Enjoy a glimpse into the creative collaborations and cross-cultural learning taking place as part of Varuna the National Writers’ House First Peoples Exchange, as two Adivasi writers from India and two First Nations writers from so-called Australia reflect on their week-long residency here in the Blue Mountains, and share new work. Exploring (de)colonisation, language preservation and revitalisation, oral storytelling traditions, and engaging with publishers and readers as First Nations artists, this dynamic conversation is part of an ongoing collaboration that will continue at prestigious Bangalore literary residency Sangam House in 2026.
Award-winning Yankunytjatjara poet Ali Cobby Eckermann and Merinda Dutton, a Gumbaynggirr and Barkindji emerging writer, critic, and co-founder of Blackfulla Bookclub, are joined by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, whose novels, collections and translations have been awarded the the JCB Prize for Literature, The Hindu Prize, and a Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, and Beni Sumer Yanthan, Assistant Professor of English at Nagaland University, whose poetry, essays, reviews and short stories have been published widely.
Ali Cobby Eckermann is an award-winning Yankunytjatjara poet. In 2013, she won the Kenneth Slessor Prize and Book Of The Year (NSW) for Ruby Moonlight. Her verse novel She is the Earth won the 2024 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year and Indigenous Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and the Stella Prize.
Merinda Dutton is a Gumbaynggirr and Barkandji woman, lawyer, writer, and co-founder of Blackfulla Bookclub. You’ll find her words in Sydney Review of Books, Griffith Review, the Australian Poetry Journal and the anthology, Words to Sing the World Alive. Her work moves through Indigenous motherhood and matriarchy, kinship and the everyday rituals of resistance.
Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar writes in English; translates from Santali, Hindi, and Bengali to English; and occasionally translates from English to Hindi. He is the author of the novels, The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (winner of a Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in English) and My Father’s Garden (shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature), and the collection of stories, The Adivasi Will Not Dance (shortlisted for The Hindu Prize).
Beni Yanthan (Yanbeni) is a writer belonging to the indigenous Lotha-Naga tribe of Nagaland. Her works encompassing poetry, essays, reviews and short stories have been published widely. She currently works as Assistant Professor of English at Nagaland University.
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This event is part of the Main Program and included as part of Platinum, Gold, Silver and Saturday Bronze Passes.
Subject to availability, a limited number of single tickets may become available 9 September.
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This venue is wheelchair accessible. Please visit our Accessibility page or email hello@bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au if you have any other accessibility requirements.