Our popular Next Big Thing series is back again this July, and writers awarded a 2024 Hot Desk Fellowship will share excerpts from their works-in-progress. Grab a drink and be inspired as host Diem Nguyen joins Jacinta Dietrich, Shashini Gamage, Kate Harris, Ayesha Mona, Al Speers, Stella Theocharides and Xiaole Zhan in taking over the Moat for an evening of creativity, craft and candour. Whether you’re into middle-grade fantasy, young-adult fiction, comics, memoir or literary fiction, there’s something for every budding writer and critic at this edition of The Next Big Thing.
The Hot Desk Fellowships are supported by the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, the Readings Foundation and the Just Pretending theatre group.
Want to meet tomorrow’s literary stars today? Let us introduce you. The Next Big Thing takes place every month at the Moat and is a cherished Melbourne institution. It’s the place to be if you want to hear great emerging writers read from new and adventurous work. Enjoy a delicious drink while sampling writing from tomorrow’s best and brightest literary stars.
Next Big Thing is generously supported by George and Rosa Morstyn.
Accessible toilets available
Auslan interpreting available by-request
Companion tickets available
Registered Assistance Animals welcome
Wheelchair accessible
Jacinta Dietrich is a neurodivergent and bisexual writer, editor and podcaster based in Naarm, Melbourne. Her first novella, This Is Us Now, was published with Grattan Street Press in 2021. She has also been published in ...
Shashini Gamage is a writer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is a graduate of the Faber Writing Academy. Her debut novel was long-listed for the 2023 Richell Prize. She has read from her work at the Emerging Writers’ Festival ...
Kate Harris is a writer living and working on Wadawurrung country. Over the years she has written theatre, comedy, fiction and non-fiction. Recently she has focused on literary and speculative fiction looking at trauma and ...
Ayesha Mona is a writer, actor and model. She grew up in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Brisbane. Her artistic expression draws on all of these experiences and her work centres around de-coloniality and intersectional feminism ...
Stella Theocharides lives in Preston, Naarm. They work as a farmhand, growing veg along the Maribyrnong on unceded Wurundjeri land. Their work has been published in The Suburban Review and Meanjin, and they have ...
Xiaole Zhan (they/them) is a Chinese-New Zealand writer and composer based in Naarm. They are the recipient of the 2024 Kat Muscat Fellowship. They were also the winner of the 2023 Kill Your Darlings Non-Fiction Prize...
Diem is the Wheeler Centre’s Program Coordinator. She has worked at the Emerging Writers’ Festival, Writers Victoria, and the Centre for Youth Literature at the State Library of Victoria. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) ...