The Emerging Writers’ Festival work, learn and play largely on the land of the Kulin nation, and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

EWF celebrates the history and creativity of the world’s oldest living culture.

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Tuesday 16 May

Program Launch: New Growth

Celebrate 20 years of Emerging Writers’ Festival, as the 2023 program is revealed.

Thursday 15 June, 8:30am

Morning Pages: Zines

Be endowed with all the materials and skills to make a zine, either to take home, or to use throughout the festival!

Thursday 15 June, 11am

Digital Ecologies

Join these writers for an invigorating discussion about their visions for a world where the technological and the natural are simultaneously embraced.

Friday 16 June, 10am

Masterclass: Memoir

A masterclass all about memoir. From reading it to writing it!

Friday 16 June, 8pm

what if we held hands in the queer archives

Five writers traverse the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) and interact with the queer histories collected and preserved there.

Saturday 17 June, 10am-5:15pm

National Writers’ Conference

The National Writers’ Conference is the place for emerging writers to develop their skills, hear from leaders in the field, and forge connections within the industry.

Wednesday 14 June, 7pm

Opening Night: Truth Telling

Come set the stage for the landmark 20th Emerging Writers’ Festival!

Thursday 15 June, 5:30pm

Writers’ Toolbox: Writing Admin 101

From making friends to finding workflow, each session is a deep dive into the different aspects of forging an expansive practice. It all takes place in the cosy winter evening ambiance of Coburg Library.

Thursday 15 June, 5:30pm

Writing Without Compromise

This workshop will unpack the complications of navigating language and identity in a hostile literary environment

Thursday 15 June, 6pm

xoxo

Join some of EWF’s favourite writers as they share the most scandalous gossip they could imagine – emphasis on imagine.

Thursday 15 June, 7pm

The Sun, The Moon, The Stars

This group of emerging and established First Nations writers have summoned up their writing magic to share stories of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars

Friday June 16, 12:30pm

Lunch/Break: Writing for Children & Parents

In this discussion, writers will explore the diverse terrain of children’s literature and underscore the importance of creating inclusive and representative fictional worlds.

Friday 16 June, 5:30pm

Writers’ Toolbox: Finding your Audience

Four evenings of professional development sessions for aspiring and seasoned writers alike who wish to dig into the nuts and bolts of being a professional writer.

Friday 16 June, 6:30pm

place, non-place

Join these incredible poets as they explore place/non-place in the surrounds of Fitzroy Garden’s Conservatory.

CANCELLED

EWF X Chicken Salt Baes

Tune in to experience the Chicken Salt Baes, an all-Indigenous Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party, on the next installment of their epic adventure as part of EWF23!

Monday 19 June, 10am-4pm

Masterclass: Genre Fiction

Join this group of remarkable writers for a day of everything genre fiction.

Saturday 17 June, 10am

Ambassador Panel

Kick off the National Writers’ Conference with a panel featuring this year’s incredible Ambassadors.

Saturday 17 June, 11am

Researching Fiction

This is a topic that is often left out of discussions on the craft – what do you do before you start writing?

Saturday 17 June, 12:30pm

Club Critique

From literature to food, music to screen, join these writers as they consider the purpose and scope of criticism.

Saturday 17 June, 12:30pm

Victoria Hannan: Structure and Boundaries

How does a good story become a great novel? Victoria Hannan, author of Kokomo and Marshmallow, will explore the role of structure in bringing stories to life.

Saturday 17 June, 1:45pm

Pitch Perfect

Find out the must-haves for delivering a great pitch and the pitfalls to avoid. This session will provide the guidance of a publishing industry leader to help whip your pitch into perfect shape.

Saturday 17 June, 1:45pm

Bella Li: Composition as Explanation

What is it we do when we write? How does composition relate to vision? Bella Li discusses two particular methods of composition – collage and ekphrasis – as well as general compositional principles of structure and sequence, in works of poetry. 

Saturday 17 June, 4:15pm

Establishing a Sustainable Practice

This panel will be where to find out all the habits that make up a viable professional practice.

Saturday 17 June, 3pm

Yumna Kassab: The Physical Act of Writing

In this Keynote, Yumna Kassab will explore the rituals, tools, routines and environmental conditions that assist in a sustainable creative practice.

Saturday 17 June, 3pm

Pitch It! Sessions

Sign up to this event to have the chance to deliver a practice five-minute, online, one-on-one pitch with a literary industry professional.

Saturday 17 June, 4:15pm

On the Cutting Room Floor

Hear from authors on how they go about whittling down their words to the ones that matter the most, and what they do with the ones they cut.

Saturday 17 June, 3pm

The Grant Scheme of Things

A session all about grants and funding for writers – do they exist, how do you get one, and what do you do once you do have one?

Saturday 17 June, 4pm

Faber Anthology Launch

Get on down to The Moat for the launch of the Faber Writing Anthology, hosted by novelists and tutors Miles Allinson and Emily Bitto.

Saturday 17 June, 7pm

Voiceworks #129 ‘Static’ Launch Party

Voiceworks #129 themed ‘Static’ is launching at the Emerging Writers Festival. Celebrate their new issue and hear from some of its amazing contributors.

Sunday 18 June, 12pm

The Subtleties of Podcasting

Podcast and radio host Nana Owusu shares the biggest lessons she’s learnt through years of interviewing, researching and crafting her outstanding podcast, The Subtlety Of It.

