All I Have Is A Voice Poetry Showcase

Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning writer of Mununjali Yugambeh (South East Queensland) and Dutch heritage. They write fiction, poetry, plays and non-fiction. Ellen’s first book, Heat and Light, was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award. Throat, Ellen's highly anticipated second collection of poetry, was published in 2020. In 2021 they are the editor of the anthology Flock: First Nations Stories Then and Now.

Rebecca Jessen is a timeless boi. a linen daddy. a random shy poet. a sleeping body that remembers desire. a comet trail. a body that is a bridge. a moonstruck adolescent. an incomplete list poem. a lesbian, but… Her debut poetry collection Ask Me About the Future (UQP, 2020) was recently shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry. 

Shastra Deo was born in Fiji, raised in Melbourne, and lives in Brisbane. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Writing and English Literature, First Class Honours and a University Medal in Creative Writing, a Master of Arts in Writing, Editing and Publishing, and is currently undertaking her PhD in Creative Writing at The University of Queensland. Her first book, The Agonist (UQP 2017), won the 2016 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and the 2018 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal.

Anna Jacobson is a writer and artist from Brisbane. Amnesia Findings (UQP, 2019) is her first full-length poetry collection, which won the 2018 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. In 2020 Anna won the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing (Open Creative Nonfiction), was awarded a Queensland Writers Fellowship, and was shortlisted in the Spark Prize. In 2018 she won the Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award. Her writing has been published in literary journals and anthologies including Chicago Quarterly Review, Griffith Review, Australian Poetry Journal, Cordite, Meanjin, Rabbit: a journal for nonfiction poetry, and more. Anna’s poetry chapbook The Last Postman (Vagabond Press, 2018) is part of the deciBels 3 series. She is a PhD candidate at QUT specialising in memoir. She holds a Master of Philosophy in poetry (QUT 2018), a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies (UQ 2019), a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Creative and Professional Writing) (QUT 2015), and a Bachelor of Photography with Honours (Griffith University 2009). She was a finalist in the 65th Blake Art Prize, 2019 Marie Ellis Prize for Drawing and 2009 Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture. She won the 2009 Queensland Poetry Festival Filmmakers Challenge. Her website is www.annajacobson.com.au

David Stavanger is a poet, performer, cultural producer, editor and lapsed psychologist living on unceded Dharawal land. His first full-length poetry collection The Special (UQP, 2014) was awarded the Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and the Wesley Michel Wright Poetry Prize. David co-directed Queensland Poetry Festival (2015-2017) and is a Senior Project Manager at Red Room Poetry. He is the co-editor of Australian Poetry Journal 8.2 Spoken, Rabbit 27 Tense and SOLID AIR: Collected Australian & New Zealand Spoken Word (UQP, 2019.) His new collection Case Notes (UWAP, 2020) won the 2021 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry. David is also sometimes known as Green Room-nominated spoken weird artist Ghostboy and helped establish poetry slam in Australia. These days he lives between the stage and the page.

Samuel Watson is of Wunjaburra/Germanic heritage. He won the David Unaipon Award for Emerging Indigenous literature in 1999. Samuel composes poetry and short stories. He is a Brisbane-based author and proud to be a University of Queensland Press writer and at times has written for entities such as The Saturday Paper, Sydney's Powerhouse Museum and the Japanese Aeronautical Exploration Agency. 

Luke Best was born in Toowoomba, where he lives and works. His poetry has been published in literary journals including Overland, Verity La, Stilts Journal, Concrescence, Mascara Literary Review and Tincture Journal. His manuscript Percussion was Highly Commended in the 2017 Thomas Shapcott Prize. Cadaver Dog is Luke’s first book and won the 2019 Thomas Shapcott Prize.