Sydney Writers' Festival

Kelly-lee Hickey, National Australian Poetry Slam champion, treads the line between “sharp and sparse” poetry (‘The Australian’) and “searing satire” (‘Adelaide Advertiser’). She has been published and has performed across Australia and Asia, blending poetry with music, performance and visual art to expose complex and layered identities. A passionate cultural development advocate, she has worked with communities in Victoria and central Australia exploring social issues through the arts. She lives and works in Alice Springs.

• Postcards From the Frontier
• Write a Revolution

Candy Royalle has been writing and performing an arresting blend of poetry and storytelling for over 10 years. She seeks to challenge people’s perceptions of performance poetry with her unique style of writing and delivery. Described as “intensely passionate” and “mesmerising”, her distinctive, highly-charged performances have wowed audiences at events such as the Sydney Fringe Festival, the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival, Newcastle’s TiNA, the Australian Poetry Festival and international events in London, Manchester and Spain.

• Write a Revolution
• Clubs and Societies

Michael Simms is a talented writer and an explosive slam poet. His words manage to grasp a deeper sense of reality while still painting images as vivid as neon lights on the Vegas strip. His work has been described as passionate, tangible and inspirational. Michael has been featured all over the world at both colleges and poetry venues; in 2007 and 2008 he was a member of the two-time National Championship slam team Slam Charlotte.

Miles Merrill writes and performs monologues, poems and stories for venues and festivals internationally. His productions The Night Words Festival (Sydney Opera House 2008) and Slamming (Sydney Festival 2005) won outstanding critical acclaim. Merrill directs the national literary performance competition The Australian Poetry Slam. He publishes on CD, DVD, online and in print but is best experienced live.
 milesmerrill.com

• Write a Revolution
• Pimp My Rhyme

Rives is the author and paper engineer of several pop-up books for children. He is a former US National Poetry Slam champion and has appeared on the last four seasons of HBO’s ‘Def Poetry Jam’. His TV special ‘Ironic Iconic America’ required him to drive across the United States for a month in a 1964 Cadillac convertible with a supermodel. Rives loves luck.

• The Chaser’s Empty Vessel
• Rives
• Write a Revolution