JAKE ADDAMS (p. 104) is a freelance writer from Melbourne with an inclination for irony and a penchant for the dark and subversive. He hopes to buy an old haunted house wherein he can spend his days freaking out about existence.
JESSICA BELLMUNT (p. 39) received her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne, majoring in creative writing. She loves screenwriting, poetry and non-fiction. She aspires to write a feature-length screenplay, inspired by her upbringing in Melbourne’s West.
KARA BRADSHAW (p. 18) is a Melbourne-based writer. Pulling inspiration from history, mythology, and society, she breathes a different life into age-old issues.
LINA BUJUPI is a writer who loves Harry Potter and Italian food. She is a Gryffindor and the Managing Editor of Offset.
RON BURROWS (p. 82), a long-time resident of Melbourne’s West and author of The Postie and the Priest, has always been a writer masquerading as someone else. For close to twenty years he did a fine job of pretending to be a postman, fooling everyone including himself.
LYN CHATHAM (p. 93) lives in Geelong and works as an adult literacy teacher. She has had her short fiction, non-fiction, and poetry published. In 2005, her book Martino’s Story, the memoir of an Italian migrant, was short-listed for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
MARY CHYDIRIOTIS (p. 17) is a Melbourne social worker. Her poems have been published in Social Alternatives, Short and Twsisted, and Right Now—Human Rights in Australia. Mary has worked with migrants and refugees in the community sector for 15 years.
SHERRYL CLARK (p. 20) is a writer and poet whose main publications are for children and young adults. She is about to complete a PhD on fairy tales.
SALLY COGGLE (p. 86) is known to her friends and family as an art director. She is rekindling her passion for photography and her curiosity for people and their stories; looking for the little things that are so often missed in the hectic lives we live today.
MICHAEL CRANE (p. 60) has appeared irregularly in Overland, Meanjin, Southerly, and The Best Australian Poems. He organised Poetry Idol for the Melbourne Writers Festival from 2007 to 2012. He was managing editor of the Paradise Anthology.
SIMON DALTON (p. 78) is Melbourne born and bred. He combines his role as Training Coordinator at the Dandenong Asylum Seeker Resource Centre with his writing business, Life Stories—Touching the Past.
CAM DANG (p. 88) migrated to Australia from Vietnam in 1995. She graduated with a commerce degree but has recently resigned from work to focus on raising her children.
T.R. DRAYTON (p. 47) lives in Melbourne’s western suburbs with her partner and three spoilt children of the four-legged variety. She has either won or placed in several local writing competitions. She is currently revising her first novel and writing her second.
JORDYN FINCH (p. 96) is a 14-year-old student from Marian College, Ararat. She has always had a strong passion for writing and the study of literature, with her preferred genre to both read and write being psychological thrillers—stories that make you think.
JEAN FLYNN (p. 33) is a freelance writer based in regional Victoria.
INDIRA GJONI (p. 94) is a life facilitator and supporter for her three loving children full-time. She loves to write about life and its wonder and has been writing since a teenager, however she has seldom shared her work.
ASHLEY GOLDBERG (p. 28) completed a Graduate Diploma of Professional Writing at the University of Canberra in 2015, where he was part of the editorial committee for First. In 2016, a piece of his fiction was a finalist for the Newcastle Short Story Award.
GEOFF GOODFELLOW (p. 56) has been writing and publishing poetry for over 30 years. He’s published ten books, most of them going into multiple-print runs. His most recent book is Opening the Windows to Catch the Sea Breeze, with Wakefield Press.
NICOLE GRIGSON (p. 40) is an education student, aspiring to teach young people how creative writing can be a great way to express oneself. She loves writing, especially poetry, which she finds therapeutic.
GORD GRISENTHWAITE (p. 55) is a member of the Lytton First Nation, Lytton, BC, Canada. He mainly writes short stories and novels. Some of his stories have won prizes and awards. Some have not.
RUTH HAMILTON-ARKLEY (p. 58) is a Melbourne-based teacher who grew up in Brisbane. She is passionate about writing and performing poetry and has mostly written about her cycle-touring travels overseas. Her dream is to have her own book published
CRAIG HENDERSON (p. 101) is a full-time professional and creative writing student and a part-time child wrangler. At present, Craig is ghostwriting a memoir for a former victim of child abuse, while attempting to find time to go trainspotting with his youngest son.
ELEANOR HORTON (p. 44) is a VCE English teacher who has a love for literature, poetry, and rabbits. She enjoys writing and hopes to inspire others to find their joy in it too.
ADRIANE HOWELL (p. 9) works at Writers Victoria and is cofounder of Gargouille Literary Journal. Her piece ‘Daddy Played the Trumpet’ was shortlisted for the 2015 S.D. Harvey Award. She can also be found online at @felinefelttip.
