Here in Australia, we love a good book, we love a good ballet and we love a good basketball team. We are a sporting nation, and we wear our stripes with pride. Join Geoff Woolcock, Ellen van Neervan, Edwina Shaw and Yassmin Abdel-Magied as they kick around their ideas.
Luke Stegemann is Associate Publisher with Griffith Review and has had a varied career working in media, business management, education and interpreting/translation. He lived and worked in both Europe and Asia for some twenty years, returning to Australia in 2008 to act as editor-in-chief and general manager of The Adelaide Review, and went on to found The Melbourne Review in 2011. A committed Hispanist, he is the author of The Beautiful Obscure: Australian Pathways through the Cultural History of Spain. In his spare time, he works as a tournament judge and referee with Boxing Australia.
Edwina Shaw is a Brisbane-based writer of fiction and memoir. She has published the novel Thrill Seekers, which was shortlisted for the 2012 New South Wales Premier’s Prize for New Writing, and her new children’s book In The Dark off the Night is set for release later in 2016. Edwina teaches writing at The University of Queensland and yoga to the Dance students at the Queensland University of Technology.
Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning writer of Mununjali and Dutch heritage. Her first book, Heat and Light (UQP, 2014), was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, the Dobbie Literary Award, and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing. It was also shortlisted for The Stella Prize and the Readings Prize. Comfort Food is her first collection of poetry.
2015 Queensland Young Australian of the Year, Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a mechanical engineer, social advocate, writer and petrol head. Her first book, Yassmin’s Story, was published this year and is a memoir sharing a different perspective about growing up in Australia.
Geoff Woolcock is Wesley Mission Queensland’s Research Manager and an Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He has been involved at all levels of elite sport – as a state representative athlete and AFL underage captain, a coach of both club and representative squads, and a talent scout for the Melbourne Football Club.