Sunday 18 June, 4:30pm

Westside Writers Salon

Four exceptional writers from the West will share selections from their most recent work, live at Williamstown’s beautiful Town Hall.

Sunday 18 June, 6pm

Birthday Party!

Emerging Writers’ Festival and Williamstown Literary Festival are both turning 20, and you’re invited to their birthday party!

Monday 19 June, 2pm

EWF X Dinner Party Press: From Page to Stage

Transform your intimate erotic prose into a spoken declaration of desire with Dinner Party Press and Emerging Writers’ Festival.

Monday 19 June, 6:30pm

Next Big Thing

Discover new works and celebrate fresh writing talent in a special Emerging Writers’ Festival edition of the Wheeler Centre’s much-loved Next Big Thing readings series.

Thursday 22 June, 11am AEST

AI: T/truth

In this pre-recorded panel, three trans/queer writers discuss the complex connections between Truth, genre, and identity within their own work. Combining theory, genre-bending experimentation, and the mundane absurdity of their everyday lives, these writers consider the intersections of form and content along lines of race and gender, and talk about how these relationships effect their […]

Monday 19 June, 8pm

Scream Scenes

It’s fright night, so prepare for an evening of spooky and silly stories backdropped by matching cinema projections

Tuesday 20 June, 11am

Into The Hybrid: A Dialogue of New Works

Peek behind the creative curtain of writers working in the digital space.

Tuesday 20 June, 1pm

Re-Forming the Field

Hear these sports-focused writers and artists explore pathways to sports writing, representation in sport storytelling, the creative possibilities in sport and how we can use sport to tell our stories.

Tuesday 20 June, 6:30pm

Writers’ Night School: Writing Family

Join Elfy Scott, author of The One Thing We’ve Never Spoken About as she unpacks different approaches to writing our personal peripheries.

Tuesday 20 June, 7:45pm

Littlefoot & Co’s Spoken Word Night

Spoken word artists, storytellers, musicians, comedians and first-time performers gather at Bunjil Place every month to perform new work in a relaxed, welcoming performance space.

Tuesday 20 June, 6pm AEST

On Collectivity

Leah Jing McIntosh and Hannah Wu will discuss the process of developing work for publication in LIMINAL’s two anthologies, Collisions and Against Disappearance.

Tuesday 20 June, 9pm

How to Make an Enemy

Join poet Harry Reid for an oral history on literary bastardry, and an education in charming your poetry enemies.

Wednesday 21 June, 8:30am

Morning Pages: Diaries

Join Caitlin McGregor as they highlight habits and tricks for diary fossicking.

Wednesday 21 June, 12:30pm

Lunch/Break: Multipractice Storytelling

Storytelling traverses many different artforms and often those forms are in conversation with one another. Hear from artists working across genre, form and format about how different approaches to storytelling make up their practices. Learn about the different ways, places, and times that storytelling can occur and how diversifying your practice and strengthening your skills […]

Wednesday 21 June, 6pm

On Being Published

Learn about the multiple perspectives, considerations and voices that went into the telling of Sasha’s matriarchal family stories and about the rigorous, collaborative editing and publishing process.

Wednesday 21 June, 6:30pm

Writers’ Night School: Writing TV

Allow writer, comedian, thought leader, disabled ingenue and sometimes blonde Alastair Baldwin, to break down what it means to create meaningful, unforgettable Television.

Wednesday 21 June, 7pm

EWF X AMWP: Spillways

In this fluid display of literature, writers will perform in Urdu, Hindi, French, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, English and Spanish to promise an evening of waterworks.

Wednesday 21 June, 9pm

Distraction & it’s (Dis)contents

In an attention economy where textual engagement is constantly subject to the news cycle, the fragment, virality and the scroll, what is it to be distracted, and what makes it compelling?

Thursday 22 June, 8:30am

Morning Pages: Personal Archives

Allow Sharlene Allsopp to guide you through some early morning writing prompts and techniques to breathe new life into nostalgia- soaked memories, either inherited or lived.

Thursday 22 June, 7:30pm

HIBERNAL: under the moon

What better way to celebrate the winter solstice than listening to powerful tales around a fire? Rug up to commune beneath the moon on the longest night of the year for a night of aural storytelling.

Thursday 22 June, 11AM

Beyond Solitude

In this panel, RMIT students and staff exchange ideas, skills, and viewpoints on stimulating creativity, and fostering connections.

Thursday 22 June, 5:30PM

Writers’ Toolbox: Finding your Community

Four evenings of professional development sessions for aspiring and seasoned writers alike who wish to dig into the nuts and bolts of being a professional writer.

Thursday 22 June, 6pm

On Intergenerational Stories

In this conversation between father and daughter, the two writers discuss the intergenerational approach to their co-written book, The Shape of Dust.

Thursday 22 June, 6:30PM

Writers Night School: Short Stories

Join Paige Clark, author of the acclaimed short story collection She Is Haunted, to learn about the tenants of satisfying, memorable short story writing, from scope, pace, imagery and character.

Friday 23 June, 11AM

Writeability: Self-told Stories

This panel features writers who have lived experience of disability reflecting on writing today.

