WordFest 2022: Sir John Monash Lecture

Roz (they/them) is a writer, the editor-in-chief at Archer Magazine and a PhD candidate researching the impact of life writing on young LGBTQ people. Roz’s memoir, Mood, which explores the intersections of mental illness, queerness, gender and Jewish identity, will be published by Wakefield Press in September 2022.

Sam is a writer, arts worker and radio maker. Born in the UK and raised on Noongar country, Sam now lives on unceded Wurundjeri land. His essays have been published in the Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings and Growing Up in Country Australia, and he is the co-host of 3RRR’s Queer View Mirror. He is a co-editor of Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia (Allen & Unwin).

Gary is a Yuin writer, who grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW as part of a large and proud Aboriginal family. Growing up a  massive Kylie Minogue and North Queensland Cowboys fan, Gary was always writing as a child, and continued his creative journey when he moved to Sydney to study at film school. Gary has experience working in Aboriginal health, the disability sector, the youth justice system, and the film industry working on the feature film adaptation of Jasper Jones.

His debut YA novel, The Boy from the Mish, was published by Allen & Unwin in February 2021.

Benjamin is the author of The Family Law (2010), Gaysia (2012), the Quarterly Essay Moral Panic 101 (2017) and editor of Growing Up Queer in Australia (2019). Benjamin created and co-wrote three seasons of the award-winning SBS TV series The Family Law, based on his memoir, and wrote the sold-out mainstage play Torch the Place for Melbourne Theatre Company (2020).

Every week, Benjamin co-hosts ABC Radio National’s weekly national pop culture show Stop Everything and interviews public figures for Good Weekend. He hosted ABC TV’s two-part feature documentary on Chinese-Australian history Waltzing the Dragon, and has appeared on TV shows like Filthy Rich and Homeless (SBS), Q&A (ABC), The Drum (ABC) and The Project (Ten).