Western Terrace: Stories Are Seeds

Shirley Le is a Vietnamese-Australian writer from Western Sydney. Her debut novel, Funny Ethnics, was published by Affirm Press in 2023. She is also a member of the Sweatshop Writers Collective, a literacy movement based in Western Sydney.

Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator living on unceded Wangal Country. His debut book, rock flight, was released with Giramondo in 2024.

Antoinette Luu is a Vietnamese-Australian writer practising in south-west Sydney. Her alchemic process of writing and editing reworks her cathartic scribbles into profound poetry, immortalising both her youth before it is over, and her culture before it is erased. She currently volunteers with the Bankstown Poetry Slam and was a three-time finalist at their National Youth Poetry Slam. At the University of New South Wales, she majors in English, Creative Writing, and Screen Production, and is an editor for the UNSWeetened Literary Journal.

Ethan Bell is a Wallabalooa man from the Ngunawal Nation. He is an emerging artist and student based in Campbelltown, Sydney. Ethan's practice is storytelling, drawing from his love of hip-hop. Ethan writes poetry in hopes to give insight into his life.

Katie Shammas is from the Galilee, Palestine living on Darug country in north-west Sydney. Katie is a member of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and is on the board of Arab Theatre Studio. She has been published in Meanjin, POVO (Sweatshop 2024), Kindling and Sage, and Redroom Poetry.

Vivian Pham is a Vietnamese novelist, essayist, poet from southwestern Sydney. In high school she wrote a novel called The Coconut Children, published in March 2020 by Penguin Random House. Vivian was a Writer-in-Residence at the University of Technology, Sydney and sits on the reading team of Overland Journal. She is a course director and key tutor for Faber Writing Academy's Writing a Novel course. Vivian holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Philosophy and Creative Writing from Western Sydney University. She’s currently adapting The Coconut Children for stage with Belvoir Theatre and screen with Exit Films.

Majd runs a small gardening and landscape business on unceded Gadigal and Dharug country. He grew up in a village in Lebanon, where he learnt to appreciate the connection between land, plants, food and the surrounding ecosystems. He has a special interest in food sovereignty, regenerative agriculture, growing and foraging for food, while being mindful and caring for the lands that nourish us.

Josh Sambono is a Jingili man and an action/horror writer based in Western Sydney with a particular passion for genre storytelling with First Nations characters. He has written short films that have screened at festivals across the world, his horror short SUSPECT premiered at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in Korea. His television writing debut came on Warwick Thornton’s AMC vampire hunter series FIREBITE. The greatest experience and opportunity of Josh’s life came when he took part in an attachment to Academy Award-winning writer/director Taika Waititi on THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER. Josh has been in many writers’ rooms for television shows developed by See-Saw, Bunya Productions, Northern Pictures, Fremantle and Blackfella Films. He was selected for the Emerging Writers Program and is currently writing an episode of on the CBS/Paramount+ series NCIS: Sydney.

Kefah is a passionate cook, a registered nurse and community advocate. The daughter of Palestinian refugees, Kefah migrated to Australia late 1996. In 2001 Kefah co-founded the _Council of Australian Palestinians,_ a community-based organisation delivering programs designed to empower the Palestinian Australian community and build Palestinian cultural awareness. 
Inspired by her Palestinian heritage and love for cooking, Kefah founded _Jafra Enterprises_ in 2019 – a social enterprise catering traditional Palestinian cuisine teeming in flavour and cultural traditions.