Friday 23 June, 12:30pm

Lunch/Break: Writing Collaboratively

Hear from writers as they discuss the ins and outs of working with one another, how it informs their practice, and how you can implement it into your own.

Friday 23 June, 2PM

I Got A Story To Tell: Hip-Hop & Literature

2023 marks Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary of international recognition. Join these artists for a deeply compelling conversation about the ties between music, culture and literature.

Friday 23 June, 5:30pm

Writers Toolbox: Finding your Workflow

Four evenings of professional development sessions for aspiring and seasoned writers alike who wish to dig into the nuts and bolts of being a professional writer.

Friday 23 June, 7pm

EWF X Dinner Party Press: Short Smut

Step into the EWF boudoir – metaphorically –for an evening of short smut.

Saturday 24 June, 11am

Radical Memoir Writing

Take a closer look at writers who have used their personal stories as carriers for a wider message of change and social, political critique.

Saturday 24 June, 11AM

CTRL+F: Assembling and Resembling the Poem

Dive into experimentation with procedure, constraint, chance and technology to generate poems.

Saturday 24 June, 8pm

Closing Night: Celestial Bodies

See the festival off with us in true extravagance, gala-style, and witness a dreamy line-up of well-loved writers, artists and inter-galactic DJS.

Wednesday 14 June – Saturday 24 June

EWF X Crawlspace: ◚

This year, Crawlspace has commissioned 5 works of digital literature for an exclusive EWF issue on their platform.

Wednesday 14 June – Saturday 24 June

Wayward Trance

Six artists use illustration to zoom in on details, both remembered and imagined, marking geologies, mysticisms, repetitions and fragility.

Wednesday 14 June – Saturday 24 June

Floodlight

Take a walk around Melbourne in the company of four storytellers using refrains of infrastructure, history, and memory to guide their routes.

Wednesday 14 June – Saturday 24 June

Frayed at the ends

Weaving language, labour and spirit, two poets expose the intersections and splinters that arise when two perspectives are made to share the same space.

Friday, 23 June, 5:30pm AWST

On Zoom

EWF X Centre for Stories: AfroHeritage Book Club

Come along to this online iteration of the June Book Club, for a discussion of People Person by Candice Carty-Williams. 

Monday 19 June, 6pm AWST

Green Leaves

What happens when the national book tours and thick royalty cheques don’t quite materialise? Join us to find out.

Elle A.K

Elle A.K is a Māori poet × grey witch, hailing from elemental fire concerned with transmuting experiences into words pertaining to the sensual, the divine & holy pleasures.


Kgshak Akec

Kgshak Akec is a South-Sudanese writer, performing artist, and a lover of words.

Appearing in:
Westside Writers Salon

Amira Akhtar

Amira is a zine-maker and digital media creator who enjoys documenting their lived experience as a queer brown muslim.

Appearing in:
Morning Pages: Zines

Miles Allinson

Miles Allinson is a writer, teacher and bookseller living on Wurundjeri Country.

Appearing in:
Faber Anthology Launch

Sharlene Allsopp

Sharlene Allsopp was born and raised on unceded Bundjalung Country into the Olive mob.


Angela Altair

Angela co-founded Willy Lit Fest and was its first President.

Appearing in:
Birthday Party!

Esther Anatolitis

Esther Anatolitis is one of Australia’s most influential advocates for arts and culture.

Appearing in:
Birthday Party!

Susie Anderson

Wergaia and Wemba Wemba writer Susie Anderson’s poetry and non-fiction writing about art, artists, memory, place and love has been published widely.

Appearing in:
place, non-place

Adolfo Aranjuez

Adolfo Aranjuez is an editor, writer, speaker and dancer.


Ben Armstrong

Ben Armstrong is a Wiradjuri man who has worked in the technology industry for over 22 years.

Appearing in:
EWF X Chicken Salt Baes

Alistair Baldwin

Alistair Baldwin is a writer and comedian based in Naarm / Melbourne.


Renay Barker-Mulholland

Renay is a disabled, artist, activist, creator and proud Biripi – Dunghutti woman.


Isobel D’Cruz Barnes

Isobel D’Cruz Barnes is a Malaysian-Australian ethnomusicologist and multi-instrumentalist from Naarm/Melbourne.


Ju Bavyka

Ju Bavyka is a writer and interdisciplinary artist living in Sydney on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal peoples.

Appearing in:
Frayed at the ends

Isobel Beech

Isobel Beech is a writer and editor living on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung land.


Seren Bell

Seren is a queer writer, editor, podcaster, and sociologist living and working on Kaurna Country (Kaurna Yerta).


Sofii Belling-Harding

Sofii Belling-Harding is a Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri, South Sea and Meriam woman who has lived in Naarm on Wurundjeri Country all her life, having grown up in Preston and now resides in Fitzroy.


Danielle Binks

Danielle Binks is a Melbourne-based writer and literary agent.

Appearing in:
Beyond Solitude

Emily Bitto

Emily Bitto is an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Appearing in:
Faber Anthology Launch

Anna Kate Blair

Anna Kate Blair is a writer from Aotearoa living in Naarm.


Elizabeth Bourke

Elizabeth Bourke (she/her) is a young writer living on unceded Dharawal land.

Appearing in:
Digital Ecologies

Caroline Bowditch

After 16 years living and working in the UK, Caroline returned to Australia in July 2018 to take up the role as CEO at Arts Access Victoria.


