Next Big Thing: Hot Desk Edition #3

Arty Owens is a queer, chronically ill writer based in Naarm (Melbourne). Along with writing young adult fiction and children’s literature, they write non fiction short stories. Their craft is informed by their illness, anxiety, dark sense of humour and the social model of disability.

Julie Dickson is a writer and editor based in Naarm (Melbourne). She enjoys reading and writing contemporary young adult novels and free verse poetry. Following her passion, she completed a Bachelor of Arts (Professional and Creative Writing) at Deakin University. Because one degree wasn’t enough, she is currently studying a Bachelor of Psychology part-time at Deakin University to learn more about human behaviour to complement her writing. She has held numerous editing roles at Deakin’s student magazine WORDLY and its blog WORDLY Online. Her writing has been published in Geelong Writers anthologies, SOCIETY19, WORDLY Magazine, and WORDLY Online. She is a hardcover book and journal collector, owns way too many planners, and is an avid oxford comma user.

Leila Lois is a dancer and writer. She writes articles and dance reviews for The Age, ArtsHub and Delving into Dance. She is also a published poet in various journals including Cordite Poetry and Southerly Journal. Her debut chapbook, Flesh into Blossom, came out last year. In 2021, Leila appeared several times performing her work at National Young Writers' Festival and journal launches. Leila was a recipient of the Ralph MacClean Grant for Melbourne Fringe in 2019 for an interdisciplinary exhibition, Jiyan be te nina// There is no life without you, featuring dance, spoken word and photography. She also received a grant from Sawtooth ARI Tasmania to remount the work in Launceston, and Walker St Gallery to remount in Dandenong. Leila also teaches dance in Melbourne.

Maki Morita is a writer and performance-maker living and working on unceded Wurundjeri country. Maki is currently working on a live art piece to be exhibited at Linden New Art and is remounting her play Trash Pop Butterflies, Dance Dance Paradise (reading at fortyfivedownstairs). She is a 2022 Wheeler Centre Playwright Hot Desk Fellow. Event appearances include National Young Writers Festival, Feminist Book Week and Yardstick. In 2020, Maki graduated with a Master of Theatre (writing) from the Victorian College of the Arts, where she was awarded the Portland House Theatre Outreach scholarship. She was fortunate to receive the 2022 George Fairfax Memorial Award, which allowed her to travel to New York and receive mentorship from experimental playwright Sibyl Kempson. Maki is also the editor of Rosie—a feminist youth blog associated with the Victorian Women's Trust.

Amarachi Okorom is an Igbo Nigerian-born actor, spoken word poet and playwright who grew up in Auckland and is now based in Naarm/Melbourne. Amarachi joined Western Edge in 2017, performing in Caliban as part of the Edge Ensemble. Her recent acting credits include Future Echoes: Edge Ensemble at the Arts Centre Melbourne, The Watching with Western Edge, Seers (Playlist Live), the audio play Watching (Red Stitch), A Disorganised Zoom Reading of Contagion, The Human Voice, Burning Love (Playlist Live) and This (RISING). She also appeared on ABC Melbourne as part of the Homespun storytelling gala. As a critically acclaimed emerging playwright, Amarachi was shortlisted for the Griffin Award, 2021. In 2021, she was also selected for Melbourne Theatre Company’s First Stage program, Australian Theatre for Young People’s National Studio program, and Malthouse Theatre's Besen Writers Group. She is currently a participating writer in Theatre Works' She Writes Collective.

Christy Tan has been published in Cordite Poetry Review, The Suburban Review, Australian Poetry’s Tell Me Like you Mean It, Runway Journal, Going Down Swinging, Peril Magazine, and elsewhere. She has performed at the Digital Writers' Festival, Emerging Writers' Festival, National Young Writers' Festival, and Writings & Concepts Lecture Series. In 2022, Christy was part of the Emerging Writers Program with Seventh Gallery, the West Writers Group with Footscray Community Arts, and had a Hot Desk Fellowship at the Wheeler Centre. She currently edits non-fiction and poetry for Voiceworks Magazine and lives in Melbourne on unceded Wurundjeri land.

Mason Wood is a writer living on Wurundjeri Land. He is published in Voiceworks and online at Archer, Meanjin and Going Down Swinging. He is a recipient of the Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship 2022. He is currently the Marketing Manager at Going Down Swinging.