Writing Taboo

Emily Sexton is currently Head of Programming for the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas. She was the recipient of a prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship in 2014. Previously she was Artistic Director of Next Wave (2010-14), where her key achievements were a radical rethink of an arts festival model, and a series of landmark commissions, publications and talks featuring First Nations artists, co-curated with Tony Albert and Tahjee Moar and titled Blak Wave. In 2018 she was Artistic Director of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust’s 20th Anniversary Celebrations at the Melbourne Recital Centre (2013). She was also Creative Producer for Melbourne Fringe Festival for 2008-10. Emily has been a proud Board Member for Arena Theatre Company, Snuff Puppets and Theatre Network Victoria, and is alumni of the Australia Council’s Emerging Leaders Program (2011). She is a regular peer assessor for the Australia Council, Arts Victoria and other philanthropic trusts and foundations. Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications, English) from the University of Sydney (2005). She is a regular host and facilitator for writers’ festivals and arts organisations around Australia.

Michael Sala's latest novel is The Restorer (2017).  His critically acclaimed debut, The Last Thread, won the 2013 NSW Premier's Award for New Writing and was the regional winner (Pacific) of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize. Born in the Netherlands to a Greek father and a Dutch mother, Michael first came to Australia in the 1980s and now lives in Newcastle.

Anosh Irani's latest novel, The Parcel, was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.  It was chosen as one of the Books of the Year by The Globe and Mail, National Post, CBC, and the Quill & Quire.  His play, Bombay Black, won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and his anthology, The Bombay Plays, was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award.

Krissy Kneen is the award-winning author of memoir—Affection—and fiction: Wintering, An Uncertain Grace, Steeplechase, Triptych, The Adventures of Holly White and the Incredible Sex Machine, as well as the Thomas Shapcott Award-winning poetry collection Eating My Grandmother. She has written and directed broadcast documentaries for SBS and ABC Television.