AAWP 2026 | 2-4 December 2026 | UNSW Kensington

Postgraduate and Workshops Day

 
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Tuesday 1 December, 2026

The conference includes a Postgraduate Day on Tuesday 1st December for Creative Writing Honours Students, Postgraduate Students, Higher Degree Research Candidates, and Early Career Researchers from across Australasia and around the world. The Postgraduate Day offerings will be available in-person and online. Registrations are free but essential: book now

Speakers include Jen Webb, Melody Ellis, Lee McGowan, Carolyn Beasley, and Ariella Van Luyn.

We are also offering an exciting suite of in-person and hybrid workshops with award-winning writers and artists such as Felicity Plunkett, Julie Koh, Subhash Jaireth, Lizzie Levot, Troy Reid, and Clare Britton. You can buy tickets on Eventbrite

Photo credit: UNSW Visual Content Team

Postgraduate Day Stream
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Workshop Stream
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Please note: These details are tentative and subject to change. 

Speakers
A photograph of Clare Britton. She is a young adult white woman, with shoulder-length brown hair. She smiles.
Clare Britton
Lecturer
UNSW Sydney
Dialog
A photograph of Clare Britton. She is a young adult white woman, with shoulder-length brown hair. She smiles.
A photograph of Clare Britton. She is a young adult white woman, with shoulder-length brown hair. She smiles.

Clare Britton

Lecturer
UNSW Sydney

Living on Bidjigal Land, Clare Britton is an award-winning Australian artist (not Indigenous) and a lecturer working at UNSW. Clare’s visual art practice and her work in live performance are grounded in collaboration and research and explore how landscapes, waterways, and people hold stories.

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A photo of Melody Ellis, a middle-aged white woman with shoulder-length brown hair.
Melody Ellis
Senior Lecturer
RMIT University
Dialog
A photo of Melody Ellis, a middle-aged white woman with shoulder-length brown hair.
A photo of Melody Ellis, a middle-aged white woman with shoulder-length brown hair.

Melody Ellis

Senior Lecturer
RMIT University

Melody Ellis is a Senior Lecturer based in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. Her writing and research explore questions of power, the body, language, art and knowledge: what counts as knowledge, how it is produced and authorised, and what forms of knowing and experience are culturally valued or devalued. Her writing has appeared in numerous literary and scholarly publications, including Cordite Poetry Review, Meanjin, AXON, Mekong Review and TEXT. Melody has significant expertise in research design bolstered by over 13 years’ experience working in research development prior to her academic career. She is the creative nonfiction editor of Southerly.

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A photograph of Subhash Jaireth, an Indian Australian man. He has short grey hair and a short grey beard.
Subhash Jaireth
Writer and translator
Dialog
A photograph of Subhash Jaireth, an Indian Australian man. He has short grey hair and a short grey beard.
A photograph of Subhash Jaireth, an Indian Australian man. He has short grey hair and a short grey beard.

Subhash Jaireth

Writer and translator

Subhash Jaireth (Субхаш Джайрет, सुभाष जैरेथ) writes poetry but is not a poet. He writes imaginative fiction and non-fiction but is not a novelist. He thinks but is not an academic. He loves reading and listening to bilingual editions of poetry. For him translation is a way of being and becoming in the world. His books include a collection of poetry titled Lamentations (Gazebo, 2026) and a collection of essays titled Spinoza’s Overcoat: Travels with Writers and Poets (Transit Lounge, 2020). His essays can be read on Thinking Aloud, his subscription-free substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/sjaireth?r=5u8ah3&utm_medium

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A photograph of Sue Joseph. She is a middle-aged white woman with short brown hair. She wears dark sunglasses, and a red cap which reads "reliable narrator". She smiles brightly.
Sue Joseph
Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow
Adelaide University
Dialog
A photograph of Sue Joseph. She is a middle-aged white woman with short brown hair. She wears dark sunglasses, and a red cap which reads "reliable narrator". She smiles brightly.
A photograph of Sue Joseph. She is a middle-aged white woman with short brown hair. She wears dark sunglasses, and a red cap which reads "reliable narrator". She smiles brightly.

Sue Joseph

Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow
Adelaide University

Sue Joseph taught journalism and creative writing, particularly creative non-fiction, at the University of Technology Sydney for 23 years. Now as Associate Professor, she is a Senior Research Fellow at Adelaide University, Honorary Ass/Pro at the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney, and doctoral supervisor at Central Queensland University. She is currently Joint Editor of Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics and co-editor of the Literary Journalism Palgrave book series.

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A photo of Julie Koh, an Australian Chinese-Malaysian woman. She sits at a stone table, her chin resting on her hand/
Julie Koh
Author
Dialog
A photo of Julie Koh, an Australian Chinese-Malaysian woman. She sits at a stone table, her chin resting on her hand/
A photo of Julie Koh, an Australian Chinese-Malaysian woman. She sits at a stone table, her chin resting on her hand/

Julie Koh

Author

Julie Koh is the author of two short-story collections: Capital Misfits and Portable Curiosities. She was named a 2017 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist. Julie has judged more than a dozen literary awards, including the Stella Prize and the Steele Rudd Award. She has also been a Fiction Editor for Westerly and a reader for the Oxbelly Fiction Writers program.

