Emerging Writers’ Festival Programme Launch: Everything’s … Fine
It’s a tough time to be an emerging writer. Cuts to the arts and growing hostility in this uncertain, ‘post-truth’ world are enough to make anyone want to give up writing and become an accountant.
But, more than ever, we need our storytellers. Join us for the launch of the 2017 Emerging Writers’ Festival programme. Hot off the press, it’s an essential part of Australia’s literary calendar, packed with events for emerging storytellers – including performances, workshops and professional development opportunities that will help you to sustain and develop your practice.
In a night of community and solidarity amongst writers hosted by EWF Artistic Director Izzy Roberts-Orr, Julie Koh, Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, Maurial Spearim and Khalid Warsame will share sincere, silly and surprising stories about what fuels their writing, no matter the obstacles – and no matter the cultural tides running against them. So steady your chattering teeth, and say it with us: everything’s … fine.
Presented in partnership with the Emerging Writers’ Festival 2017.
Featuring
Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa is a first generation Australian Sikh spoken word artist, workshop facilitator, actor, producer and activist. Within a short period, Sukhjit has gone from being a participant in the Australian Poetry Slam Competition in 2014 to gracing the stage of Australia’s Got Talent in 201... Read more
Julie Koh was born in Sydney to Chinese-Malaysian parents, and left a career in corporate law to pursue writing. She is the author of two short-story collections: Capital Misfits (Spineless Wonders; Math Paper Press) and Portable Curiosities (UQP), which was shortlisted for the Readings Prize for Ne... Read more
Khalid Warsame is a writer, photographer, and arts producer who lives in Melbourne. His essays and fiction have appeared in the Lifted Brow, Overland, the Big Issue, Cordite Poetry Review, and LitHub. He has previously edited fiction for the Lifted Brow, worked as a creative producer at the Fo... Read more
Izzy Roberts-Orr is a poet, writer, broadcaster and arts worker based on Taungurung Country, and Digital Producer at Red Room Poetry. Izzy is a 2020-2021 recipient of the Australia Council Marten Bequest Scholarship for Poetry, and is currently completing a book of elegiac poetry, Raw Salt. ... Read more
Maurial Spearim is an Indigenous woman from the Gamilaraay nation on her father’s side, and the Kooma/Muruuwari nation on her mother’s. Maurial is interested in exploring theatre, song, and dance through expressions of the body and the utterance of the voice, and has had an introduction to ... Read more