Elise Brocklehurst

Elise is the Executive Officer of the Williamstown Literary Festival.

Appearing in:
Westside Writers Salon

Margaret Bryant

Margaret Bryant is the daughter of Betty Hood and family to Bessy Cameron (Flowers) (c.1849-1895).

Appearing in:
HIBERNAL: under the moon

Elizabeth Bryer

Elizabeth Bryer’s first novel, FROM HERE ON, MONSTERS, was joint winner of the Norma K. Hemming Award.


Yaraan Bundle

Yaraan a passionate teacher and advocate in the continuing of our cultural knowledge practices, orally been handed down sustained cultural knowledge.


Genevieve Buzo

Genevieve Buzo is an Associate Publisher at Allen & Unwin.

Appearing in:
Pitch It! Sessions

Genevieve Callaghan

Genevieve Callaghan is a writer and performer based on Wurundjeri Country, in Naarm.


Broede Carmody

Broede Carmody is a poet from Dhudhuroa country in northeast Victoria.

Appearing in:
place, non-place

Simona Castricum

Simona Castricum is a multidisciplinary creative and academic working in music and architecture on Wurundjeri land of Kulin Nation.

Appearing in:
Re-Forming the Field

Mohamed Chamas

Mohamed Chamas is an artist, independent game developer and poet based in Naarm (melbourne).

Appearing in:
Scream Scenes

Denise Chapman

Denise Chapman is a counternarrative storyteller, poet, critical autoethnographer, and academic who lectures in children’s literature and inclusive children’s media.


Srishti Chatterjee

Srishti is a Bengali immigrant poet, writer, and political organiser.


Kanika Chopra

Kanika is an avid reader, occasional writer, and all around curious person.


Paige Clark

Paige Clark is a writer, researcher and teacher.


Maxine Beneba Clarke

Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of the acclaimed memoir The Hate Race, the award-winning short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the poetry collections Carrying The World and How Decent Folk Behave, and many other books for adults and children.


Alex Creece

Alex Creece is a writer, poet, collage artist, and average kook living on Wadawurrung land.


Meredith Curnow

Meredith Curnow publishes literary fiction and narrative non-fiction at Penguin Random House Australia.

Appearing in:
Pitch It! Sessions

Debra Dank

Debra Dank is a Gudanji/Wakaja woman, married to Rick, with three adult children and two grandchildren.


André Dao

André Dao is a Melbourne-based writer, editor and artist.

Appearing in:
Masterclass: Memoir

Imogen Dewey

Imogen Dewey is a writer, editor and journalist based in Sydney, on Gadigal land.


Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn

Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn is a writer living in Tasmania.

Appearing in:
Digital Ecologies

Briohny Doyle

Briohny Doyle is the author of Echolalia, Adult Fantasy and The Island Will Sink.


Sam Elkin

Sam Elkin is a writer, arts producer and radio maker living in Naarm.

Appearing in:
Westside Writers Salon

Rachael Evans

Rachael Evans a writer, journalist and editor from Melbourne.


Heidi Everett

Heidi Everett is a writer, multidimensional artist, independent producer, mental health and neurodivergent advocate based in Melbourne/on Wurundjeri Country.


Aaron Fa’Aoso

Aaron Fa’Aoso is a Torres Strait Islander film producer, director, screenwriter and actor. His debut memoir, called So Far, So Good, was released last year.


Georgie Fehringer

Georgie Fehringer is an MFA candidate at the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program, an Iowa Arts Fellow, and the Emerging Writers Festival Writer-in-Residence 2022.

Appearing in:
AI: T/truth

Kirby Fenwick

Kirby Fenwick is a writer, researcher and audio producer living and working on unceded Wurundjeri land.

Appearing in:
Re-Forming the Field

Theo Ferris

Theo Ferris is a word-user living and working on unceded Wurundjuri country.


La Fielding

Lara Fielding (La) is based in Narrm. They are an alum of the School for Poetic Computation.

Appearing in:
EWF X Crawlspace: ◚

Pip Finemeyer

Pip Finkemeyer is a writer from Naarm/Melbourne.


Aries Gacutan

Aries M. Gacutan (they/them) is an Australian-Filipino writer.

Appearing in:
EWF X Crawlspace: ◚

Lou Garcia-Dolnik

Lou Garcia-Dolnik an emerging poet and lyric essayist living and working on sovereign Gadigal Country.

Appearing in:
Frayed at the ends

Sophie Tegan Gardiner

Sophie Tegan Gardiner is a writer and editor originally from Aotearoa.


Felix Garner-Davis

Felix is a writer and architecture student.

Appearing in:
Floodlight

Mawunyo Gbogbo

Mawunyo Gbogbo is the author of memoir Hip Hop & Hymns.


Gabriela Georges

Gabriela Georges is a writer, singer and creative guide.

Appearing in:
EWF X AMWP: Spillways

Vanessa Giron

Vanessa Giron is a writer, editor and content creator based in Naarm/Melbourne.

Appearing in:
EWF X AMWP: Spillways

Nayuka Gorrie

Nayuka Gorrie is a Gunnai/Kurnai, Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri screenwriter and essaayist.


Alaina Gougoulis

Alaina Gougoulis is a senior editor and has worked with Text Publishing since 2009.


