We’re proud to introduce all 50 contributors to The Skywriters Project‘s first publication, Dark Sky Dreamings: an Inland Skywriters Anthology (Interactive Press, Brisbane, October, 2019)
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THE CONTRIBUTORS
Michael Andersen (Moree, NSW)
Michael Andersen lives under the wide-open skies of Northern Inland NSW, and, in his own words, “has spent quite a few decades orbiting Old Sol”. A career in country broadcasting has allowed him to work in many towns across Australia. He suspects that the hours he has spent conceiving and writing ‘creative’ radio advertising ‘ignited a spark’ to write his own stories for his own enjoyment. He wants you to enjoy reading his words as much as he enjoyed writing them.
Damian Balassone (Warrandyte, Vic.)
Damian Balassone’s poems have appeared in more than 100 publications, most notably in The New York Times. He is the author of three volumes of poetry: Prince of the Apple Towns, Daniel Yammacoona (Ginninderra Press) and Strange Game in a Strange Land (Wilkinson Publishing) with another collection The Book of Original Clichés, forthcoming. He lives in Warrandyte, Victoria.
Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya (Sydney, NSW)
Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya studied physics at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and philology at Moscow State Humanitarian University. She is an author of thirteen books in Russian, including Introduction to the Literature of Formal Restrictions and a novel Through layered Glass, and co-editor of the anthology Freedom of Restriction. Her poetry in English has appeared in Can I tell you a secret? Across the Russian Wor(l)d, Bridges, London Grip, POEM, Rochford Street Review, Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, and other journals. She is a member of Board of PEN Moscow and editorial committee of Russian literary journals: Another Hemisphere and Articulations. Tatiana now lives in Sydney.
Tom Bristow (Townsville, Qld)
Tom Bristow is the Roderick Research Fellow at James Cook University, Queensland, an Honorary Research Fellow through the Australian Research Council Centre for the History of Emotions at The University of Western Australia, and Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London. He is also editor-in-chief of the journal PAN (Philosophy Activism Nature), and the Literature, Culture, Media environmental humanities series editor at Routledge. Tom composed these poems in Bathurst, New South Wales, on a Marie Curie Fellowship with Durham University. He now lives in North Queensland.
Val Clark (Dubbo, NSW)
Val Clark is an award-winning storyteller, visual artist, literary fiction judge and experienced creative and memoir writing workshop presenter based in Dubbo. Her novel, Lost, a young adult/crossover fantasy, is the first in her Chronicles of N’arth series. She is presently editing the sequel. A self-confessed writing workshop junkie, she started the annual writers’ festival, WestWordsFest, in inland NSW five years ago to feed her addiction. Next to writing, trying to learn the penny whistle and travelling bring her alive.
David Clarkson (Sydney, NSW)
David Clarkson is a theatre director, producer, mentor, arts leader and innovator with a strong commitment to regional, rural and remote communities. He co-founded the physical theatre company, Stalker, which has enjoyed national and international success. His poetic, image-based, conceptual, performance work has been at the high end of physical theatre practice and has influenced many artists working in this field. David’s work includes solo performances, professional ensemble work, installations, community outreach projects and Olympic opening ceremonies. His performance works have toured to over thirty countries and have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people. www.boxofbirds.net
Rosemary Curry (Orange, NSW)
Rosemary Curry is a South Australian presently living in Central West NSW. She is as a Registered Nurse who, between having five children and running Family Education groups, studied Psychology at University. She is also an enthusiastic amateur palaeontologist, and, when not studying rocks and fossils, collects oral histories and occasionally writes articles for history magazines. In 1989 she published two small books based on her oral histories interviews. The most popular of these, If That Man Comes Here I’ll Shoot Him, is about Australia’s High Country Women. Rosemary now runs a creative writing group for U3A in Orange.