BRIAN HOWLEY (p. 19) is a published poet and award winning short story writer. He has a passion for words in all forms.
JEEVAN JEGANATHAN is from Melbourne and enjoys writing stories about robots fighting on the beach. He is a member of the Offset team.
ANITA LE-LIEVRE (p. 16) is a poet, painter, photographer and all-round lunatic. She is currently studying professional writing and editing at Bendigo TAFE. Anita has amassed thousands of photos from her time living Bayside, as well as the gigs that she frequents.
WES LEE (p. 72) lives in New Zealand. Her latest collection Body, Remember was launched in September 2017. Her poems have appeared in Westerly, Cordite, Poetry London, Poetry New Zealand. She was the recipient of The BNZ Katherine Mansfield Literary Award.
MAGAN MAGAN (p. 77) is published in Cordite Poetry Review, Shots from the Chamber and The Hunter Anthology of Contemporary Australian Feminist Poetry, and has read his work at numerous events. He is the Digital Storyteller at Melbourne Writers Festival.
BILL MARSHALL (p. 98) is the author of numerous short fiction stories and stage plays—the most recent, The Privatisation of Ward 9B, was produced at La Mama in February 2017. He is currently crafting a memoir, titled Foolish by Police Standards.
SOPHIE MIHAILIDIS (p. 43) is an education student apsiring to be a university lecturer. In her spare time, she converts her inner workings into word vomit and then into stories.
STEFAN DOWNEY-NAJDECKI (p. 95) is currently studying VU’s professional writing and editing course. Between serving food and smiling at the confusing microcosm that is Melbourne, Stefan extends his words to places unknown.
ALEXANDER NUCCIO (p. 75) is not a liar . . . but he doesn’t know how to finish that sentence.
PETER PAPATHANASIOU (p. 62, 66) was born in a small village in northern Greece and adopted as a baby to an Australian family. He is a writer of articles, short stories, and novels.
ELSA RAMIREZ (p. 61) loves to create art and likes to challenge herself to explore new mediums. She is studying to become a teacher so as to show others how to express themselves creatively. Her preferred medium is painting with acrylic and watercolour.
JADE RAPLEY (p. 21) enjoys the company of poetry and coffee at all hours of the day. She aspires to publish an anthology of her own short stories and poetry.
AARON RICHARDS (p. 51) is a software developer with a double bachelor’s degree in computer science and games development. He believes in the potential of video games as a new storytelling medium and hopes to one day write the story for an epic RPG adventure.
LIAM RICHARDS began a bachelor’s degree in professional writing in 2015, which led to his current role on the Offset team. There is nothing he is more passionate about than Star Wars. It is his strong belief that The Empire Strikes Back is the greatest film ever made.
ZACHARY RILEY (p. 6, 74) is a staff member and postgraduate student at Victoria University. His interests include philosophy, sociology, and psychoanalytical theory. Creative writing is a necessary pleasure.
KRISTEN ROBERTS (p. 46) writes poetry and short stories between periods of parenting and kindergarten teaching. Her work has appeared in Quadrant, Page Seventeen and Award Winning Australian Writing. She dreams of being able to write in a shack by the sea.
RAFAEL S.W. (p. 81) has been published in The Big Issue, The Sleepers Almanac, Award Winning Australian Writing, and Going Down Swinging’s online publication. Rafael is also fiercely competitive in poetry slams and street-hustling chess games.
PAULINE SAWYER is a student at Victoria University and member of the Offset team. In 2015 she achieved a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing. This is a change of career path for Pauline, who has a long work history in health and hospital management.
J.L. SHENSTONE (p. 42) is a screenwriter who occasionally writes poems. She aims to create stories that reveal the stark reality of the human condition and all its shortcomings; to ‘destroy clarity with clarity’ (Francis Bacon).
WAYNE STELLINI (p. 12, 41) is a Melbourne-based writer, poet, and playwright, whose work has been published in Short and Twisted. His first play, Michael and Phillip Are Getting Married in the Morning, was produced for Melbourne Fringe this year.
JULEE STILLMAN (p. 22) is a short story writer, and winner of the State Library of Victoria Writes of Spring competition. She enjoys reading, long coffee afternoons, walking her dog, and playing golf. Currently she is working on a romance novel.
IAN SYSON has been writing, teaching and thinking about publishing, for more than 25 years. He edited Overland for six years and established Vulgar Press in 1999. Ian founded Offset in 2001.
SHAELYN TAYLOR (p. 15) is 16-years-old and has a love for horses, dressage, drawing and photography. Currently she is in secondary school, and in the future hopes to complete a psychology degree at a university in the Melbourne region.
A. ZAGANIDIS (p. 76) is the quintessential millennial; he works hard, struggles with his mental health, and is ready to spin-kick the next baby boomer who calls him lazy and entitled. He currently works as a course writer and editor.