Tara Grace

Tara Grace is a writer from Melbourne.

Appearing in:
Next Big Thing

Monique Grbec

Monique Grbec is a writer, critic and text-based multidisciplinary artist.


Rory Green

Rory Green is a writer, editor and digital media artist living on unceded Gadigal land.

Appearing in:
EWF X Crawlspace: ◚


Eda Gunaydin

Eda Gunaydin is a Turkish-Australian essayist whose writing explores class, race, diaspora and Western Sydney.

Appearing in:
Masterclass: Memoir

Gyasi Hall

Gyasi Hall (they/them) writes stuff and is from Columbus, Ohio.

Appearing in:
AI: T/truth

Sophie Hamley

Sophie Hamley has worked as a bookseller, editor, writer, content producer and web producer.


Lamisse Hamouda

Lamisse Hamouda (she/her) is a writer, youth worker and theatre performer who lives on the unceded lands of Meanjin (Brisbane).


Hazem Hamouda

Hazem Hamouda is a Muslim, an Egyptian and an Australian.


Victoria Hannan

Victoria Hannan is a writer and photographer living in Melbourne.


Katherine Hassett

Kathy has worked in publishing for 15 years.

Appearing in:
Pitch It! Sessions

Jenny Hedley

Jenny Hedley is a neurodiverse writer, PhD student and Writeability mentor.

Appearing in:
EWF X Crawlspace: ◚

Jenny Hickinbotham

Jenny is currently creating Homelessness Turquoise for her next show and undertaking her PhD studies/research.


Lex Hirst

Lex Hirst is the Publishing Director at Sydney-based independent publishing house, Pantera Press.

Appearing in:
On Being Published

Jess Ho

Jess Ho is a freelance writer, journalist and critic.


Maya Hodge

Maya Hodge is a Lardil and Yangkaal emerging writer and curator based on the lands of the Kulin Nation.


Dan Hogan

Dan Hogan (they/them) is a writer and teacher from San Remo, NSW (Awabakal and Worimi Country).


Marion (Flo) Hood

Marion (Flo) Hood is a relation of Bessy Cameron (Flowers) c.1849-1895 who was moved from Albany, Western Australia to eastern Victoria in 1867.

Appearing in:
HIBERNAL: under the moon

Luke Horton

Luke Horton is a writer, an editor and a creative writing lecturer from Naarm.

Appearing in:
Beyond Solitude

Hasib Hourani

Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker, and educator living on unceded Wurundjeri Country.


Sharon Huebner

Dr Sharon Huebner is a multi-disciplinary academic.

Appearing in:
HIBERNAL: under the moon

Joel Humphries

Joel Humphries is the writer of Queer Computer — a newsletter cruising the intersections of queerness and technology.

Appearing in:
EWF X Crawlspace: ◚

Josefina Huq

Josefina Huq is a creative writer and researcher based in Naarm/Melbourne.

Appearing in:
How to Make an Enemy


Darcy Hytt

Darcy Hytt is a storyteller living on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country.

Appearing in:
HIBERNAL: under the moon

Holly Isemonger

Holly Isemonger is a poet from Gerringong, NSW.


Julie Janson

Julie is a Burruberongal woman of Darug Aboriginal nation. She is a novelist, playwright, and poet.


Ren Jiang

Ren Jiang is a Chinese writer, editor, and theatre/filmmaker based on unceded Wurundjeri country.


Eric Jiang

Eric Jiang is a queer Chinese-Australian writer/director based in Sydney.

Appearing in:
EWF X Crawlspace: ◚

Rae Johnston

Rae Johnston is a Wiradjuri woman and multi-award winning STEM Journalist.

Appearing in:
EWF X Chicken Salt Baes

Nazara Jones

Nazara Jones is a young writer living on unceded Gadigal land.


Mia-Francesca Jones

Mia-Francesca Jones is a writer and researcher living on Dja Dja Wurrung Country.


Simone Jordan

Simone Amelia Jordan is an award-winning writer, host and journalist.


Lakshmi Kanchi

Lakshmi Kanchi/SoulReserve is a Western Australian poet of Indian descent. Her poetry explores love and its tumultuousness and fantasy and zest in nature.

Appearing in:
Green Leaves

Yumna Kassab

Yumna Kassab is a writer from Sydney. She is the author of The House of Youssef, Australiana and The Lovers.


Tiia Kelly

Tiia Kelly is a critic and essayist living in Naarm.


Kris Kneen

Kris Kneen is an award-winning author of fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

Appearing in:
Masterclass: Memoir

Manveen Kohli

Manveen Kaur Kohli is a British-Indian currently residing in Perth.

Appearing in:
Green Leaves

Abbra Kotlarczyk

Abbra Kotlarczyk is a visual artist and poet living on Wurundjeri land.


Tyberius Larking

Tyberius Larking is a 20 year old Mirning and South Asian poet and illustrator.


Hau Latukefu

Hau Latukefu is a pioneer of Australian hip hop.


Caitlin Lawless

Caitie Lawless is a writer, editor and publicist living in Sydney.


Wen-Juenn Lee

Wen-Juenn writes poetry on unceded Wurundjeri Country.


Bella Li

Bella Li is the author of Argosy, Lost Lake, and Theory of Colours.