Garry Dean (Forster, NSW)
Garry Dean lives on the Mid North Coast of NSW and has been a fan of SF, ever since his older brother took him to see 2001 a Space Odyssey for his eighth birthday. Although he was painting, and writing about other worlds during his teens, it wasn’t until he was in his 40s that Garry began to write seriously. Hampered by a genetic eye disorder, he turned to adaptive technologies like voice recognition and text to speech. Garry’s work has appeared in online magazines, including AntipodeanSF, Quantum Muse and Daily Science Fiction. www.garrydean.wordpress.com
Merrill Findlay (Forbes, NSW)
Merrill Findlay is a writer and cultural development practitioner who now lives in Forbes, NSW. Her published work includes a critically acclaimed novel, Republic of Women (UQP 1999), book chapters, blog posts, speeches, scholarly articles, conference papers, an opera libretto, and features for the mainstream press, such as The Age, Good Weekend, and the Canberra Times. Her most recent cultural interventions include The Skywriters Project and the Inland Astro-Trail. www.merrillfindlay.com
Martha Morrison Gelin (Bathurst, NSW)
Martha Morrison Gelin was born in Tennessee, USA, more than eighty years ago. She and her family have lived in many different places since then and now call Bathurst home. Martha worked professionally in human services, academia and private counselling practice, and has written extensively on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), meditation, research evaluation and sexuality, including two books for parents about talking with their children about sexuality. Now in ‘retirement’, she wants to write more creatively about some of her many other interests—including supernovae!
Ian Gibbins (Adelaide, SA)
Ian Gibbins is a widely-published poet, video artist and electronic musician with four collections of poetry: Urban Biology (2012); The Microscope Project: How Things Work (2014); Floribunda (2015) and A Skeleton of Desire (2019). Ian’s videos have been shown at international festivals, having won or been short-listed for multiple awards. His audio and video work has been commissioned for public art programs and has featured in several gallery shows and installations. In his former life, Ian was an internationally recognised neuroscientist and Professor of Anatomy at Flinders University, South Australia. www.iangibbins.com.au
Emma Gibson (Melbourne, Vic.)
Emma Gibson is a writer, theatre-maker and poet with a focus on place-based work. Her work has been produced internationally, including in Iceland, Sweden, the USA and the UK. Her poetry and prose has been published in Iceview, the Skagastrond Review (Iceland), Broadway Baby (UK), LIP Mag, BMA Magazine, Seizure (Australia) and in several anthologies. Her most recent theatrical work was Tourmaline, adapted from the Randolph Stow novel at the Street Theatre in Canberra. Emma’s previous plays include Bloodletting, War Stories (as co-writer), Johnny Castellano is Mine, The Pyjama Girl, Widowbird and Love Cupboard. Emma is currently based in Melbourne.
Suzie Gibson (Bathurst, NSW)
Suzie Gibson is a Senior Lecturer in English at Charles Sturt University. She has published widely in distinguished national and international journals covering the fields of literature, film and television. Her research is informed by her knowledge of nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century literature, as well as continental philosophy and feminism. She has written a number of important journal articles and book chapters on significant literary figures as well as popular culture characters including Henry James, Jane Austen, James Bond and Batman, where influential philosophical concepts are explored and explained through these writers and iconic characters.
Leah Ginnivan (Sydney, NSW)
Leah Ginnevan grew up in the Indigo Valley in north-eastern Victoria. She is a writer, researcher, collage artist and final-year medical student. Her favourite constellation is Orion, reinterpreted as a giant impassive cosmic face. The best night skies she’s seen in Australia were while camped out at Mutawintji National Park, near Broken Hill NSW.
Bonita Gwyn (Condobolin, NSW)
Bonita Gwyn was born and raised in the small inland town of Condobolin, NSW, and still lives there. She is married with two daughters and four grandchildren who have inspired her creative writing. She began writing stories about her childhood for her grandchildren so they would know about life in a time before digital devices.
