Theatre Experience
Playwright for the Yirra Yaakin Playwrighting Festival 2023 – developed play ‘Downstream’ (Subiaco Arts Centre)
Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024 – writer and producer for play ‘Trail’s End’ (Goodwood Theatre & Studios; Domain Theatre, Marion Cultural Centre)
Community theatre – chorus member for shows Hairspray, Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd (Ashfield Musical Society), Pirates of Penzance (Chatswood Musical Society) and portrayed ‘Florinda’ in Into the Woods (Balmain Musical Society).
Publications
Awards
SA Writers First Nations Varuna Fellowship 2024
First Nations Fellowship, JM Coetzee Centre, University of Adelaide 2023
Shortlisted for the 2023 Deep Creek Residency
2022 Varuna Residential Fellowship
First Nations Varuna Fellowship 2021
Shortlisted for the 2020 Daisy Utemorrah Award
Shortlisted for the 2019 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing
Winner 2015 black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship, State Library of Queensland.
Nakata Brophy Award – Runner Up, Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2015.
Yarramundi Higher Degree Research Scholarship, University of Western Sydney, 2014.
Australian Indigenous Creators Scholarship 2013, Magabala Books.
Katharine Susannah Prichard Speculative Fiction Awards 2012 – High Commendation.
Young Writer-in-Residence 2011, Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre, Perth.
Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement 2011 (Master of Arts in Creative Writing), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney.
Lindsay Croft Postgraduate Memorial Scholarship 2010 (merit-based scholarship for Master of Arts in Creative Writing), Jumbunna IHL, University of Technology, Sydney.
FEAST Festival 2010 Short Writing Competition – High Commendation.
Sydney Eisteddfod 2005 – Original Work: Short Story – High Commendation.
CV
Education
Master of Arts in Creative Writing, University of Technology, Sydney.
Graduate Certificate in Editing and Publishing, University of Technology, Sydney.
Shut Up and Write Indigenous Workshop, AFTRS
AFTRS NSW/ACT Talent Camp 2019
Writing for Television Online Course, AFTRS
Research for Writers course, Swinburne University
Other Experience
Board appointment: Aboriginal Arts & Culture Artform Board, Create NSW 2021-present
Reader for the 2021 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers
CATSINaM Cultural Awareness Training (scriptwriter), 2020
Board appointment: Literary Review Board, Australia Council for the Arts 2019
Staff Profiles, NITV website, 2015-16.
Editor – Spilt Milk Magazine, Issues 1 & 2, Sydney, 2015.
‘Sister’, multimedia artwork, finalist in the NSW Parliament Aboriginal Art Prize 2013
‘Gone Again’, short story included in artwork for In the Night Garden, Sydney Fringe Festival 2013.
Paper: ‘Indigenous Australian Cultural Protocols and Post-Determination Literature’ presented at the American Association of Australasian Literary Studies, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, 2011.
Paper: ‘Finding Home – Identity Bonds through Indigenous Literature’ presented at the Republic of Letters, Sydney, 2011.
What attracted you to apply for the Fellowship?
The description of the fellowship sounded perfect for where I’m currently at with my writing career. While I’ve been a writer for a while now, playwrighting is a completely new skill to me, and the Brink fellowship provides an opportunity to develop a new work with the support of experienced people in the industry. I think that guidance is crucial when you’re starting out.
I’m also keen to network, not only because the process of theatre is so collaborative, but because I would love to see more Aboriginal theatre in South Australia. Beyond the fellowship, I’d love to help contribute to building more of a presence in our state and the networking part of the fellowship will be an invaluable part of working towards that.
It also ticked a lot of boxed for me in terms of being flexible – I have a young daughter who isn’t in school yet so the ability to negotiate my schedule appealed to me.
What do you hope to achieve over the next 12 months?
I’d love to create a work that goes above and beyond what I’ve previously done in terms of quality and impact.
I want to walk away from the fellowship feeling like I have a bit more of a roadmap of what I want to do, and how I can achieve it in the theatre space.
What playwrights inspire you?
Wesley Enoch and Nathan Maynard are definitely at the top for me. I also love the way Tennessee Williams draws his characters.
What excites you most about this opportunity?
Meeting new people, getting to do something that I love – working in theatre.
Other Info
I was selected as part of the 2023 Yirra Yaakin Playwright Festival where I developed a new play ‘Downstream’. I was so lucky to have it directed by Isaac Drandic and Nazaree Dickerson was the Dramaturg. The first act of the play was performed as a staged reading at the Subiaco Arts Centre and broadcast live across the country.
I’ve since written a short play, ‘Trail’s End’ which is currently showing in the Adelaide Fringe Festival, starring Dylan Miller, with Dramaturg Kyron Weetra.
Brink Productions Limited
PO Box 3262 Rundle Mall
South Australia 5000
T +61 8 8211 6565
