Swan Writer-in-Residence program

Talya Valenti

Talya Valenti is renowned for her work as a drummer in diverse musical projects. She currently plays in Turiya, Methyl Ethel, the Dan Garner Quintet, Bradley Hall Band, Costumbres Argentinas and with Songs for Freedom; as well as playing in various session bands and leading jazz groups. In 2019 and 2020 she won WAM Drummer of the Year and was also nominated for Best Drummer in the National Live Music Awards.

She has toured nationally and worldwide and has played festivals including Splendour in the Grass (AU), Fuji Rock (Japan) and Glastonbury (UK).

In 2022, Talya released two original compositions on the WAM-award nominated album release, Carlton/Macpherson Pass/Valenti.

In 2023, she participated in the Women of Music Production (WOMPP) songwriting intensive, and received a mentorship from the Australia Art Orchestra. In November 2023, Talya celebrated her first release as a producer/beatmaker on Jere Sosa’s track Morning and in 2024 released two new original songs on the debut album from Turiya, a modern jazz harp trio.

Emily Bridget Taylor

Emily Bridget Taylor is a poet, artist and performer. Her words and imagery are inspired by honey-filled days of light and love, and the dark hours between - the duality that is life's gift. In the wake of the pandemic, Emily began sharing her poetry online. What followed was a surprising, magical journey in which her words and images resonated around the world.

Her poetry collection Remedy, art series Remedy for Walls and performance poetry collectively touch on themes of love, trauma, self-care and healing. Her artistic calling is to dissolve shame in all its forms.

Chris Arnold

Chris Arnold lives in Perth, Australia, on Whadjuk Noongar country. Chris was shortlisted for the Peter Porter Poetry Prize in 2022 and 2023. He has worked as a software engineer and has recently completed a PhD in creative writing at the University of Western Australia.

Chris specialises in electronic literature and information security, and he is the recipient of a Queensland Literary Award for a collaboration with David Thomas Henry Wright. 

He is the outgoing web editor for Westerly, and his work has appeared in Westerly, Cordite, and Australian Book Review's (ABR) States of Poetry. He has also frequently reviewed for ABR and other publications.

During his time in residence, Chris will be working in the field of electronic literature and making digital works for exhibition.

Zahina Shah

Zahina Shah is an Australian writer with Indian cultural roots, currently based in Perth. Zahina has written for SBS Voices, contributing a memoir titled The Eid Stories that live in my mother's clothes.

Zahina has also written for AMALIAH, a UK based digital publication for Muslim women, contributing a personal essay titled, How I found Comfort in Community and the Transformative Space of an Experience, highlighting issues around discrimination and its impact on community.

In 2022, Zahina completed the Centre for Stories Writing Change, Writing Inclusion Fellowship, and wrote a short story during her time there. Zahina has also been published with Portside Review, and most recently was selected for the Muslim Poetry Project, led by Sarah Saleh and Zainab Sayed in NSW.

Jake Dennis

Jake Dennis @PoetOfJazz is a Burmese-Australian poet, singer and actor with an extensive publication, performance, teaching, and study history who lived in the City of Swan for 26 years. His award-winning poetry is published internationally in journals, anthologies and newspapers and he regularly performs as a featured artist at poetry events.

As a singer and bandleader, JD creates and performs sold out cabarets at WA’s best venues (e.g. Don Russell, Kalamunda, Koorliny, Mandurah, and Subiaco Arts Centres) and performs on TV, radio, and for corporate and private events.

Bec Bowman - January/February

Bec Bowman is a local creative who loves words. She uses them extensively as the host of ArtBeat on RTRFM and the podcast HerStory. She is a writer of poetry and short stories which explore art, love and place from which she compiles artbooks and zines. Bec is a skilled facilitator and loves working with people to reach their goals.

Bianca Breen - March/April

Bianca Breen is an emerging children’s and YA writer. She works at The Literature Centre in Fremantle and is passionate about community, founding YA for WA in 2021 and previously held the position of Communications Director of #LoveOzYA.

Her short works have been published by Night Parrot Press, Fremantle Press, and more. In 2021 she was the winner of the ASA Award Mentorship and has won several residencies with KSP Writers’ Centre and Vancouver Arts Centre in Albany. Bianca is an experienced moderator and has spoken at Perth Writers Festival, Ubud Readers and Writers Festival, the National Young Writers Festival, and more. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Writing) from La Trobe University.

Lisa Collyer - May/June

Lisa Collyer is a Western Australian resident living on the unceded lands of the Whadjuk People of the Nyoongar Nation. Working as a sole trader as a writer and English tutor Lisa writes poems like the jagged edge of a can opened-up, with a lens on women’s bodies.

Her debut poetry collection, ‘How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up’ was recently published with Gazebo Books and was short-listed (as a preliminary manuscript) for The Dorothy Hewett Award. She has been published in; Westerly Magazine, Australian Poetry Anthology, Rabbit Journal for non-fiction poetry, Cordite Poetry Review, Science Write Now and more.

She was also a micro-resident with WA Poets Inc. where she wrote poems in response to the shopping precinct and women’s experiences of them. She was an invited writer in residence at Katharine Susannah Prichard Writer’s Centre where she wrote poems for her second collection, reflecting women working in horticulture and in the primary industries.

Nina Dakin - July/August

Nina Dakin is a writer and comic artist. Nina is 22 years old and has recently graduated university majoring in animation. She is passionate about telling stories and experimentation within the genre of comics.

Her works include creating comics out of poetry, dreams and collaborative comics created from improvisational games. Her comic work, "Fantastic Cadavar" was shortlisted in 2022 for a Comic Art Award of Australia, "As You Drive" was awarded a Bronze Comic Art Award of Australia in 2021 and her webcomic, Bird Girl was shortlisted in 2021. Her stories and illustrations have been published in Myth 5, 6 and 7, the West Coast Comic Anthology, and Flight Magazine.

She was the former President of the Curtin Illustration Club in 2022 and tables at community events such as Xerox Days and the Perth Comic Arts Festival.  Her comic work has been exhibited in the Cockburn Showoff, Fremantle’s 25 Under 25, City of Swan’s Hypervision, Perth Comic Arts Festival and Xerox Days.

Lakshmi Kanchi - September/October

Lakshmi Kanchi, pen name SoulReserve, is a Western Australian poet of Indian descent. She is a dedicated Writing WA and WA Poets Inc. Board and Committee Member and Volunteer. Her poetry explores love and its tumultuousness, fantasy and zest in nature, and allegories that provoke thought and evoke tender feelings. Her writing anatomises the complex linkages between history, language, culture, perception, and nature./p>

Lakshmi's debut poetry collection, "Lakesong," was recently published by Centre for Stories (Northbridge) in collaboration with Red River Press (New Delhi). She won the 2021 Pocketry Prize and 2023 Ros Spencer Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for SCWC Wollongong’s Poetry Prizes two years in a row.  Her poems were “Highly Commended” in both, Poetry d’Amour Contest and Ros Spencer Poetry Prize—announced at the 2022 Perth Poetry Festival. Lakshmi's poetry has been featured in various literary publications including but not limited to—"Social Alternatives”, "Portside Review", "Burrow Journal", "The Saltbush Review", "Blue Bottle Journal", "Seagift Journal", "Recoil 12", "Poetry d’Amour", "Letters To Our Home", "Brushstrokes II" and "Creatrix."

She was the inaugural Poet-in-Residence at The Wetlands Centre Cockburn (2022-23) and it is from here that she is constantly working towards her mission—of making poetry accessible to everyone in the wider community.