Sharlene Allsopp was born on unceded Bundjalung Country into the Olive mob. She has been published widely, including in Griffith Review and Portside Review, and by Aniko Press. She was University of Queensland Ford Memorial Poet of the Year in 2021. Her debut novel The Great Undoing, published by Ultimo Press, won the Queensland Literary Awards Fiction Book of the Year in 2024. She is currently teaching and studying for her Masters in Creative Writing at UQ, and developing her next novel. She lives in Meanjin/Brisbane with her family and her beloved doggo—Morty.

Darby Jones is a freelance writer and editor of Kamilaroi, Scottish, and English heritage. Following his editorial internship with Black&write! at the State Library of Queensland, he has collaborated with several literary organisations across Australia, including Griffith Review, University of Queensland Press, Hachette Australia, and Penguin Random House. As an advocate for diverse representation in literature, he has dedicated his career to amplifying the voices of marginalised and underrepresented peoples.

Raelee Lancaster is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based librarian and writer. her writing has featured in The Guardian, SBS Voices, Meanjin, The Big Issue, and Australian Poetry Journal. Raised on Awabakal land, she is descended from the Wiradjuri and Biripi peoples.

Cheryl Leavy is from the Kooma and Nguri nations in western and central Queensland and is passionate about language revitalisation—often writing in her Kooma Guwamu  language. An award-winning writer, working across non-fiction, poetry, and children’s literature, her first bilingual children’s book Yanga Mother was published by University of Queensland Press last year. A current Queensland Writers Fellow, she is working on her first poetry manuscript. Her poetry has been published by Cordite and Griffith Review and has been commissioned by the IMA, Queensland Art Gallery, Camerata—Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, and 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.