Maxine Beneba Clarke
Mazine Beneba Clarke is the author of many books for adults and children, including the short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the memoir The Hate Race, the self-illustrated picture book When We Say Black Lives Matter, which was longlisted for the UK's Kate Greenaway medal, and the CBCA Honour Book The Patchwork Bike (illustrated by Van T Rudd), which won the 2019 Boston Globe Horn Prize for Best Picture Book. Her poetry collections include Carrying the World, How Decent Folk Behave, It's the Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for young people, and the recently released Beautiful Changelings. Maxine was the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne (2022-2025).
Brian Nankervis
Brian has been writing, producing and co-hosting the SBS music trivia series, Rockwiz since 2005. Brian currently co-hosts, with Jacinta Parsons, The Friday Revue, each Friday afternoon on ABC Radio Melbourne. He also hosts a national ABC radio show each Sunday evening called Songs and Stories. In 2012, he hosted Pictures of You on Channel Seven. He was a writer/performer on Let The Blood Run Free and appeared regularly on Hey Hey It's Saturday as the poet Raymond J Bartholomeuz. Brian contributes regularly to The Age and radio 3RRR and is an experienced MC and performer for public events and corporate functions. He performs a poetry show in schools. Brian was a primary teacher who fled the classroom to become a waiter at The Last Laugh theatre restaurant.
Sean O'Beirne
Sean O'Beirne is a critic and author who grew up in Melbourne's outer suburbs, and studied arts, law and acting. His first book, the satirical short-story collection A Couple of Things Before the End, was shortlisted for the QLD Literary Awards and the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.