‘The finding of one’s poetic voice is a curious process as, to my mind, it is more an uncovering of what is already there.’

‘Dreams have multiple functions and the symbols they carry have multiple meanings, so there are many ways we can use them in story – as inspiration, as a setting, to adding depth to our characters, to build tension . . . It’s simply a matter of learning some techniques and opening our imaginations up to all the possibilities inherent within dreams and their symbols.’

‘But, honestly, the only reason one ‘studies’ narrative structure at all is to train the conscious self in possible (and optional) patterns of story-telling, so that the merging of the unconscious self (where stories truly begin) and the conscious self happens, all by itself.’

‘Speculative fiction, like all literature, doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and writers in 2026 are going to incorporate the music we listen to, the technology we use, the films we watch, the global affairs that concern us, into the stories we write, just as writers in 1926 did—which, along with stylistic experimentation, keeps the genre alive.’

‘It can be experimental. It can be multimodal. It can be beautiful. It’s maturing as a genre but it’s always evolving.’

Check out some of the wonderful literary events happening in Sydney and around NSW (and online) this August!