said it was a coup for the Highlands to have such a strong connection to the Stella Prize.

The afternoon concluded with a talk from yet another prominent Australian female writer, Blanche D’Alpuget.

Known for her work as a fiction writer, biographer and essayist (as well as being the wife of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke), Ms D’Alpuget shared her creative journey and insights on historical fiction with visitors of the writers’ festival, in conversation with award-winning author and conference presenter Jenny Strachan.