2019 Featured Writers

Click here to see our 2018 Featured Writers.

Ana Maria Gomides is an Afro-Latina writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry working out of Birraranga, also known as Melbourne. She is a snoozy, hungry creature, currently hibernating her way into immortality. In sleep, she conducts intricate ritual sacrifices of white cis het men, avenging the past and bringing blessings into the future.

Alexander Te Pohe is bisexual, a trans guy, and Māori. He writes young adult fiction, poetry, essays, reviews, and opinion pieces. They are currently studying a BA in English and Creative Writing. Additionally, he founded Ruru Reads which publishes short fiction, short nonfiction, and poetry. Alexander’s pronouns are they/them and he/him.

Thabani T. Tshuma is Zimbabwean born and raised. He’s been living abroad for the greater part of the last decade, from Massachusetts to Johannesburg to Melbourne. His work is influenced by the myriad identity challenges of the diaspora, expatriates and immigrants, while also addressing awareness around addiction, mental health and generational trauma. He is currently in his final year of studying journalism, and can be regularly found in the Melbourne spoken word scene, having won an honourable mention in the 2018 Melbourne Spoken Word Prize, featured at Afro Hub and most recently won Slamalamadingdong’s February 2019 Slam. Writing is the aperture through which he views the world and experiences self in relation to others.

Monique Grbec is a Yirramboi Blak Critic. A child of the Stolen Generations, descended from the Wiradjuri people of NSW, she is interested in identity, the generational effects of institutionalisation, and the White Australia Policy. Her lifework is fundamentally text based and addressed through the lens of Indigenous Standpoint Theory. Her current work, Bring Them Home, includes audio and 3D interactive installation. Funded by City of Melbourne, it will be part of Yirramboi Festival 2019: Barring Yanabul.

Anthea Yang is human first, poet second. Her work has appeared in publications such as Djed Press, Hypertrophic Literary, Underground Writers and Words Dance, and she has self-published three poetry chapbooks: Love On Other Planets (2017), Bloom (2016) and How We Got Here (2016). Born in Perth to Chinese immigrant parents, Anthea’s work explores themes of language, place and belonging. She is currently based in Melbourne.

Gabriela Georges is a Syrian-Australian singer, writer, and performer based in Naarm/Melbourne who often explores identity, loss, grief and nature. In 2018 she became a part of West Writers’ Group, a diverse writers’ collective based in Footscray, and started performing songs in her first language as part of a collaborative project called Bukjeh. Gabriela also facilitates open spaces around death, dying, grief and loss through her community-based project Soul Arts and is considered the weird youngest sibling of four sisters.

Melanie Saward is a Meanjin-based writer, editor, and uni tutor, and a proud descendant of the Bigambul and Wakka Wakka people. She is completing a Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from QUT and a Graduate Certificate in Writing, Editing, and Publishing from The University of Queensland. Melanie’s manuscript Why Worry Now was shortlisted for the 2018 David Unaipon Award and the Varuna/Copyright Agency First Nations Fellowship. She’s published stories in journals and anthologies such as Swamp Journal, Corrupted Classics, and URL Love.

Photo by Pandom Images.

Sara El Sayed is an Egyptian-born Master of Fine Arts student living in Brisbane. Her research focus is digital storytelling by migrant Egyptian women. Her work, both fiction and nonfiction, is influenced by her culture, her family and her identity as a migrant.

Yi Chao Foong lives in Geelong, Australia. He can usually be found in his backyard tending to his chooks and zucchini plants. He is of Malaysian Chinese origin and fell in love with Tasmania when he moved there ten years ago, where people still yelled things like Fuck Off Back to China (Ya Cunt). His other work can be found in Vertical Life, Verity La and Scum Mag.