Young and Deadly

Graham Akhurst is a Kokomini writer who grew up in Meanjin. He is a Lecturer of Indigenous Studies and Creative Writing at UTS. Graham began his writing journey in a hospital bed in 2011. He read and started journaling while passing the time between treatments for Endemic Burkett Lymphoma. As a Fulbright Scholar, Graham studied for an MFA in Fiction at Hunter College, NYC. He is a board member for the First Nations Artists and Writers Network and Varuna. 

Raelee Lancaster is a writer/librarian based in Brisbane. Her creative writing crosses poetry, memoir, essay, criticism, and playwriting. She’s written for The Guardian, SBS Voices, The Griffith Review, The Big Issue, and more. As a librarian, Raelee’s research paper "Fact or Folklore? An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Framework to Cataloguing Indigenous Knowledge" was published in the Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association. Raised on Awabakal land, Raelee is descended from the Wiradjuri and Biripi people.

Melanie Saward is a proud Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman. She is a writer, editor, and university lecturer based in Tulmur (Ipswich), Queensland. Her debut novel Burn was published by Affirm Press in 2023 and she’s also had work published in the literary journals Griffith Review, Meanjin, Overland, Kill Your Darlings, and has fiction published in the anthologies Flock: First Nations Stories Then and Now, and New Australian Fiction. Her first romantic comedy novel, Love Unleashed, will be published by Penguin Random House in August.