Brimbank Writers & Readers Festival: Growing Up Disabled in Australia Contributors

Growing Up Disabled in Australia is a rich collection of writing from those negotiating disability in their lives, whose voices are not heard often enough. Disability presents itself in many ways, and one in five Australians has a disability, yet disabled people are still underrepresented in the media and in literature. In Growing Up Disabled in Australia – compiled by writer and appearance activist Carly Findlay OAM – more than 40 writers with a disability or chronic illness share their stories, in their own words. Contributors Sam Drummond, C.B. Mako and Olivia Muscat will speak with Carly Findlay about their stories. 

This session will feature AUSLAN interpreters.

Carly Findlay OAM is a writer, speaker and appearance activist. She is the author of the memoir Say Hello and the editor of Growing Up Disabled in Australia. She has been published in the ABC, The Guardian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, CNN and Vogue.

Sam Drummond is a lawyer and disability advocate. He has worked in community, commercial and public broadcasting, and written extensively on disability rights. Sam lives in Melbourne’s north with his partner and child. He can often be found swimming laps in Fitzroy Pool.

C.B. Mako is a non-fiction, fiction, and fanfiction writer. C.B was the winner of the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Competition, short-listed for the Queensland Literary Awards – QUT Digital Literature Award, the Overland Fair Australia Prize, and longlisted for the inaugural Liminal Fiction Prize.

Olivia Muscat is an emerging writer and critic. Her work has appeared in Meet Me at the Intersection, and her theatre reviews can be found on Witness Performance. She is co-creator and co-host of The YA Page writing community in Melbourne and has worked at the Encounters With Writing festival and the National Young Writers’ Festival.