Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 23 June
12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Location
wheelercentre.com
First Nations writers are at the forefront of the most exciting writing being produced on this continent today, subverting creative forms and decolonising Australian literature.
Four emerging First Nations writers from The Next Chapter writers’ scheme – Jasmin McGaughey, Racheal Oak Butler, Lorna Munro and Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi – discuss the creative process, writing for Blak and settler readerships, and how they respond to expectations of genre, character and identity, with host Evelyn Araluen.
Presented in partnership with the Emerging Writers’ Festival.
This event was originally scheduled to take place at the 2020 Sydney Writers' Festival.
Featuring
Evelyn Araluen
Evelyn Araluen is a Goorie and Koori poet, researcher, and co-editor of Overland Literary Journal.
Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi
Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi AKA Vika Mana, is a proud Torres Strait Islander and Tongan storyteller that takes many forms. They descend from the Zagareb and Dauareb tribes of Mer Island and the village of Fahefa in Tonga. They perform poetry, write criticism, breathe life into worlds and lastly, can share a joke or two, max. That’s because they only know exactly two jokes.They've written for Overland, The Big Issue, the Saturday Paper and several publications both at home and internationally. Vika is also a part of the FAMILI collective, rapping about Afros and abolition. In 2019, Meleika became one of ten writers that were chosen to be a part of The Next Chapter scheme from the Wheeler Centre.
Jasmin McGaughey
Jasmin McGaughey is a Torres Strait Islander and African American writer and editor. She has completed a Master of Writing Editing and Publishing at the University of Queensland and is in the midst of a Master of Philosophy (in creative writing). In 2019 she was lucky enough to be a black&write! editor intern and win a Next Chapter Fellowship with the Wheeler Centre. She has been able to write for Overland, Kill Your Darlings, SBS Voices, Griffith Review and has had work highly commended for the 2020 ABR Elizabeth Short Story Competition and the 2019 Nakata Brophy Short Story competition.
View Profile
Racheal Oak Butler
Proudly Gamilaroi, Racheal Oak Butler is a writer, performer, musician and self-defence teacher. Racheal has been writing for many years and has amassed a significant body of work including poetry, short stories, songs, performance and spoken word pieces.
Racheal recently toured a spoken word piece, ‘My Calling’, as part of the Queerstories performances throughout Victoria and NSW. She is currently working with Ilbijerri Theatre Company as a performer in Scar Trees.
Writing is fundamental to who Racheal is and although the message is sometimes raw and traumatic, it is also unique, powerful and truthful and goes to the heart of many key issues and experiences. She is a is a 2019 Next Chapter recipient.
Lorna Munro
Lorna Munro, or ‘Yilinhi’, is a Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi woman, multidisciplinary artist and regular radio and podcast host at Sydney’s ‘Radio Skid Row’. A long-time active member of her Redfern/Waterloo community, her work is informed by her passion and well-studied insight in areas such as culture, history, politics and popular culture.
Lorna has travelled the world showcasing her skills and distinctive style of poetry and political commentary. She was also the sole designer and creator of Sydney’s, and possibly 'Australia’s' first initiative to teach Aboriginal language through poetry in partnership with Red Room Poetry in 2015. Throughout her career she has been on stage, in films and on paper, namely compiling and editing Paper Dreaming: Our Stories Our Way for Cambridge University Press in 2015.
Lorna continues to work tirelessly mastering many art forms, raising funds, supporting and advocating for her community and her people on the local, national and international stage. She is a 2019 recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter writers’ scheme.