Clint Lingard

Emerging Writer Murri Man originally from regional Queensland (FNQ) but living on/off in Melbourne since 2021. Poems, short stories, song lyrics, academic writings


Elena Macdonald

Elena Macdonald is a descendant of the Paredarerme Nation, located on the east coast of Trouwunna/lutruwita. A writer, story teller and knowledge holder, Elena splits her time between Naarm and Trouwunna.


Lay Maloney

Lay Maloney is a young storyteller of the Gumbaynggirr and Gunggandji nations and South Sea Islander heritage currently based on Wurundjeri Country in Naarm / Melbourne.


Caitlin McGregor

Caitlin McGregor is a writer, artist and editor.

Appearing in:
Morning Pages: Diaries

Fiona Kelly McGregor

Fiona Kelly McGregor’s most recent novel Iris, is shortlisted for the NSW Premiers Awards and was longlisted for the Stella Prize.


Leah Jing McIntosh

Leah Jing McIntosh is a critic, researcher, and the founding editor of Liminal.

Appearing in:
On Collectivity

Laura McPhee-Browne

Laura McPhee-Browne is a writer, social worker and counsellor living on Wurundjeri land.


Patrick Mercer

Patrick is a Wadawurrung Kulin writer.


Janine Mikosza

Janine Mikosza is a writer with a background in visual art and a PhD in sociology.

Appearing in:
Masterclass: Memoir

Jack Milgate

Jack Milgate is a writer and student.


Dana Mitchell

Dana Mitchell is an emerging playwright, poet and comedian from Melbourne.


Selina Moir-Wilson

Selina Moir-Wilson is a writer, editor and comics artist. They are the editor of Voiceworks.


Elijah Money

Elijah Money (he/him) is a queer Wiradjuri brotherboy who was raised on Kulin Nations where he continues to reside.


Jazz Money

Jazz Money is a Wiradjuri poet and artist based on Gadigal land, Sydney.

Appearing in:
Digital Ecologies

Gareth Morgan

Gareth Morgan is the author of Dear Eileen, and When A Punk Becomes A Spunk, and co-director of Sick Leave.


Lia Dewey Morgan

Lia Dewey Morgan is a poet and writer living on stolen land in Narrm. She grapples with the continuity and chaos present in contemporary living, using poetry as a toolkit to pry open our muddled moment. Her first book, ‘Bath Songs’, was published with local press nomorepoetry.

Appearing in:
Westside Writers Salon

Maki Morita

Maki Morita is a Japanese-Australian writer and performance-maker on unceded Wurundjeri country.


Cienan Muir

Cienan Muir is the Australian Director of Indigenous Comic Con and founder of the Indiginerd Popculture Company.

Appearing in:
EWF X Chicken Salt Baes

Gabriella Munoz

Gabriella Munoz is a Mexican-born writer and editor living in Wurundjeri land.


Artemis Munoz

Artemis Muñoz (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working on Wurundjeri land.


Brodie Murray

Brodie is a Wamba Wamba playwright and performer.


Nina Nervegna

Nina is an artist and architecture student.

Appearing in:
Floodlight

Nadia Niaz

Nadia Niaz founded and edits the Australian Multilingual Writing Project.

Appearing in:
EWF X AMWP: Spillways

Mia Nie

Mia Nie is a Chinese-Australian comic artist, essayist, illustrator, zine-maker and award-nominated ex-poet living on unceded Wurundjeri country.


Karlie Noon

Ms Karlie Noon is a Gamilaraay astrophysicist.

Appearing in:
EWF X Chicken Salt Baes

Ellen O’Brien

Ellen is a Guringai (Garigal/Walkeloa) writer and editor living on Bidjigal land.


Arty Owens

Arty Owens (They/Them) is a queer chronically ill writer based in Naarm (Melbourne).


Nana Owusu

Nana is a podcaster, producer and radio presenter based in Naarm. She is the creator and host of the podcast, The Subtlety of It, and a fill-in presenter on Triple R.


Helena Pantsis

Helena Pantsis (she/they) is a writer, student, burgeoning editor, and artist from Naarm.

Appearing in:
Wayward Trance

Madison Pawle

Madison Pawle is a writer living on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung land.


Marise Phillips

Marise Phillips is an emerging writer and editor based in Boorloo (Perth).

Appearing in:
Green Leaves

Vuma Phiri

Vuma Phiri engages with the stories around her as a form of entertainment, learning and to gain empathy.


Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh

Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh is a writer, producer, arts worker and the Artistic Director and co-CEO of EWF.


Sammaneh Pourshafighi

Sammaneh Pourshafighi is a Queer genderfluid Muslim from Iran who grew up on the problematic paradise of the Gold Coast.


Shannon May Powell

Shannon May Powell is a poet, artist and somatic experiencing facilitator based on sovereign Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country.


Ryan Prehn

Ryan is a Worimi fella, a “kind of” writer / a tone-deaf poet, more a fisher than a biter


Alice Pung

Alice Pung is the author of the bestselling memoirs Unpolished Gem, Her Father’s Daughter, and the essay collection Close to Home, as well as the editor of the anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson.

Appearing in:
Beyond Solitude

Jinghua Qian

Jinghua Qian (ey/eir/em) is a writer who works across prose, verse, audio and television.


