Changing Pace: Words Beyond the City

Elena Hogan is an emerging writer and artist working on unceded Wurundjeri land. Since 2021, Elena has dedicated herself to her debut novel, Everything Before Gia, a family saga, queer mystery and social commentary on transgender rights. She has been published by Farrago, Voiceworks, the Emerging Writers Festival and Regional Arts Australia.

Josh King is a musician and poet based in Berrin/ Mount Gambier, South Australia. He has participated in several projects with Writers SA, Mount Gambier Fringe, and is one half of the electronic music group Sexy As Shit.

Haneen Mahmood Martin is a Kuala Lumpur -born, Malay-Saudi multi-arts programmer, producer, writer, and artist based in Narrm/Melbourne. She creates and seeks art that highlights the everyday rituals that make life meaningful, the precarity of memory as a means of holding knowledge, and the connection and understanding that sharing food can bring – creating a space for our ordinary stories in the archives.

When you hear the words Levin Shillam you might think of great sprawling deserts and tumbleweeds drifting past. But in actual fact, Levin Shillam is one of those writing people… or an aspiring one. He likes to write comedy and absurdism, in the forms of audio drama, poetry, short fiction and the occasional stage play. In 2023, he was part of Regional Arts Australia’s writing program, Regional Scribes, and was published in their book, You Together. As of today, he studies at the University of Newcastle and is working on an audio drama miniseries.