ScratchThat #11 Zine Launch

Photo by Sara Reeves, and launch poster art by Sarah McLachlan

I was chuffed to attend the launch of ScratchThat’s #11 zine last Friday. ScratchThat is a literary mag run by QUT Fine Arts students (who I was lucky enough to get to teach this semester), and I’m consistently floored by the scope of what they’ve accomplished. I was invited to answer some questions and read a few poems, but there were also so many great student readings, and live music from Maira.

If you’d like to see what QUT students have been writing lately, check out the ScratchThat site, where a lot of the pieces are online, or you can follow them on Instagram.

2022 Queensland Literary Awards

I feel very warm and grateful to have been awarded a 2022 Premier’s Young Writers and Publishers award at the Queensland Literary Awards, which has given me a reason to make my first news post.

Congratulations to the other winner Marilena Hewitt, and shortlistees Miranda Hine and Sean West: what a great cohort to see myself up there with. Congratulations to all of the shortlisted and winning authors: if you haven’t, take a look at the winners and finalists (and treat it like a reading list!). Thanks to Arts Queensland, and the State Library of Queensland, for the awards as well as the party!

This prize will help me balance my writing work with teaching this year, and will help me travel to research upcoming projects. It’s been an odd few years; I finalised my Masters thesis, which morphed into my book, right as lockdowns began. My 2020 and 2021 were spent shepparding that project towards publication, and making big changes in my work life, but it all ran parallel to serious pandemic brain-rot. It feels like a million years since I wrote something. The prize feels like a blessing of momentum, and I’m going to make the most of it.