Chunxiao Qu

Chunxiao Qu is a Chinese-born artist and poet who lives and works in Melbourne (Wurundjeri Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung Country).


Vanessa Radnidge

Vanessa Radnidge began her publishing career at the Law Book Company.

Appearing in:
Pitch It! Sessions

Diego Ramirez

Diego Ramírez is an artist with dreams, a writer with hopes and a facilitator with beliefs.


Harry Reid

Harry Reid is a poet & co-director of Sick Leave. Harry is the author of Leave Me Alone (Cordite, 2022) & the best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend (Puncher & Wattmann, 2020).

Appearing in:
How to Make an Enemy

Cecile Richard

Cécile Richard makes cool things on the computer, including award-winning short games novena, ENDLESS SCROLL, and UNDER A STAR CALLED SUN.

Appearing in:
Wayward Trance

Charles Roper

Charles Roper is a writer of experimental non-fiction and comedy from Canberra.


Autumn Royal

Autumn Royal creates drama, poetry and criticism.

Appearing in:
place, non-place

Asiel Adan Sanchez

Asiel Adan Sanchez is a non-binary writer based in Naarm/Melbourne.


Sasha Kutabah Sarago

Sasha Kutabah Sarago is a Wadjanbarra Yidinji, Jirrbal and African-American woman.

Appearing in:
On Being Published

Lola Sargasso

Lola is a young woman of colour who uses writing to ponder the intersectionality of experience.


J Eh Kaw Thaw Saw

J Saw is a emerging writer who resides in Boorloo.

Appearing in:
Green Leaves

Melanie Saward

Melanie Saward is a proud descendant of the Bigambul and Wakka Wakka peoples. She is a writer, editor, and university lecturer based in Tulmur (Ipswich), Queensland.


Ronnie Scott

Ronnie Scott’s first novel The Adversary was shortlisted for a Queensland Literary Award and the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, and his second novel is called Shirley.


Elfy Scott

Elfy Scott is an award-winning journalist, podcaster and presenter working in Sydney.


Danielle Scrimshaw

Danielle Scrimshaw is a writer, historian and lighthouse enthusiast.

Appearing in:
Floodlight

Saman Shad

Saman Shad is a writer, editor, journalist and teller of stories.


Tamala Shelton

Tamala Shelton is a proud Bundjalung and Lama Lama actor, audiobook narrator, writer and spoken word artist based in Naarm (Melbourne).


Harry Sherratt

Harry Sherratt lives in Naarm. He has been published in sick leave and Cordite, and is currently studying creative writing.

Appearing in:
How to Make an Enemy

Natasha Sholl

Natasha Sholl is a writer and lapsed lawyer based in Melbourne, Australia.

Appearing in:
Masterclass: Memoir

Ella Skilbeck-Porter

Ella Skilbeck-Porter is a poet and visual poet living on unceded Wurundjeri Country.


Nicole Smith

Nicole Smith is a writer, wheelchair user, coffee addict, AFL footy fan and improviser.


Aisling Smith

Aisling Smith is a Naarm/Melbourne-based writer.

Appearing in:
Next Big Thing

Penny Smits

Penny Smits is a writer, communications consultant, and ghostwriter based in Melbourne.

Appearing in:
HIBERNAL: under the moon

Anna Snoekstra

Anna Snoekstra is the author of Only Daughter, Little Secrets and The Spite Game.


Ishack Sonlay

Ishack Sonlay is a Writer and Community Development Practitioner from East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia.

Appearing in:
Digital Ecologies

Mason Soto

Mason Soto’s writing is inspired by New Narrative writers, abolitionists, landscapes of the American South, and the poetry of her lovers.

Appearing in:
AI: T/truth

Cate Sutherland

Cate Sutherland has worked in publishing for more than twenty-five years.

Appearing in:
Pitch It! Sessions

Ari Tampubolon

Ari Tampubolon is a performance artist working across filmmaking, writing, experimental performance, and commercial drag forms.

Appearing in:
xoxo

Saraid Taylor

Saraid Taylor is a poet, novelist and athlete, living on Wurundjeri land.

Appearing in:
Re-Forming the Field

Madhvi Thakur

Madhvi Singh Thakur is a bi-lingual writer, scholar, and sometimes ghostwriter.

Appearing in:
EWF X AMWP: Spillways

Achut Thuc

Achut is a South-Sudanese emerging writer.


Veisinia Tonga

Veisinia Tonga is a Tongan Kakala artist and a Multidisciplinary Storyteller.

Appearing in:
HIBERNAL: under the moon

Michelle Scott Tucker

Michelle Scott Tucker is the author of Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life at the Edge of the World and the co-writer of Aaron Fa’Aoso’s memoir So Far, So Good.


Jenny Valentish

Jenny Valentish is a Castlemaine-based author, journalist and teacher, specialising in memoir and creative non-fiction.

Appearing in:
Masterclass: Memoir

Prithvi Varatharajan

Prithvi Varatharajan is a poet, essayist/critic, and sometimes literary audio producer who lives in Melbourne.


Adam Varty

adam varty is a transsexual lover, fighter and sometimes poet living in melbourne

Appearing in:
How to Make an Enemy

Jack Vening

Jack Vening is a Naarm-based writer of short fiction, TV and comedy.