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A photograph of Lizzie Levot. She is a young white woman with long red hair. She wears a blue shirt and bright red lipstick.
Lizzie Levot
Editor
Simon & Schuster Australia
Dialog
A photograph of Lizzie Levot. She is a young white woman with long red hair. She wears a blue shirt and bright red lipstick.
A photograph of Lizzie Levot. She is a young white woman with long red hair. She wears a blue shirt and bright red lipstick.

Lizzie Levot

Editor
Simon & Schuster Australia

Dr. Lizzie Levot is a Sydney-based editor working at Simon & Schuster Australia. She is passionate about literature, theory and criticism, and before making the leap into publishing she spent five years working as an English and Creative Writing tutor and lecturer at UNSW, where she received her PhD in 2019. She loves reading and working on contemporary literary fiction, short stories, and work by emerging writers with fresh perspectives.

 

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A photo of Lee McGowan. He is a middle-aged white man, with short black and grey hair. He wears glasses, and a bright red t-shirt. He looks contemplatively to the side.
Lee McGowan
Lecturer
The University of Queensland
Dialog
A photo of Lee McGowan. He is a middle-aged white man, with short black and grey hair. He wears glasses, and a bright red t-shirt. He looks contemplatively to the side.
A photo of Lee McGowan. He is a middle-aged white man, with short black and grey hair. He wears glasses, and a bright red t-shirt. He looks contemplatively to the side.

Lee McGowan

Lecturer
The University of Queensland

Dr. Lee McGowan is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. His primary research interests are in the intersections of creative writing, sport (particularly football), and community engagement. His publications include four monographs, Contemporary Literary Sports Journalism (2026), a co-edited anthology, journal articles, book chapters, a digital history, fiction, and a novel-length creative non-fiction on the history of Australian women’s football. 

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A photo of Felicity Plunkett, a white middle-aged woman. She has shoulder-length brown hair, and wears deep red lipstick. She is smiling.
Felicity Plunkett
Poet and critic | Poetry Editor
Australian Book Review
Dialog
A photo of Felicity Plunkett, a white middle-aged woman. She has shoulder-length brown hair, and wears deep red lipstick. She is smiling.
A photo of Felicity Plunkett, a white middle-aged woman. She has shoulder-length brown hair, and wears deep red lipstick. She is smiling.

Felicity Plunkett

Poet and critic | Poetry Editor
Australian Book Review

Felicity Plunkett is a poet, critic, and Poetry Editor with Australian Book Review. Her most recent book is A Kinder Sea (UQP). Felicity has a PhD from the University of Sydney and was UQP’s Poetry Editor for a decade. This year she was awarded Island’s Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize. 

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A photo of Troy Reid, a First Nations Dharug man. He is young, with shoulder-length brown hair and a light beard.
Troy Reid
Performance artist and designer
Applespiel and UNSW
Dialog
A photo of Troy Reid, a First Nations Dharug man. He is young, with shoulder-length brown hair and a light beard.
A photo of Troy Reid, a First Nations Dharug man. He is young, with shoulder-length brown hair and a light beard.

Troy Reid

Performance artist and designer
Applespiel and UNSW

Troy Reid is a proud First Nations Dharug man, performance artist, and designer living on Wangal land. A founding member of performance collective Applespiel, Troy has been making theatre locally and internationally since 2010. Troy’s work is centered around collaborative practice and participatory engagement.

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A photo of Ariella Van Luyn, a white nonbinary academic with short brown hair and glasses. They are smiling brightly.
Ariella Van Luyn
Senior Lecturer
University of New England
Dialog
A photo of Ariella Van Luyn, a white nonbinary academic with short brown hair and glasses. They are smiling brightly.
A photo of Ariella Van Luyn, a white nonbinary academic with short brown hair and glasses. They are smiling brightly.

Ariella Van Luyn

Senior Lecturer
University of New England

Dr. Ariella Van Luyn is a senior lecturer in writing at the University of New England. Ariella specialises in historical fiction, biofiction and creative writing pedagogy. Ariella is the author of a novel, short fiction, and scholarly works in these fields. Ariella’s current research is on neuroqueer historical fiction.

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A photograph of Jen Webb. She is a middle-aged white woman. She has white hair, dyed pink. She wears a deep pink shirt and pink necklace.
Jen Webb
Distinguished Professor Emerita
University of Canberra
Dialog
A photograph of Jen Webb. She is a middle-aged white woman. She has white hair, dyed pink. She wears a deep pink shirt and pink necklace.
A photograph of Jen Webb. She is a middle-aged white woman. She has white hair, dyed pink. She wears a deep pink shirt and pink necklace.

Jen Webb

Distinguished Professor Emerita
University of Canberra

 

Jen Webb is Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Canberra. Her scholarly books include Gender and the Creative Labour Market(Palgrave 2022), Art and Human Rights (Manchester UP, 2016); and Researching Creative Writing (Frontinus, 2015). Her poetry collections include Moving Targets (2018), Flight Mode (2020), and The Daily News (2024; shortlisted for the ACT Poetry Book of the Year). She is co-editor of the literary journal Meniscus and the scholarly journal Axon: Creative Explorations.

 

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Explore
Main walkway on the UNSW Kensington campus
Wednesday 2 December
Conference: Day 1
Bronwyn OLIVER Globe 2002
Thursday 3 December
Conference: Day 2
Students relaxing on Library lawn at Kensington UNSW.
Friday 4 December
Conference: Day 3

Contact the AAWP 2026 team for all conference enquiries

Email Team