Miranda Gott (Bathurst, NSW)
Miranda Gott has been writing for ten years and was shortlisted for the SD Harvey Short Story Award in 2012. Her first play, Kangaroo, based on an original story, is currently in development for the stage in 2020 with the support of Create NSW. Miranda grew up in Hong Kong and the USA, has a degree in science and a doctorate in ecology and has worked in journalism, academia and policy in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and now Bathurst. Having moved out of Sydney eight years ago, she is still awed by the big skies of the NSW central west.
Allis Hamilton (Chewton, Vic.)
Allis Hamilton lives off-grid in a little hut in the Australian bush where she sings to the trees and the water and listens to the birds. She creates art, music and poetry. Her poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, Australian Poetry Journal, Overland, Southerly, Westerly, Plumwood Mountain, Medical Journal of Australia, and were anthologised in Flightpath (Hallowell Press, Australia) and in The Creel (Guillemot Press, UK).
Barbara Holloway (Canberra, ACT)
Barbara Holloway most often writes creative nonfiction focused on the natural world. Her previous work has appeared in essay collections and in journals such as Westerly, Southerly, Fusion and AJE. She’s a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University and divides her time between Canberra and the bush block that’s part of BREW; Bush Residencies for Ecological Writers. “The Federation of Clouds” is part of a longer manuscript.
Natalie Holmes (Dubbo, NSW)
Natalie Holmes has worked as an editor, writer, journalist, literary judge and public relations specialist in Australia and overseas for more than two decades. She now runs a successful communications consultancy, nh publishing, in Dubbo while wrangling an active preschooler. She loves watching the news, correcting people’s grammar and eating chocolate from her secret stash. This is her first anthologised work.
Katie Hopkins (Western Sydney, NSW)
Katie Hopkins is a senior high school student in Western Sydney. This is her first publication, though for the past three years she has taken part in the Write a Book in a Day Competition to raise money for kids with cancer. She enjoys writing in her spare time and is inspired by the everyday interactions that she sees around her. She aims to study law and hopes to continue to publish and to inspire others in the future.
Shannon Jade (Atwell, WA)
Shannon Jade is a young writer based in Atwell, Western Australia, who believes in the real-world magic of storytelling. Most often found with a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, Shannon hopes to share her stories with the world and to create new worlds with her stories.
Neville Jennings (Murwillumbah, NSW)
Neville Jennings is a retired educator living in Murwillumbah, northern NSW. He began his career as a primary teacher at Bogan Gate Public School in 1961 and later moved to Merriwa Central School. In the 1970s and 1980s he taught Geography and other Social Science subjects at secondary schools in NSW, Victoria and Canada. From 1990 till 2008 he was actively involved in teacher training and teachers’ professional development through Southern Cross University. He currently volunteers as a Primary Ethics teacher at Chillingham Public School.
Jane Fenton Keane (Paradise Point, Qld)
Jayne Fenton Keane is a poet whose work has been extensively published in print, radio, digital, performance, sound and visual mediums. Her published poetry collections include Torn, Ophelia’s Codpiece and The Transparent Lung. Jayne’s practise reflects an ongoing interest in exploring and experimenting with language. She was shortlisted for the Griffith University Medal for her doctorate in poetics.
Juanita Kwok (Bathurst, NSW)
Juanita Kwok was born in Sydney and gained an arts degree at the University of Sydney before moving to live in Bathurst in 2008. In 2013 she wrote her Honours thesis at Charles Sturt University on the representation of Chinese in Australian feature films made in the White Australia era. She was awarded a scholarship as a PhD student, and has just completed her thesis, “The Chinese in Bathurst: Recovering Forgotten Histories”. She looks forward to graduating in December 2019.
Gai Lander (Grenfell, NSW)
Gai Lander lives in Grenfell with husband Stephen. She worked throughout the Central West in the areas of health, social welfare and aged care for most of her professional life. Since then, she has been involved in the Henry Lawson Festival, cultural and local native flora initiatives. More recently, she’s been active in art and creative writing. She prefers to work on stories that have “an edge” based on her life experiences.
