End notes:
As social distancing and self-isolation increase, please remember that the Australian arts community has lost a lot of income, security, and safety. If this interview moved you, please consider purchasing one of Merlinda’s books.
Please also check out Sweatshop: Western Sydney Literacy Movement and consider purchasing one of our publications, which showcases the work of emerging and talented writers from Indigenous, migrant, and refugee backgrounds.
Winnie Siulolovao Dunn is a Tongan Australian writer and arts worker from Mt Druitt. She is the general manager of Sweatshop: Western Sydney Literacy Movement and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Sydney University. Dunn’s work has been published in the
Sydney Review of Books,
Griffith Review,
Meanjin,
SBS Voices and
Southerly. She is the editor of several anthologies, including
Sweatshop Women volumes 1 and 2,
The Big Black Thing and
Bent Not Broken. She is currently completing her debut novel as the recipient of a 2019 CAL Ignite Grant.
Merlinda Bobis is an award-winning writer with 4 novels, 6 poetry books, a collection of short stories, and 9 dramatic works. Her awards include: the 2016 Christina Stead Prize NSW Premier’s Award for her novel, Locust Girl. A Lovesong; three Philippine National Book Awards also for Locust Girl and an earlier novel, Fish-Hair Woman, and for her collection of short stories, White Turtle, which also won the Steele Rudd Award for the Best Published Collection of Australian Short Stories. She also received the Prix Italia, the Australian Writers’ Guild Award and the Ian Reed Prize for her radio play, Rita’s Lullaby. Her first novel, Banana Heart Summer, was shortlisted for the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and her poetry collection, Summer Was a Fast Train Without Terminals, for The Age Poetry Book of the Year. Her latest poetry book, Accidents of Composition, was Highly Commended for the 2018 ACT Book of the Year. She lives and writes in Canberra.
