StoryMakers Collective

A colourful graphic for "StoryMakers," featuring a silhouette of a bird and abstract geometric designs.

Supporting culturally diverse writers and storytellers in the Hunter

StoryMakers is a creative development program supporting writers and storytellers from underrepresented communities in the Hunter. Developed by Hunter Writers’ Centre, the program brings together an ensemble of culturally diverse writers working across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and other forms of storytelling.

The program supports participants to develop critical and creative writing skills through workshops, peer exchange and mentorship.

In 2025, Hunter Writers’ Centre partnered with Sweatshop Literacy Movement to deliver the program which included:

  • writing workshops and skills development
  • Mentorship and peer support
  • Residency time at Lighthouse Arts on Whibayganba-Nobbys Headland
  • The opportunity to publish in Sweatshop’s anthology, Love.

StoryMakers welcomes writers and storytellers who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and culturally-diverse, non-English speaking backgrounds. 

Register your interest

Register to receive updates about StoryMakers and to register your interest here.

Meet the StoryMakers

Fran Obicoco smiling in a purple shirt, standing on a city street with long, curly hair

Fran Obicoco

Bio coming soon!

Fran is a Samoan writer interested in real-life stories, biographies, faith-based writing, studies on spirituality, emotional intelligence and neuroscience.

Soul Takawira Joyner smiling, with long locs, a nose ring, and a red head wrap.

Soul Takawira Joyner

I’m Soul Takawira Joyner, a Zimbabwean-Australian writer born and raised in Newcastle. My writing is focused on race, cultural identity, and familial culture in the literary fiction and auto-fiction genres. I write short stories and essays, and have recently started drafting my first novel about connecting to Zimbabwe in Australia.

Anjalee Senarath smiling in a black top, with curled dark hair, against a dark background.

Anjalee Senarath

Between graduating with a degree in Physics and always being pulled towards the creative, I slowly began weaving my experiences into words. Much of my writing is inspired by my upbringing in multicultural Sri Lanka, shaped by its vivid beauty and the rich, complex socio- political landscape. Migrating to Australia offered me the space to explore the process and what writing truly means to me.

Suman Lahiry wearing glasses and a colourful traditional outfit, standing in front of patterned fabric.

Suman Lahiry

Suman Lahiry (pronouns: he/they) is a Hindu South Asian Australian writer residing in the Awabakal and Worrimi land. Suman is a politics of wellbeing researcher with background in medicine and published literary and academic writings internationally. Attending StoryMakers workshop honed Suman’s speaking-truth-to-power and raw-reality literary style.

Kerri Shying wearing a light hat and glasses, taking a selfie outdoors among trees.

Kerri Shying

Kerri is a Wiradjuri/Chinese/Australian poet who is a convenor of the disability writing collective WU, and has published four collections of her work. She lives in Mayfield with her tiny pets, uses a wheelchair and walker, and spends time as an advisor on literary boards and concerns.

What's next:

Book cover for LOVE, edited by Shirley Le, showing a smiling face with the word "LOVE" written across it.

LOVE - The Anthology

Love. It is a beautiful mess of complex, confusing and interconnecting emotions. For some, it means romance, for others, family. There are those who understand love as empowerment, resistance and existence; those who say it is created from nothing; and those who believe it is always there, binding the universe together, waiting for us to find it and grab on tight. In this mesmerising collection of stories, poems and essays, you are invited to take a journey through dingy streets and pristine sunsets, delve deep into the tormented soul, and attempt to make sense of that big crazy thing called the human heart.

The LOVE Launch

Join us for a celebration of the latest ground-breaking anthology from the multi-award winning team of Sweatshop Literacy Movement, featuring writers from the StoryMakers Collective.

When: 1 pm – 2 pm, Saturday 21 March
Venue: Wallsend Library, 30 Bunn St, Wallsend
Cost: Free. Donations always welcome

LOVE is also now available for purchase from the Hunter Writers’ Centre Bookshop.

Sweatshop Literacy Movement

Sweatshop is a literacy movement based in Western Sydney that is devoted to empowering culturally and linguistically diverse communities through reading, writing and critical thinking. They provide research, training, mentoring and employment opportunities for emerging and established writers and arts practitioners from Indigenous and non-English speaking backgrounds. Sweatshop’s annual program includes workshops and residencies in schools and universities throughout Australia and ongoing masterclasses in Western Sydney, which are facilitated by a collective of award-winning authors.

Sweatshop aims to create new and complex forms of artistic representations which counteract negative stereotypes and centre ‘own-voices’ narratives. ​

Sweatshop logo featuring a black oval with a dashed "S" inside and the word "sweatshop." below it in bold text.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW

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