Phil Leman (Warren, NSW)
Phil Leman is a retired schoolteacher who lives in Warren, New South Wales, and doesn’t play golf.
Carly Lorente (Byron Bay, NSW)
Carly Lorente is a freelance journalist and author, astrologer, filmmaker, and all-round cultural disruptor. She wrote her first yarn before she started school and was given her first camera sometime during the awkwardness of puberty. She can’t remember the first time she looked up to the sky for answers but is forever musing on her mythopoetic place which, she guesses, is wedged somewhere between land, psyche, eros, and the cosmos. Occasionally the skies respond. Carly has worked with various groups of women around the world using storytelling as a medicinal tool for individual and collective healing. She lives in the hills of Northern NSW with her two children. www.herstorycollective.com
Sarah MacKean (Parkes, NSW)
Sarah “Sal” MacKean grew up in the UK and worked there as a barrister for many years before relocating to Parkes with her teenage son in 2015. She now works in special education at Parkes High School while pursuing her many interests in the town. These include painting, reading, bushwalking, dog walking, weekly euchre at the bowling club, and, of course, stargazing. Since arriving here, she has written four draft novels as well as some short stories and poems. She is currently researching the life and times of a famous Australian for her next novel.
Elizabeth Macintosh (Coonabarabran, NSW)
Elizabeth Macintosh is a teacher and award-winning writer from Coonabarabran, the Astronomy Capital of Australia. Although she has published articles in newspapers and national magazines, Elizabeth’s main interest is in writing for children. Her tales often have a humorous twist and many are inspired by real events. This year, three of Elizabeth’s stories will be published in the Creative Kids Tales anthology. She once climbed Mt Vesuvius and was delighted to find a shop at the summit.
Alice Mantel (Sydney, NSW)
Alice Mantel’s stories reflect the ambiguity of human nature. As a lawyer, she was always interested in the peaks and depths of her clients’ lives. Since her retirement, her short stories and non-fiction works explore the subtleties of being human, often reflecting her social justice interests. Alice’s new book about assisting women in retirement will be released in late 2019. She lives in Sydney.
Sophie Masson (Armidale, NSW)
Born in Indonesia of French parents, and brought up in France and Australia, Sophie Masson AM is the award-winning author of over 60 books for children, young adults and adults. In 2019, she received an AM (Member, General Division) award in the Order of Australia, for significant service to literature as an author, publisher, and through service to literary organisations. A former Chair of the Australian Society of Authors and current Chair of the New England Writers’ Centre, Sophie is also a founding partner and publishing director of acclaimed children’s books publisher Christmas Press, based in Armidale.
Brydie O’Shea (Ashford, NSW)
Brydie O’Shea is a beef farmer, in North West New South Wales, and an animal tragic. She is also a wildlife carer and a gardener, activities which are often incompatible! Once, in a far-off time, Brydie was a mounted policewoman, and a New Zealand zoo guide. She lives with her husband Kelvin, horses B.J. Jimmy and Dolly, a cat called Lynx, Jack London the rescue dog, a bevy of bovine beauties, and Big MacAngus, the bull. Brydie has always dreamed of being a published writer, but until now has been bogged down by life.
Marion Packham (Condobolin, NSW)
Marion Packham was born and raised in Condobolin, a small country town at the geographic centre of New South Wales. She trained as a teacher but sees herself more as an educator because lessons can occur anywhere and encompass more that can be taught in schools or from books. She is passionate about Aboriginal dance and culture and works with a dynamic group of people to raise awareness, promote cultural activities and traditional knowledge and help young people learn Respect, or Yindyamarra. Her involvement with her local community is her way of ‘giving back’ to where she comes from and ensuring the longevity of her small country town.
Pepa Paive (Melbourne, Vic.)
Pepa Paiva is a Latin American artist living in Melbourne. She arrived in Australia three years ago to improve her English writing skills. Pepa’s current creative projects include a screenplay about blindness and vulnerability and her first theatre production. She is very passionate about humanity’s relationship with the night sky and the beauty of the cosmos. This is her first publication.
