Alana Valentine is a librettist, playwright and director  with a solid track record for making works about tragic  public events in an evocative, dignified and deeply  moving way. Her previously commissioned works  for Merrigong were Dead Man Brake (2013) and Letters to Lindy (2016), which won the Drover Award  for best touring production. WATERSHED: The Death  of Dr Duncan (co-written with Christos Tsiolkas) is  nominated for a 2024 AWGIE award and will play the  Sydney Opera House in June 2024. Her 2023 stage play Wayside Bride is also AWGIE nominated and in June  Pantera Press will publish Wed By the Wayside, a memoir and non-fiction book about couples married at the Wayside Chapel. Her current work in development with MERRIGONGX, My Beautiful Man is a tender, moving play with songs based on the 2014 Lindt Café siege and the lives impacted by the tragic loss of café manager, Tori Johnson.