National Writers’ Conference

Kgshak Akec is a South-Sudanese writer, performing artist, storyteller, and a lover of words. Since the moment she learned how to write in English at the age of six, Kgshak has been writing out the stories that live inside her mind. As a migrant and non-native English speaker, Kgshak is fascinated by the unspoken words and unsung songs of the day-to-day. Her debut novel Hopeless Kingdom, inspired by her own journey of migrating to Australia, explores the relationship of a mother and daughter as they settle, break, evolve, and adapt in new lands through multiple heartaches and triumphs

Katherine Brabon is the author of the novels The Memory Artist, The Shut Ins and Body Friend. Her work has received the Vogel’s Literary Award, a NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the David Harold Tribe Fiction Award. Her third novel Body Friend was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the ALS Gold Medal. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne.

Dr David Gould worked as a teacher and counsellor in schools and universities in Australia, France, and Japan. He then became Manager of the Committee for Melbourne’s business leadership program. In 2020 he completed his PhD and in 2023 his book ‘Survivors and Thrivers. Male Homosexual Lives in Postwar Australia’ was published. His current research is on Australian Rules Football and homophobia. David is co-founder of Bare Elements Entertainment company. He also founded and is President of Carlton Pride, the official LBGTI+ supporter group of the Carlton Football Club. David has assisted a Rohingya refugee family for the past decade.

Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator living on unceded Wangal Country. His debut book, ‘rock flight’ will be released in September 2024.

Dr Samah Sabawi a Palestinian Australian playwright, author and poet. She received Green Room Award for Best Writing for her critically acclaimed play THEM and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premiere Literary Awards and the Nick Enright Prize. Sabawi’s Tales of a City by the Sea was staged over 100 times around the world winning two Drama Victoria Awards for Best Production and Best Publication. Sabawi co-edited Double Exposure winner of the Patrick O’Neill Award and co-authored I remember my name, winner of the Palestine Book Award. Sabawi’s debut novel Cactus Pear for My Beloved will be published September 2024.

Deborah Lee-Talbot is a professional historian. She is fascinated with places like archives and libraries. Her time in these historic places locates and illuminates stories about a wide range of women. After this research time Deborah seeks opportunities for community engagement, be it by creating presentations or digital content. In 2023 she completed research at the State Library of New South Wales as CH Currey Fellow. The project was ‘Archives of the Archivist: Phyllis Mander-Jones and the Keeping of Australian-Pacific records, 1896-1957’. She received a National Library of Australia Summer Scholarship in 2022 to analyse the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Sophie Hamley has worked as a bookseller, editor, writer, content producer and web producer. She was a literary agent at Cameron’s Management from 2006 until 2014 and is a past President of the Australian Literary Agents’ Association. She is now a non-fiction publisher at Hachette Australia, publishing in a range of genres including biography, true crime, history, memoir, politics and science.

Will Cox is a lutruwita-born, Naarm-based writer and critic. His short fiction has appeared in various journals, and his novella Hyacinth came out in early 2023 to acclaim. He’s a regular arts writer for The Age and he can be heard on RRR’s Primal Screen.

Quinton Li (they/them) is an award-winning non-binary author of spiritual, queer, and evocative narratives that represent underrepresented identities. They are the author of Tell Me How It Ends, and Chrysalis and Requiem, and the editor and curator of Devout: An Anthology of Angels. Their poetry can be found with Panorame Press, Messy Misfits Club and Iris Youth Magazine.

Roumina Parsa is an Iranian Australian writer based in Melbourne (Naarm). She was shortlisted for the 2022 Catalyse Nonfiction Prize and her work has previously featured in Liminal and Farrago. She recently self-published a zine of personal essays, Here I Am.

Irma Gold is an award-winning author and editor. Her debut novel, The Breaking, won the Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship and the Canberra Critics Circle Award, and was shortlisted for the ACT Notable Award for Fiction. Her short fiction has been widely published in literary journals, and her acclaimed collection is Two Steps Forward. Her next novel is forthcoming in 2025. Irma is also the author of five children’s books, and is the founder and co-host of the writing podcast, Secrets from the Green Room. She works full time as a freelance editor for individual authors and a range of publishers.

Skye is a queer & neurodivergent Dulgubarra-Yidinji writer living in Naarm. She founded BluSkye Marketing in early 2023 (feeling very clever for coming up with the name) with a vision for an accessible First Nations owned marketing agency. Outside of running BluSkye Marketing, you may find her around Naarm performing yarns that make you laugh, cry and wonder why she’s admitting these things to a live audience.

Seth Malacari is an LGBTQIA+ author and editor. His first book, An Unexpected Party (Fremantle Press, 2023), was shortlisted for the 2023 Aurealis Award for best anthology. Their work has appeared in Emergence: SBS Emerging Writers Anthology, Ourselves: 100 Micro Memoirs, and Underdog: LoveOzYA Short Stories. He is one of the judges for the 2024 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award.

Tīhema Baker is a Māori writer who descends from the iwi (nations) of Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. His writing often deconstructs the complex interactions between the Māori and Western worlds, based on professional and personal experience. He is the author of satirical sci-fi novel ‘Turncoat’, which parodies the experiences of Māori public servants and was longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2024. He is also the author of young adult series ‘The Watchers Trilogy’, and various short stories and essays.

Laura Elizabeth Woollett is the author of a short story collection, The Love of a Bad Man (2016), and three novels, Beautiful Revolutionary (2018), The Newcomer (2021), and West Girls (2023). Her work has been shortlisted and long-listed for awards, including the 2024 Stella Prize. Laura was the City of Melbourne’s 2020 Boyd Garret writer-in-residence, a 2020-22 Marten Bequest scholar for prose, and will be a 2025 writer-in-residence at the Keesing Studio in Paris.

Karen Wyld is an author of Martu descent living on the coast south of Adelaide. They’ve written novels, children’s non-fiction, short stories, narrative non-fiction, and poetry. And co-edited The Rocks Remain: Blak Poetry and Story. Karen is the recipient of the 2024 SA Literary Fellowship (First Nations).

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.

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.

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.

daniel ward is a poet and musician. they are the editor of ‘no more poetry’, an independent publisher of poetry books and art magazines. their second and most recent poetry collection is titled ‘eternal delight paralysis’.