Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 02 March
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
The Next Chapter is the Wheeler Centre’s scheme for writers – offering emerging writers from marginalised communities a mentorship with an established writer, access to professional development opportunities and industry connections. It exists to support and elevate Australia’s next generation of literary talent.
In this edition of The Next Big Thing, catch a glimpse of exciting new writing from The Next Chapter’s inaugural recipients, who’ve just completed their year in the scheme. Ennis Cehic, Lian Low, Ara Sarafian, Yamiko Marama, Jean Bachoura, Nayuka Gorrie, Adam Thompson, Evelyn Araluen and Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen will share readings from their works of fiction, non-fiction, memoir and young adult writing. Hosted by Wheeler Centre Programming Manager Veronica Sullivan.
Featuring
Veronica Sullivan
Veronica Sullivan is the Wheeler Centre’s Head of Programming. She is a board member of Overland literary journal and a member of the Custodial Committee of the Kat Muscat Fellowship. Previously, she was a board member ...
Lian Low
Lian Low writes across spoken word, fiction and creative non-fiction. From 2009-2016, Lian was an editor and a board member of Peril Magazine. In 2015, Lian was a recipient of a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship and a City of Literature Travel Fund to travel to the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and the Melaka Art and Performance Festival (Malaysia). Lian is an inaugural recipient of the Wheeler Centre's Next Chapter fellowship and currently working on a young adult speculative fiction novel.
Yamiko Marama
Yamiko Marama is a writer, therapist and food truck owner from Melbourne. An inaugural recipient of The Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter Fellowship, she is currently working on a debut memoir that explores family relationships, alongside growing up as an Australian woman of African heritage. Yamiko is also a contributor to the anthology Growing Up Queer in Australia.
Nayuka Gorrie
Nayuka Gorrie is a Gunnai/Kurnai, Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta essayist and screenwriter.
View ProfileGiselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen is a Vietnamese-Australian writer, journalist and critic based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her work has been published widely in media and literary publications including The Age, The Guardian, Meanjin and Sydney Review of Books. She was an inaugural recipient of The Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter fellowship in 2018 and a fiction judge for the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
View Profile
Ara Sarafian
Ara Sarafian is an Armenian-Australian writer who lives in Melbourne. He writes comedy-fiction, commentary and satire. He has been published in The Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings and The Big Issue. He participated in the 2016 WrICE fellowship in China and was selected for the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter fellowship in 2018. He works as an editor at the ABC.
Ennis Cehic
Ennis Cehic is a writer living and working between Melbourne and Sarajevo. His writing focuses on ideas of displacement, creativity, identity and existentialism.
His work, including essays, poetry, fiction and memoir has been published in a variety of literary journals and publications including the Age, Meanjin, Overland, Assemble Papers and the Lifted Brow. He is the co-author of New Metonyms, a photography book about his homeland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was a 2018-19 Next Chapter recipient. Ennis is currently writing his debut short story collection.
Jean Bachoura
Jean Bachoura is an inaugural recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s scheme for writers, The Next Chapter. His work is reflective of a life lived between cultures: born in Damascus, raised in Syria, Lebanon and Australia. In 2016 he was awarded the Deborah Cass Prize for his piece 'Night Falls'. In 2017 he wrote 'No Man’s Land', an account of his journey crossing the border into Syria. In 2019, his multi-platform project TRETINOIN was awarded The Lifted Brow & RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Non-fiction.
Adam Thompson
Adam Thompson is an emerging Aboriginal (Pakana) writer from Launceston who writes contemporary, Aboriginal-themed short fiction. In 2017–18, he undertook a writing mentorship with established author Kate Gordon, funded by Arts Tasmania. Adam has received writing awards through the Tamar Valley Writers Festival (2016) and the Tasmanian Writers and Readers Festival (2017). He was awarded a First Nations Fellowship at Varuna House in 2018, and has had fiction published by literary magazines such as Kill Your Darlings. His debut short-story collection will be published by UQP.
Adam is passionate about the Aboriginal community and works full-time at the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.
Evelyn Araluen
Evelyn Araluen is a Goorie and Koori poet, researcher, and co-editor of Overland Literary Journal.