Shape of Stories

Grace Lucas-Pennington is an Aboriginal (Bundjalung) editor specialising in fiction and poetry. She grew up mostly between northern NSW and the greater Logan/Brisbane area. Grace is the Senior Editor at State Library of Queensland's black&write! Indigenous Writing and Editing Project.

Evelyn Araluen is a Goorie/Koorie poet, researcher and the co-editor of Overland Literary Journal. Her work has been awarded the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, and a Wheeler Centre Next Chapter Fellowship. Her debut poetry collection DROPBEAR is forthcoming with the University of Queensland Press. Born and raised in Dharug country she is a descendant of the Bundjalung nation.

As a filmmaker and storyteller, Douglas has produced short and long-form documentaries, television series, feature documentaries, animation and immersive art experiences.

Douglas has been actively working in the film and television industry for over 25 years, including series producing and directing multiple series for ABC, SBS and NITV. Douglas is passionate about bringing First Nation stories to the forefront and has worked tirelessly to connect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners to make this a reality. He established the film and video production unit Double Wire Productions in 2000, and has produced and written dramas that have screened at film festivals around the world. His award-winning feature documentary Ella, featuring Ballet Dancer Ella Havelka as the first Indigenous dancer to make the Australian Ballet Company, premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2016 and has screened nationally and internationally. His VR experience A Thin Black Line featured in the 2018 Adelaide Biennial and was also showcased at AIDC 2018. Douglas’ latest feature documentary Alick and Albert is an intriguing film following the friendship of acclaimed artist Alick Tipoti and (H.S.H) Prince Albert II of Monaco. The documentary gives a profound look at the power of art to connect individuals, forge friendships and initiate change. Douglas was the Content Director for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program at Screen Queensland between 2017 and 2021, project managing feature films and award winning television/streaming series in both factual and scripted drama, with a focus on escalating new Black talent. Douglas Watkin continues to strive bringing our Mob’s stories and voices to heard both nationally and on the world stage.

MYKAELA SAUNDERS is a Koori/Goori and Lebanese writer, critic and editor. Mykaela’s debut speculative fiction collection ALWAYS WILL BE (UQP 2024) won the David Unaipon Award, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers’ Prize and longlisted for The Stella Prize. Mykaela edited THIS ALL COME BACK NOW (UQP 2022), the world’s first anthology of blackfella spec fic, which won an Aurealis Award. Mykaela has won other prizes for fiction, poetry, essay writing and research, including the Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize and the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize. Mykaela is a postdoctoral research fellow at Macquarie University researching First Nations speculative fiction. Mykaela worked in Aboriginal education in various capacities from 2003 to 2023, and has been teaching at the tertiary level since 2012. Her research explores her people’s past, present and future.