Table of contents - Part 2
For the first two chapters go here
3. INLAND EMPIRES
signage Sandra Renew
Memento mori with swallowtail butterflies Erin Shiel
Life by the lake Kai Jensen
Strange country Kathleen Bleakley
‘Life’s a beach, and then you die’ Christine Sykes
Country of Mind, Country of Love Janette Dadd
My country Bríd Morahan
On the poet’s country Moira Kirkwood
Notes on the Poets
The Poets
Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, Linda Albertson has lived in Bega on the lands of the Djiringanj people for the last twenty-two years. Her poetry explores family and connection against a backdrop of reconciling the tension between belonging and the heartache of leaving. Linda’s poetry has been published by Ginninderra Press and The Canberra Times.
Kathleen Bleakley lives primarily in Wollongong, second home is Milton. kb has six published collections (poetry with some prose). Her latest three: chapbooks, available www.ginninderrapress.com.au
Joni Braham, artist, musician and writer, lives on unceded Dharawal country. Retirement has opened up wonderful opportunities and time for writing. Joni’s poetry and short stories have been published and she is currently navigating the tricky landscape of memoir.
Alisha Brown is a poet and traveller. She won the 2022 Joyce Parkes Women’s Writing Prize and has featured in Westerly, The Australian Poetry Anthology, and other major Australian literary publications. You can find her on Instagram @alishalouisebrown.
Jonathan Cant won the 2023 Banjo Paterson Writing Award for Contemporary Poetry. His poems have appeared in Cordite, Otoliths and Live Encounters.
Janette Dadd completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in February of this year and held her first solo exhibition in July. She is now working on her third book of poetry.
Amelia Fielden, a professional Japanese translator, mostly writes Japanese form poetry in English. Her new collection, Adagio Days, was launched in October.
Lajos Hamers is a storyteller of Hungarian folk tales, writer, actor and musician. He recently completed a stint as writer in residence at the SCWC space in the Creative Studios in Wollongong where he began writing a dramatic monologue about his 25+ years as Santa Claus. Lajos also recently had a poem published in the Admissions:Voices within Mental Health Anthology which formed the basis of an episode of the A Good Mind To … podcast series.
Stella Hatzis is a lover of all things lexical and has a background in epic and digital poetry.
Tim Heffernan was born on the Murrumbidgee and moved upstream to Wagga and Cooma. He now lives in Wollongong. He mostly writes within these latitudes.
Elanna Herbert lives on Yuin country, NSW South Coast. Her writing appears in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Elanna’s first book of poetry, sifting fire writing coast, is available through Walleah Press. Elanna holds a PhD in Communication. https://elannaherbert.blogspot.com/
Kai Jensen has had poems published in many leading Australian and New Zealand literary journals. Kai lives at Wallaga Lake.
Moira Kirkwood is aiming for one step at a time through the fog. She has to remind herself to stay humble, grateful and bendy.
Elias McKinley exists in the bush, trying to figure out how to live in a time of climate crisis. He tries to write poetry. He wishes he wrote more often, but he writes a lot more than he did when he was stuck on that city-life treadmill. Sometimes he likes what he writes, sometimes he’s indifferent. But he always likes how he feels when he writes.
Linda Mcquarrie-Bowerman lives and writes poetry in Lake Tabourie, NSW. She is completing her Degree in Creative Writing at Curtin University.
Stephen Meyrick was born in Wales and raised in Perth and now lives and writes in Wollongong. His work has been shortlisted for the ACU and Calanthe poetry prizes. His aspiration is to write well-crafted poems that are accessible to, and can be enjoyed by, a broad audience.
Bríd Morahan is a writer living on the South Coast of New South Wales, where she writes, reads, swims and plays.
Judi Morison is a Gamilaroi writer whose work has been published in various literary journals. She is the recipient of the 2022 Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship.
Sandra Renew’s recent poetry collections are Apostles of Anarchy and It’s the sugar, Sugar, Recent Work Press. The Ruby Red’s Affair, Ginninderra Press, is a prose/poetry narrative exploded moment. Her web page is sandrarenew.com
Fatima Sayed was born in Aleppo, Syria. After war broke out she moved in 2012 to Lebanon with her family. In 2015, she completed a degree in nursing and began working as nurse. Fatima arrived in Australia 2017 and is now living and working in Wollongong. In 2022, she won first prize in the Illawarra Multicultural Services Refugee Week Writing Competition.
Erin Shiel won the SCWC Poetry Award in 2022. Her first collection, Girl on a Corrugated Roof, was published in 2023 by Recent Work Press. Website: erinshielpoetry.com Instagram: Erin Shiel (@erinshielpoetry)
Christine Sykes has three published books: her award-winning memoir, Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and Beyond and two novels: The Tap Cats of the Sunshine Coast and The Changing Room.
Elizabeth Walton is a musician and writer working on the 37th parallel south. She received the Macquarie University Award for Academic Excellence in her Masters of Creative Writing and is completing a Masters of Research and PhD in Creative Writing. Recent works: WA Poetry Anthology, Swamp, Overland, Guardian, ABC. Elizabeth received the Anne Edgeworth fellowship in 2022 and was second place in the 2022 Woollahra Digital Literary award.
Melanie Weckert is a retired environmental microbiologist. She now lives in Merimbula on the Far South Coast of NSW and spends her time writing poetry and fiction.
Myfanwy Williams is a poet and novelist, who grew up on the South Coast of NSW. Her writing explores ecology, conservation, politics and intergenerational trauma. She is currently working on her first poetry collection and her second novel. Her Instagram handle is @writermyf
The Editors
Linda Godfrey lives and works on the land of the Wadi Wadi people and is thankful to be here. She writes prose and poetry, but especially prose poetry
Zohra Aly trained and practised as a pharmacist for several years before finally turning to writing, her first love. She has freelanced, writing for titles such as Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Life and Mindfoodmagazine. Currently, she is studying a Masters in Creative Writing, and enjoys working on non-fiction and short fiction projects.
Sky Carrall writes on Dharawal land. She is a UOW creative writing graduate and facilitates SCWC Young Writers workshops. She is currently writing a young adult manuscript.
Peter Frankis’ first poetry chapbook, Shorely, was published in 2022 by Ginninderra Press and his poem 8 ways to look at an octopus was joint winner of the 2022 Wollongong Art Gallery Prize.