Parliament: Future Melbourne

Adolfo Aranjuez is an editor, writer, speaker and dancer. He is currently the Melbourne International Film Festival’s publications and content manager as well as Liminal magazine’s publication editor; previously, he edited the magazines Metro and Archer. Adolfo’s essays, criticism and poetry h... Read more

Leah Jing McIntosh is the founding editor of Liminal magazine. As part of her work for Liminal, Leah has published books, created mentorships and fellowships, and established national literary prizes, seeking to create new spaces and opportunities for community. She has recently edited the essay col... Read more

Nevo Zisin (they/them) is a storyteller, esteemed educator on transgender topics, TEDx speaker, poet, workshop facilitator in schools and workplaces, and award-winning author of Finding Nevo, a memoir on gender transition and The Pronoun Lowdown a useful guidebook on all things related to pronouns. ... Read more

Hella Ibrahim is an editor with a passion for activism through writing and publishing. She works as a project editor at an education publishing company on weekdays, and is the founder and editorial director of Djed Press, an online publication that provides a paid platform for creators of colour.  ... Read more

Karys McEwen is a school librarian in Melbourne. She is an avid reader of young adult fiction, and is particularly passionate about the role of libraries and literature in the wellbeing of young people. Karys is the President of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Victorian Branch ... Read more

Bridget Caldwell-Bright is a Jingili and Mudburra editor based in Melbourne. She is currently working as an editorial policies advisor at the ABC. She was previously co-editor for weekly news digest SUBTEXT(E), co-editor for Archer Magazine’s First Nations Edition and managing editor for Blak Brow... Read more

Amy Vuleta has spent most of her bookselling career hosting bookclubs, panels, events and discussions about books, literature, publishing and ideas. She reads widely, is currently training to be a high school teacher, and occasionally writes about art.

Gene Smith is Program Manager at Melbourne Writers Festival, and is a literary programmer, producer, writer and voracious reader. Prior to Melbourne Writers Festival, he worked at other major Australian cultural organisations including the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Australian Chamber Orche... Read more

Alistair Baldwin is a writer and comedian based in Naarm / Melbourne. He has written for ABC’s The Weekly, Get Krack!n, Hard Quiz & At Home Alone Together. Published works include pieces for un. Magazine, Archer, Metro and Black Inc.’s Growing Up Disabled In Australia anth... Read more

Elena Gomez is a poet and book editor living in Melbourne. She is the author of Body of Work and a number of chapbooks.

Jessica Knight is a writer based in Melbourne.

Elyce Phillips makes comics, comedy and general nonsense. She teaches and performs regularly at The Improv Conspiracy, and her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s and Funny Ha Ha.

Rachel Ang is an artist and writer who makes comics. Their work has been published by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, kuš! and Australian periodicals like The Age and Meanjin. Rachel’s first book, Swimsuit (Glom Press, 2018) was not read by many people, but those who did really liked it. The... Read more

Oslo Davis is an illustrator, cartoonist and artist who has drawn for a number of organisations worldwide, including the New York Times, the Age, the Monthly, Meanjin, SBS and the Guardian. He has also been commissioned to draw for the National Gallery of Victoria, the Golden Plains music fest... Read more

Anna Snoekstra is Melbourne-based novelist, and the author of Only Daughter – her debut book, published by Harlequin MIRA and optioned for film by Universal Pictures. After finishing university, Anna wrote for independent films and fringe theatre, and directed music videos. During this t... Read more

Laniyuk is a Larrakia, Kungarakan, Gurindji and French writer and performer. She has been published nationally and internationally in poetry collections such as Solid Air (2019) and Fire Front (2020), in the 2022 speculative fiction anthologies Unlimited Futures and This All Come Back Now as well as... Read more

Michael Williams joined Sydney Writers’ Festival in September 2020, as the Artistic Director navigating the post-pandemic landscape going into the 2021 festival. He has spent the past decade at the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas in Melbourne; as its founding Head of Programming in 200... Read more

Didem is a writer, speaker and facilitator, who grew up in the western suburbs of Melbourne. She is a writer of plays, essays and fiction. Her plays have been developed and produced in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide and presented in Edinburgh, London, New York and Chicago. She has received developme... Read more

Sam van Zweden is a Melbourne-based writer interested in memory, food, mental health and the body. Her writing has been published by the Saturday Paper, ABC Life, Meanjin, The Big Issue, The Lifted Brow, Cordite, The Sydney Review of Books, The Wheeler Centre and others. Her debut book, Eating with ... Read more

Tariro, whose name means hope, is a Zimbabwean born multi-disciplinary artist raised in Narrm/Melbourne. Tariro’s body and breadth of work spans across multiple storytelling disciplines- acting, performance poetry, spoken word, writing, movement, directing, consultation and facilitation. Tariro is... Read more