Helena Pastor (Armidale, NSW)
Helena Pastor lives in Armidale and is the author of Wild Boys: A Parent’s Story of Tough Love (UQP, 2015). Her writing has attracted two Australian Society of Authors’ Mentorships, along with residencies at Varuna Writers’ House, Bundanon, and Booranga and KSP Writers’ Centres. She is also a songwriter and lyricist. “Mother is Watching” is one of sixteen songs she wrote for Lullaby and Lament – A Song Cycle, a collaborative project with composer Christopher Purcell.
Simon Pockley (Coonabarabran, NSW)
Simon Pockley enjoys time with his family. He mainly works with his hands but has also worked as a manager, analyst, information designer and academic in the business, cultural, environmental and education sectors. He is a committed environmental activist, living quietly and reclusively in the Warrumbungles in north-western NSW where he is re-building after being burnt out by a bush fire.
Rhonda Poholke (Beaufort, Vic.)
Rhonda Poholke is a poet, photographer, collagist, living in country Victoria. A constant sky gazer, she sees all kinds of things in the shapes of clouds. But it is the fascination of the starry nightscape that flies her into other universes and lets her believe all things are possible.
Max Pringle (Narrabri, NSW)
Max Pringle OAM is a retired farmer who lives in the small inland town of Narrabri in northern NSW. He is an active volunteer with many community groups, including the Scouts, Narrabri Show Committee, and the local museum. He is currently president of Narrabri Red Cross, on the board of 2MAX FM radio station, a Patron of Narrabri Show, and secretary of the Narrabri Historical Society. In 2008 he was awarded an OAM for services to his local community.
Sarah Pugh (Wollongong, NSW)
Sarah Pugh is a mother of two who dabbles in writing in her spare time. She lives in Wollongong. An English teacher of 20 years, she decided to put her money where her mouth is and submit some of her work for others to read.
David P. Reiter (Brisbane, Qld)
David P. Reiter is an award-winning text and digital artist, and CEO at IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) in Brisbane, Australia. His medical/micro-textual hybrid Timelord Dreaming won the 2016 Western Australian Premier’s Award for Digital Narrative. As artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre (Canada), he completed My Planets Reunion Memoir Project, which won the 2012 WA Premier’s Award <http://ipoz.biz/myplanets> His work-in-progress is A Brief History of Time Lords. google.com/+DrDavidReiter
Alison Rumps (Grenfell, NSW)
After life as a busy mother and teacher in Sydney, Alison Rumps enjoying retirement in her hometown of Grenfell, with its inclusive country community vibe. She is a member of a writers’ group, the local church and a fun group of book club ladies. She is proud of her beautiful children and grandchildren, loves reading and her writing investigates the psyche of her characters. She is currently collaborating in producing a history of the businesses on Main Street, Grenfell, called ‘Faces in the Street.’
Robert Salt (Dubbo, NSW)
Robert Salt was born in Brewarrina and now lives in Dubbo. Culturally, he is connected to the Kunja, Muwawarri and Wiradjuri nations through his mother. On his father’s side he is connected to English and French ancestry. He has been an avid reader and writer of all genres and forms since he was six years old. Robert is passionate about Indigenous languages and strives to incorporate both English and First Nations language in his writing. This reflects his duality in identity and respect and gratitude to his mother and father. Robert is also ardent about rural living and the power of words for social change and also enjoyment.
Phil Sanders (Bathurst, NSW)
Phil Sanders used to be a writer but now has a proper job. Born in the UK, he moved to Australia in 1995 to work for Channel 7 as a script writer/script editor on Home and Away. He wrote over 200 episodes of the show plus scripts for several animated series such as Blinky Bill and Old Tom. He was nominated for three Australian Writers’ Guild Awards. Phil lives in Bathurst where he is the Research Office Manager for the local health district. He has written two unpublished novels and is optimistically working on a third as well as some radio and theatre projects.
