As Writefest rolls around for yet another year it becomes impossible not to face up to something I would like to pretend hadn’t happened. Not yet.

Our dear friend, companion in writing, colleague, fellow seeker of truth, wisdom, and a damn good time, Kez Salaün has passed away.

I met her at WriteFest 2013. Like many others she met that day, we became facebook buddies.

Kez joined the club. She was travelling back to help out at this year’s festival, but more than a once a year helper she became a constant in our online lives (she lived in Ettrick, NSW). We couldn’t often share physical space but, as a Bundaberg Club member,  she became part of the group invading (fairly literally) GenreCon 2013. There remain unfinished arguments about who exactly exhausted whom that weekend.

She was generous, empathetic, vivacious, curious, energising and enervating; a tiny spark in a universe made much emptier by her unexpected passing.