Appearing in:
xoxo

Dženana Vucic

Dženana Vucic is a Bosnian-Australian writer, poet and critic


Sarah Walker

Sarah Walker is a writer, artist and photographed based in Naarm/Melbourne.


Khalid Warsame

Khalid Warsame is a writer, editor, and producer who lives in Naarm.


DJ Raindamages

Jenna Rain Warwick is a Luritja artist, curator and music selector.


Tegan Webb

Tegan Webb is a writer, zine and digital art maker.


Miriam Webster

Miriam writes stories in and around Naarm.


Zerene Jaadwa

Zerene is a proud Wutyubaluk Woman living and working on Wada Wurrung Country in Ballaarat.


Emily Westmoreland

Emily Westmoreland is the Program Director of Willy Lit Fest and runs Dinner Party Press.


Vyshnavee Wijekumar

Vyshnavee Wijekumar is a freelance critic, arts worker and writer of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage.


Sean Wilson

Sean Wilson is a writer from Perth, now based in Melbourne.


Beau Windon

Beau Windon is a neurodivergent author of Wiradjuri heritage based in Naarm.


Hannah Winspear-Schillings

Hannah Winspear-Schillings is Melbourne-based writer, having previously been published in Farrago, Concrete, and Forge & Flint.


Misbah Wolf

Misbah Wolf is a Naarm based poet, who is a hybrid artist, combining music, poetry, performance and art.

Appearing in:
HIBERNAL: under the moon

Hannah Wu

Hannah Wu is a writer and musician from Aotearoa, studying on unceded Wurundjeri land.

Appearing in:
On Collectivity

Grace Yee

Grace Yee’s poetry has been widely published and anthologised across Australia and internationally.

Appearing in:
Next Big Thing

Kitman Yeung

Kitman Yeung is an artist with origins wavering in the grey in-between zone of self-empowered Chinese roots and the colonised Australian histories.

Appearing in:
Wayward Trance

Mek Yimam

Mek Yimam is a writer, poet and editor.

Appearing in:
Wayward Trance

Jessica Yu

Jessica Zhan Mei Yu is a writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.


Jess Zanoni

Jess Zanoni is a writer, musician, and the current Program Coordinator of EWF.


Annie Zhang

Annie Zhang is a writer and editor based on Gadigal and Wangal land.


Sharon Zhang

Sharon Zhang is an Asian-Australian, Melbourne-based poet and author.


Anna Zobel

Anna Zobel is an author, illustrator and teacher from Melbourne.


Arts Centre Melbourne, The Channel

Get directions

The Computer Lab in The Channel is around the corner of Hamer Hall.
St Kilda Road Terrace, Southbank VIC 3006

Events at this venue:

Arts Centre Melbourne, The Channel

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Performance Space in The Channel is around the corner of Hamer Hall.
St Kilda Road Terrace, Southbank VIC 3006

Events at this venue:

Australian Queer Archives

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The Victorian Pride Centre, 79/81 Fitzroy St, St Kilda VIC 3182


Bunjil Place

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2 Patrick Northeast Drive, Narre Warren 3085


Cafe Gummo

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711 High St, Thornbury VIC 3071


Centre for Stories

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100 Aberdeen Street
Northbridge, Boorloo
Western Australia

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City Library

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Marjoca Room, 253 Flinders Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000


Collingwood Yards

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Perry Street Building, 35 Johnston St, Collingwood VIC 3066

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EWF Website

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CongratsI You're already here! Head to our blog page to check out this special event.


Glenroy Library

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50 Wheatsheaf Rd, Glenroy VIC 3046

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Immigration Museum

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Long Room, 400 Flinders St, Melbourne VIC 3000


Kathleen Syme Library

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Multipurpose Room, 251 Faraday St, Carlton VIC 3053


Library at the Dock

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Activities Space, 107 Victoria Harbour Promenade, Docklands VIC 3008


Meat Market

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The Stables 2 Wreckyn St, North Melbourne VIC 3051

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No Vacancy

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34-40 Jane Bell Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000


Peachy Keen

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REAR of 82/84 Ferguson St, Williamstown VIC 3016

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Queen Victoria Womens Centre

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Millarri Murnmut - outside breeze is located on level 5 within the Queen Victoria Womens Centre via access lifts. 210 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000.


Science Gallery

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Melbourne Connect, at, 114 Grattan St, Parkville VIC 3052

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Section 8

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27-29 Tattersalls Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000


Signal

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Northbank, Flinders Walk, Melbourne VIC 3000


State Library Victoria

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Conversation Corner, SLV, 328 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000

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Sticky Institute

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Second Location (Edmund Herring Pavilion), 23 Dallas Brook Drive via SERCO Shrine Depot Driveway.

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The Conservatory

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Fitzroy Gardens, 298 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne VIC 3002

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The Moat

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176 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000


The Wheeler Centre

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Workshop Space Level 4, 176 Lt Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 3000, VIC


The Wheeler Centre

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Performance Space Level 2, 176 Lt Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 3000, VIC


Thornbury Picture House

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802 High St, Thornbury VIC 3071

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Twitch

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Online, Via Twitch

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Williamstown Town Hall

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104 Ferguson St, Williamstown VIC 3016

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Willows and Wine

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315 Victoria St, West Melbourne VIC 3003


YouTube

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Online, Via YouTube