Nature-Human

Miriam webster

Miriam Webster’s fiction and essays have been published in Aniko Magazine, Island, Overland, The Suburban Review, swim meet lit mag and certain zines. She was a 2022 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow and has been recognised in major prizes including the Calibre Essay Prize, the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, the Olga Masters Short Story Award and the inaugural KYD Nonficiton Essay Prize. She lives in Naarm, where she is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. Her first book, a collection of short stories called The Slip, is forthcoming with Aniko Press.

Dr Rachel Hennessy

Dr Rachel Hennessy is the award-winning author of five novels: 

The Quakers (2008), 

The Heaven I Swallowed (2013), 

River Stone (2019), 

Mountain Arrow (2020) and City Knife (2023).

She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne.

Visit Rachel’s website.

ADELE ROEDER

Adele Roeder is currently studying a Bachelor of Environmental Science at The University of Melbourne alongside working as a Sustainability Officer in the University’s Sustainability Team and at her former high school. She is particularly passionate about the intersections between conversation and community engagement which she was able to explore through helping to reunite the Parkville campus Community Garden. Adele was also in the third cohort of the Wattle Fellowship where she explored reuse & repair initiatives, was the former Vice President of the Wildlife Conservation Society and currently volunteers with Moonee Valley Sustainability and the Glenbervie Stationeers working on other grassroots conservation and circular economy initiatives.

Follow Adele on Instagram @adeleroeder.

Natalie Bühler

Natalie Bühler is an emerging writer, poet, editor and arts administrator living and working on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country in Melbourne. She is one of the founding editors of The Marrow International Poetry journal and is currently studying a Master of Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing at the University of Melbourne. Her work has appeared in Cordite, Tint, ambient receiver, Hills Hoist, Blue Bottle Journal, boats against the current, and the Tinted Trails and Tell Me Like You Mean It anthologies.

Xiaole Zhan (詹小乐)

Xiaole Zhan (they/them) is a Chinese-New Zealand writer and composer based in Naarm. Their work is upcoming in Auckland University Press New Poets 11. are the recipient of the 2024 Kat Muscat Fellowship and a 2024 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship. They were also the winner of the 2023 Kill Your Darlings Non-Fiction Prize and the 2023 Charles Brasch Young Writers Essay Competition. As a composer, Xiaole Zhan is the 2024 New North Emerging Artist. Their name in Chinese is 小乐 and means ‘Little Happy’ but can also be read as ‘Little Music’.

SUJITA DHAJAL

Sujita Dhakal is a Gender and Forestry professional based in Nepal. She is a student at the University of Melbourne and a Wattle Fellow. She believes that we can make this world a better place.

Pamela Swanborough

Pam Swanborough lives in rural Victoria and is working on two major writing projects while renovating a small comfortable ruin. Taking up writing in 2019, she explores imbalance, fragility, memory, and the fluid nature of identity. She works in literary/speculative fiction and non-fiction genres and has had short stories published in Australia and the USA. Winner of the Best Regional Writer/ runner-up Best Fiction, GMW Emerging Writers’ Competition, Writers Victoria 2019. She published her first novel in 2024, and samples of her work can be seen at https://pamswanborough.com/

Desirel Ng

Desirel researches the impact of artificial lighting on infection outcomes as part of her PhD. After pursing science despite her teachers also encouraging a career in writing or literature, she has remained passionate about these subjects. She devours fiction and film, writes book reviews, and got a small piece published in the world’s shortest six-word story collection in her spare time. She would like to challenge the misconception that art and science are disparate subjects and promote their cohesion. This idea complements this anthology which explores how humans have impacted the natural world through a creative lens.

Angela Costi 

Angela Costi is a graduate of Law at the University of Melbourne and an author of six poetry collections, nine plays and four video poems. Her creative writing, including essays and fiction, have been widely published in print and online journals, including Farrago. Her poetry chapbook, Adversarial Practice was commended in the Wesley Michel Wright Prize 2024. She has received City of Melbourne funding to launch her sixth poetry collection at the Old Magistrates’ Court, March 2025. 

Eymi Gladys Carcamo Rodriguez

Eymi Rodriguez is a master’s student in biotechnology from Peru. Science is her passion, and she enjoys classic 80s movies and music.

Misa Ngan

In 2024, two pivotal changes occurred in her life. Firstly, she had the privilege of being made aware of the dangers of plastics through volunteering with AUSMAP. This discovery led her to delve further into climate change and the newfound knowledge reshaped her lifestyle, heightening her awareness of the consequences of her human actions. Secondly, she started creative writing. Her first poem was shortlisted for the Dorothy Porter Award, igniting an unwavering writing habit and joyful anticipation for future pieces.

Sean Francis Walsh

Sean was born in Sydney and raised in Melbourne, very much a city person, but his eyes were opened when he started visiting forests. He worked as a scientific computing specialist for many decades, but was always drawn to ecology, to immerse himself in the world of connections and complexity. He finally had a chance to study ecology through a PhD at the University of Melbourne. Now he knows just how much he doesn’t know about our incredible ecosystems.