Curators
In 2026 BWF has had the great fortune of working with First Nations Cultural Curators Bruce Pascoe, Bebe Oliver and Samantha Faulkner, who’ve put together sessions that complement and enhance the program. You’ll find a curator credit next to each of the sessions they’ve crafted. BWF would like to extend a huge thank you to Bruce, Bebe and Samantha for their illuminating and exciting contributions.
Bruce Pascoe
Bruce Pascoe is an Aboriginal farmer and writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children’s literature, and he’s based on Yuin Country. His publications have won numerous awards, including the New South Wales Premier’s Award for Literature, the Booksellers Association Prize and the CBCA Eve Pownall award. He is the author of the groundbreaking, bestselling book Dark Emu.
Bebe Oliver
Bebe Oliver is a Bardi Jawi award-winning author, poet and illustrator. Moving across Country, memory and the layered realities of Blak and queer life, his writing celebrates grief, love, identity and survival with a voice both vulnerable and strong. Bebe is the Artistic Director and CEO of Blak & Bright, a Director of Na Djinang Circus, a Director of National NAIDOC and the Deputy Chair of Magabala Books. He lives and works on the unceded lands of the Kulin peoples and approaches story as responsibility and accountability to the strength and presence of Blak voices across Country.
Samantha Faulkner
Samantha Faulkner is a Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal woman from Badu and Moa Islands in the Torres Strait and the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi peoples of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Her poetry and short stories have been published nationally and internationally, and she is the proud author of Life Blong Ali Drummond: A Life in the Torres Strait (Aboriginal Studies Press, July 2007) and editor of Pamle: Torres Strait Islanders in Canberra (2018). She also is a member of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Network and MARION (ACT Writers) and is the treasurer of First Nations Australia Writers Network and Us Mob Writing Group.