SHOKOOFEH AZAR moved to Australia as a political refugee in 2011. She is the author of essays, articles, and children’s books, and is the first Iranian woman to hitchhike the entire length of the Silk Road. The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, originally written in Farsi, was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize and for Australia’s Stella Prize for Fiction. It is her first novel to be translated into English and has been published in 15 other languages. She is currently working on a second novel in English, The Touba Tree of Our Kitchen and studying a PhD in Creative Writing at Deakin University.
|
WESLEY ENOCH has written and directed iconic Indigenous productions THE 7 STAGES OF GRIEVING, BLACK MEDEA and THE STORY OF THE MIRACLES AT COOKIE’S TABLE. He has directed productions of THE SAPPHIRES, BLACK DIGGERS,
I AM EORA, THE MAN FROM MUKINUPIN, YIBIYUNG, PARRAMATTA GIRLS, and BLACK COCKATOO. He was the Artistic Director of the Sydney Festival from 2017 to 2020 and was previously the Artistic Director at Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts and the Ilbijerri Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative. Wesley’s other residencies include Resident Director at Sydney Theatre Company; Associate Artistic Director at Belvoir Street Theatre; the 2002 Australia Council Cite Internationale des Arts Residency in Paris and the Australia Council Artistic Director for the Australian Delegation to the 2008 Festival of Pacific Arts. He was creative consultant, segment director and indigenous consultant for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. |
JUDITH NANGALA CRISPIN is a poet and visual artist, and a descendant of the Bpangerang and Gunaikurnai people of the Murray River. Her writing and visual arts practice is centred around issues of displacement and connection with Country. Judith has published two collections of poetry,
The Myrrh-Bearers (Sydney: Puncher & Wattmann, 2015), and The Lumen Seed (New York: Daylight Books, 2017). She has been working on a new illustrated verse novel, The Dingo’s Noctuary, over the past three years which she hopes to complete in 2021. 
BELINDA PROBERT grew up in the Weald of Kent, wanting to be a sheep farmer. After a PhD on the Troubles in Northern Ireland she accepted a job at the newly opened Murdoch University in Western Australia to teach peace and conflict studies/social and political theory and explore her Australian family connections. She is the author of books about Northern Ireland, gender equity, and Working Life: Arguments about Work in Australian Society. In between she wrote about gardening. Four decades later, after trying Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and the Otways, with too many renovations and building projects, she has built a multi-generational compound in Melbourne. Belinda Probert’s new book is Imaginative Possession: learning to live in the Antipodes (Upswell Publishing, August 2021).
|
π.ο. Born: Greece 1951 Came to Australia 1954 Raised: Fitzroy (inner suburb of Melbourne). Occupation: draughtsman, now retired gentleman. BIG NUMBERS is his selected poems. His other books include 24 HOURS, and FITZROY – The Biography. By disposition and history is an Anarchist, and is currently editor of the experimental magazine UNUSUAL WORK. His book HEIDE with Giramondo won the Judith Wright Calanthe Award in 2020, and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry in the same year. Reason for living: Stupidity.
TAONGA SENDAMA is a poet, multimedia storyteller and workshop coordinator whose work centres on vulnerability and intersections of identity. In 2017, after responding to a slam poetry call out on a whim, she placed first at the Western Australian Youth Poetry Slam and has since been performing and featuring at events across Perth. Taonga has held workshops at Curtin University, been awarded mentorships through Blue Room Theatre and Western Australian Poetry Inc. and in 2020 she was a feature poet and facilitator at the Perth Poetry Festival.
Image by emmadaisyphotography on Instagram |
ALICE ZASLAVSKY is a food literacy advocate, resident Culinary Correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, and creator of Phenomenom, a free digital toolbox helping teachers slip more serves of fresh food into every subject. When she’s not on stage hosting international culinary talent, or on screen showing Australians how to find every shortcut to delicious food, she’s at home testing recipes and sharing insights online as @aliceinframes. Her best-selling cookbook, In Praise of Veg, a definitive guide to cooking with vegetables has quickly become a staple in Australian kitchens and has already been translated into multiple languages and has been shortlisted for several awards, including ABIA awards. Photograph by Ben Dearnley |
2021 Guest Moderators include:
Fiona Blair, Nic Brasch, Stefano De Pieri, Katie Holmes, Paul Kane, Christos Tsiolkas and Terri-ann White. |
|
A selection of guest writers since 1994
Celeste Abad-Jugo Alexis Abola Robert Adamson Jordie Albiston Jeffrey Alexander Stephanie Alexander Louise Allan Chris Andrews Emilie Zoey Baker Benjamin Barney Peter Beilharz Judith Beveridge Tony Birch Carmel Bird Judith Bishop Pamela Bone Nic Brasch Judith Brett Rofel Brion Michelle Cah ill Paul Carter Gary Catalano Eileen Chong Mark Cladis Inga Clendinnen JM Coetzee Alfredo Conde Kerry Conway Alison Croggon Sophie Cunningham Robyn Davidson Luke Davies Bruce Dawe Sarah Day Richard Denniss Robert Dessaix Joe Dolce Will Eaves Ali Cobby Eckerman Stephen Edgar Bob Ellis Matthew Evans Diane Fahey Tracy Farr Janine Fraser Morag Fraser Alan Frost Raimond Gaita Helen Garner Moreno Giovannoni Andrea Goldsmith Anna Goldsworthy Kerryn Goldsworthy Peter Goldsworthy Lisa Gorton Alan Gould |
|