The Emerging Writers’ Festival work, learn and play largely on the land of the Kulin nation, and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

EWF celebrates the history and creativity of the world’s oldest living culture.

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Free, Performance, Creative Performance & ☾

What’s Your Deal?

Perfection is overrated, so settle in for a night of comedic catharsis all about embracing one’s faults, flaws, and weird special interests that no one else understands. Across an evening of satirical Powerpoints and performances, these artists will interrogate the enduring critiques from their (ex-)lovers, family, and broader society, and make a case for what is really their deal.

Event sold out? Join the Waitlist HERE.


Accessibility

Wheelchair, accessible toilets

Wednesday 11 September, 8PM

Theory Bar, Ground Floor/19-23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000


Featuring...

Emily Dale

Emily Dale has just finished a BA in Creative Writing at RMIT and is a copywriter and editor at Small Fish Business Coaching. At this period in her life, she resides in the ever-changing, expressive city of Melbourne/Naarm. She spends a lot of her time when not writing, exploring the city and the expansive land beyond on her trusty (rusty?) Yamaha SR, Percy.

Kirk Marshall

Kirk Marshall is a Brisbane-born writer, teacher, fundraiser, and hellraiser living in Melbourne, Australia. He has written for more than eighty publications, both in Australia and overseas, including “Award-Winning Australian Writing”, “Island”, “Wet Ink”, “Going Down Swinging”, “Voiceworks”, “Verandah”, “visible ink”, “fourW”, and “The Grapple Annual”. Most recently, a chapter from his hillbilly apocalypse novel secured a nomination for The Pushcart Prize. Kirk’s date with fame and defamation arose when he authored the “Stranger Things” / “Round the Twist” mashup meme in 2016, before it was subsequently cannibalised by Netflix. He writes for dollars and dinosaurs at Museums Victoria.

Ale Prunotto

Ale Prunotto is a white, trans and autistic writer living on unceded Wurundjeri land. They mostly write creative nonfiction that explores embodiment, movement, urban landscapes, gender, play and risk. Their current work-in-progress is a book about experiences of women and gender minorities who do parkour.

Aurelia St Clair

Aurelia St Clair is a Naarm-based comedian, writer, podcaster and content creator. You might have seen them on your TikTok FYP, your local Savers or on stage at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Aurelia received a fellowship at the Wheeler Centre in 2021 and won a silver award in the 2022 Australian Podcast Awards as a co-host of PopGays.

Emily White

Emily White is a writer and performer from Boorloo/Perth, living in Naarm/Melbourne. Motivated by conflicting desires to make people laugh and make people horny, their work primarily straddles the realms of comedy and erotica. They are also interested in the Australian Gothic and what this genre can offer queer stories. Emily has previously won the Rachel Funari prize for fiction and is the creator of Sap – a queer erotica zine. They make zines, write stories, and perform in their queer comedy coven, The Titwitchez.

Cassandra-Elli Yiannacou

Cassandra is an award-winning Cypriot-Australian writer. Her play Hush Hush was a finalist for the New Play Award and longlisted for Theatre 503’s International Award. She’s a winner of the Ultimo Prize, and published in Everything, All At Once by Ultimo Press. She was commissioned for Paines Plough Theatre’s Come To Where I Am: Australia. Her latest work, The 13th Month, premiered at Flight Path Theatre in Sydney this year to critical acclaim. Other staged works: The Marvellous Life of Carlo Gatti, Loose Teeth (shortlisted for Max Afford Award 2016), The Last Journalist on Earth, Limerence, 44 Degrees, Like Breathing.