Writing the Future of Health

Anna Jacobson is a writer and artist from Brisbane. Amnesia Findings (UQP, 2019) is her first full-length poetry collection, which won the 2018 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. In 2020 Anna won the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing (Open Creative Nonfiction), was awarded a Queensland Writers Fellowship, and was shortlisted in the Spark Prize. In 2018 she won the Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award. Her poetry chapbook The Last Postman was published with Vagabond Press (2018) as part of the decibel 3 series.

Gemma Mahadeo came to Australia from the UK in 1987. Their work has appeared both in print and online in local, national, and international publications. They write poetry, creative non-fiction, and the occasional beer or food review. They are also a founding member of the Disabled QBIPOC Collective which seeks to address the imbalance that Western-centric disability discourse presents for certain ethnicities. They have also been involved in digital media, the most prominent being the award-winning independent videogame made with Ian MacLarty called 'If We Were Allowed To Visit'. They also have work upcoming later this year in Upswell's Admissions anthology. They are passionate about destigmatising complex mental health issues, cats, beer, tea and music.

Sarah Stivens is an emerging poet from Boon Wurrung Country/Melbourne. Her words have appeared in Cordite, Baby Teeth Journal, Catalyst, Bowen Street Press and other online spaces. She is the ASA/Ray Koppe Varuna fellow for 2022, and a Writers Victoria Writeability fellow. Her work has been shortlisted for the 2022 Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize.

Beau Windon is a neurodivergent writer of Wiradjuri descent based in Naarm. His greatest loves are YA and speculative fiction, meaning he spends most of his time writing quirky stories about quirky people in quirky situations. Currently he is focused on developing his hybrid memoir (quirky stories about his quirky self) and poetry about all the dark goo slathered around his brain. Beau is passionate about creating greater awareness about neurodiversity and mental health issues. If you ever converse with him and it gets too awkward just mention pro wrestling and he'll ramble about it for hours.

Andy Jackson is a poet and creative writing teacher and mentor, was awarded the inaugural Writing the Future of Health Fellowship, and is a Writers Victoria Patron. He has featured at literary events and arts festivals in Ireland, India, the USA and across Australia, including Melbourne Writers Festival, Castlemaine State Festival, Queensland Poetry Festival, and on ABC Radio National. Andy has been shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, the John Bray Poetry Award and the Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry. He has co-edited disability-themed issues of Southerly and Australian Poetry Journal, and his latest poetry collection is Human Looking, which won the 2022 ALS Gold Medal and the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry.