Queer in the Big City

The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in nonfiction, Bill Hayes is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and the author of seven books, including The Anatomist, Insomniac City, and How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic. His latest book, SWEAT: A History of Exercise, is a narrative nonfiction look at exercise from antiquity to the present. Hayes also recently completed the screenplay for a film adaptation of his memoir Insomniac City, to be produced by Brouhaha Entertainment. Hayes is a photographer as well, with credits including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times. A volume of his street photography, How New York Breaks Your Heart, was published by Bloomsbury. His photographs have been exhibited at the Steven Kasher Gallery and at The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), New York City. Hayes has lectured at NYU, UCSF, and University of Virginia, and has appeared at the Sydney Writers Festival, the 92nd Street Y, the Times of India (Mumbai) LitFest, and other venues. He has served as a co-editor of his late partner Oliver Sacks’s posthumously published work, including Gratitude and The River of Consciousness. Hayes, 62, lives in New York.

Paul Dalla Rosa is a writer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life. His stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney’s, Meanjin, and New York Tyrant. 

Luke Rutledge has worked as a communications specialist since 2014. He studied journalism and professional writing, editing and publishing at the Queensland University of Technology. Before that, he studied music at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, where he majored in classical flute. He lives in Brisbane with his fiancé and their West Highland terrier, Rufus. A Man and his Pride is his debut novel. 

Myles McGuire is a writer, editor and semi-professional conversationalist. After starting at BWF as a clown in 2022, he joined the team as Programs Coordinator in 2023. His writing has been nominated for prizes including the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Award and the Peter Carey Short Story Award.