Braam Smit (Parkes, NSW)
Braam Smit has always had a passion for writing and wrote poetry from the time he was able to write. His poetry has been published in both South Africa and The Netherlands. His family relocated to Parkes in New South Wales during the winter of 2018. The rugged beauty of the Australian landscape deeply moved him and has inspired his writing ever since. He is also an amateur astronomer and loves spending time behind his telescope. The Skywriters Project, therefore, embraces two of his passions: poetry and astronomy.
Alicia Sometimes (Melbourne, Vic.)
Alicia Sometimes is an Australian writer and broadcaster. She has performed her spoken word and poetry at many venues, festivals and events around the world. Her poems have been in Best Australian Science Writing, Best Australian Poems, Overland, Southerly, Meanjin, ABC TV’s Sunday Arts and more. She is one-sixth of the Outer Sanctum podcast (ABC), and is director and co-writer of the science-poetry planetarium shows, Elemental, and Particle/Wave. Alicia is currently a Science Gallery Melbourne ‘Leonardo’ (creative advisor) and is passionate about combining science and art.
Tracy Sorensen (Bathurst, NSW)
Tracy Sorensen grew up in Carnarvon on the north coast of Western Australia and now lives in Bathurst. She has worked as a journalist, arts administrator, university tutor, freelance video maker and publicist. Her debut novel, The Lucky Galah, published by Picador in 2018, was long-listed for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award. It tells the story of the Moon landing from the point of view of a galah who has just shredded Donald Horne’s The Lucky Country for exercise. Tracy will be the 2020 Writer in Residence at Sydney University’s Charles Perkins Centre.
Stephen Turner (Coonbarabran, NSW)
Stephen Turner grew up in Sydney but now lives in Coonabarabran, the “Astronomy Capital of Australia” where he writes and runs an IT business, as well as doing IT support for the local high school. “Dark Sky Dreams” is certainly fiction, but he doesn’t deny that one of his four sons may strongly resemble the main character in the present! While having a past in journalism and being a finalist in several writing competitions, this is his first professionally published fiction. He is passionate about storytelling, technology, the Internet and science fiction. http://stephen-turner.net
Robyn Warrick (Narrabri, NSW)
Robyn Warwick lives in Narrabri, in north-western NSW. For several decades, she worked as an advocate for people with disabilities and, during that time, gained a Graduate Diploma in Social Science and Community Services. She turned to creative writing after the tragic loss of not one but two husbands. Her current priorities include her family, connecting with nature, gardening, photography, family history, and personal wellbeing.
Leanne Wicks (Mallacoota, Vic.)
Leanne Wicks lived in the central-west towns of Kandos, Lue and Mudgee for over 15 years. She developed museum exhibits, taught poetry and performed belly dance. Leanne has self-published three books including Against the Skyline, on the sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, which one of her relatives survived. In 2018 she won first prize in the poetry section of the FAWQ Literary Competition. Leanne recently moved, with her son, to the Victorian seaside town of Mallacoota, where she now knits birds and writes. Her current projects include completing a Graduate Diploma of Creative Writing, and a book about the church where she manages the op shops.
Wing-Fai Wong (Hong Kong/Brisbane, Qld)
Wing-Fai Wong is an information technology professional with a strong interest in Chinese metaphysics. While working in IT for a living, he continues to undertake research on Chinese metaphysics, including fengshui (geomancy) and zeri (chronomancy), in the everyday life of Chinese Australasians. His conference presentations include “The Significance of Luban Jing” for Dragon Tails 2015, “Five Emperors Coins” for the 2017 Symposium of the Academic Journal of Fengshui – Oceania, and “Chinese Merchants and Fengshui” for the 2019 International Conference on Chinese Entrepreneurship and Social, Economic, and Political Transformations of China and the World.
Page created 22 October, 2019.
Big Skies Collaboration 