A journalist, scientist, poet and speculative fiction writer discuss writing hope and despair in the face of climate emergency.

Writing NSW is pleased to announce that our 2023 Speculative Fiction Festival will return on Saturday 24 June, directed by multi award-winning author Alan Baxter.

‘I write nature. Or, more correctly, it writes me. My creativity stems from my connection to landscape and my relationship with the natural world. It is source and subject – who I am, how I write, and how I live my life.’

Edoardo Crismani has been awarded the 2023 Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship for Finding Billy Brown, a fast-paced story about an AFL player who is hit by a car, only to wake up in the 1930s, where he meets his boxer great-grandfather.

Take a look at what we’ve read in March: funerals, thrillers, Songlines, and the Ming Dynasty. It’s quite a list this month…

“Having a background in research helps me apply methods for gathering and assessing information necessary to ground my work and colour my stories with fascinating historical details.”

“The theme and style of stories are varied, some are close to magic realism, some directly related to Persian folklore and some realistic experience of first-generation migrant life experience in Australia.”

“The story is very much about friendship, and it’s been an interesting parallel that the people I’ve met while writing it have helped me understand what community truly is.”