Better Off Said: A Poetic Celebration of Impermanence

Laura Jean McKay is an award-winning Australian author and creative writing lecturer. She is the author of The Animals in That Country (Scribe 2020) - winner of the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award, The Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year, and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021. The Animals in That Country has been shortlisted for The Kitschies, The Stella Prize, The Readings Prize, and the ASL Gold Medal and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Laura is also the author of Holiday in Cambodia (Black Inc., 2013) and an Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University. She was awarded the NZSA Waitangi Day Literary Honours in 2022. Her latest collection is Gunflower (Scribe 2023), named one of The Guardian’s best books of 2023.

Laura Jean McKay adalah penulis pemenang penghargaan asal Australia sekaligus dosen penulisan kreatif. Karyanya, The Animals in That Country (Scribe 2020), berhasil memenangkan Arthur C Clarke Award, Victorian Prize for Literature, ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year, dan Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021. Karyanya yang lain, The Animals in That Country, masuk ke daftar pendek The Kitschies, The Stella Prize, The Readings Prize, ASL Gold Medal, serta daftar panjang The Miles Franklin Award. Ia juga merupakan penulis Holiday in Cambodia (Black Inc., 2013) dan dosen tamu untuk penulisan kreatif di Massey University. Ia dianugerahi NZSA Waitangi Day Literary Honors pada tahun 2022. Koleksi terbarunya, Gunflower (Scribe 2023), dinobatkan sebagai salah satu buku terbaik The Guardian tahun 2023.

Ma Thida is an acclaimed dissident writer and human rights activist from Myanmar. She spent six years in prison during the 1990s, an experience she vividly recounts in her memoir Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein, where she describes using vipassana meditation to navigate the hardships of incarceration. Ma Thida has authored over a dozen books, along with numerous short stories, and has served as both an editor and a surgeon. She has been honored with the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the Reebok Human Rights Award. Currently, she serves as the chair of the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International.

Ma Thida adalah penulis disiden dan aktivis hak asasi manusia dari Myanmar. Ia menghabiskan enam tahun di penjara pada tahun 1990-an, sebuah pengalaman yang ia ceritakan dalam memoarnya, Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein. Dalam buku tersebut, ia menggambarkan bagaimana ia menggunakan meditasi vipassana untuk menavigasi masa-masa sulit dalam tahanan. Ma Thida telah menulis lebih dari selusin buku dan beberapa cerita pendek, dan pernah menjabat sebagai editor dan ahli bedah. Ia dianugerahi PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award dan the Reebok Human Rights Award. Saat ini, ia menjabat sebagai Ketua Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) di PEN International.

Omar Musa is an author, visual artist, rapper, and poet. He has released four poetry books, including Killernova, and four hip-hop records. In 2015, he was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year. His debut novel, Here Come the Dogs, was longlisted for both the International Dublin Literary Award and the Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia’s most prestigious literary award. His one-man play, Since Ali Died, won Best Cabaret Show at the Sydney Theatre Awards in 2018. He has performed at venues such as the Brixton Academy in London, the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City, and The National Museum in Brasilia, Brazil. He is based between Brooklyn and Borneo.

Omar Musa adalah seorang penulis, seniman visual, rapper, dan penyair. Ia telah menerbitkan empat buku puisi, salah satunya Killernova, dan empat album hip-hop. Pada tahun 2015, ia dinobatkan sebagai salah satu Young Novelists of the Year oleh Sydney Morning Herald. Novel debutnya, Here Come the Dogs, masuk dalam daftar panjang International Dublin Literary Award dan Miles Franklin Literary Award, penghargaan sastra paling bergengsi di Australia. Drama monolognya, Since Ali Died, memenangkan penghargaan Best Cabaret Show di Sydney Theatre Awards pada tahun 2018. Ia telah tampil di tempat-tempat seperti Brixton Academy di London, Brooklyn Academy of Music di New York, dan Museum Nasional di Brasilia. Saat ini Omar berbasis di Brooklyn dan Kalimantan.

Paul Caruana Galizia is a journalist and author of A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family’s Quest for Justice, which won the Cornelius Ryan Award for best non-fiction book on international affairs and was named a book of the year by the Financial Times, Globe and Mail, Prospect Magazine, and Irish Times. Paul became a journalist after his mother, Daphne Caruana Galizia, was assassinated and has since won the Orwell Prize, the UK's most prestigious prize for political writing, and other honors for his reporting. Alongside his brothers, he has received a Magnitsky Human Rights Award and an Anderson-Lucas-Norman Award for their campaign to achieve justice for Daphne.

Paul Caruana Galizia adalah seorang jurnalis dan penulis A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family’s Quest for Justice, buku yang memenangkan Cornelius Ryan Award untuk kategori Best Non-Fiction Book on International Affairs dan dinobatkan sebagai Book of the Year oleh Financial Times, Globe and Mail, Prospect Magazine, dan Irish Times. Paul menjadi jurnalis setelah ibunya, Daphne Caruana Galizia, dibunuh. Sejak saat itu, ia telah memenangkan Orwell Prize, penghargaan paling bergengsi di Inggris untuk penulisan politik, dan penghargaan lain untuk pelaporannya. Bersama saudara-saudaranya, ia juga menerima Magnitsky Human Rights Award dan Anderson-Lucas-Norman Award untuk kampanye yang mereka lakukan untuk mendapatkan keadilan bagi ibunya.

Rachmat Mustamin is an Indonesian director, writer, and performance-maker based in Makassar. His interest in historical trauma, regional issues, and social concerns has given rise to his cross-media works. Mustamin's play, Sketches in the Heritage Garden, was selected as the best script in the 2022 Rawayan Theater Script Competition by the Jakarta Arts Council. His published works include Sisir-Sisir Bunga Eja by Nyala in 2019 and Indeks Penghabisan Manusia by SOKONG! in 2023. In addition to being part of Rumata’ ArtSpace and Studio Patodongi, Mustamin is also actively involved in community-based arts and cultural work.

Rachmat Mustamin adalah seorang sutradara, penulis dan performance-maker asal Indonesia yang kini berbasis di Makassar. Ketertarikannya terhadap tema-tema trauma sejarah, kawasan, dan isu-isu sosial telah melahirkan karya-karya lintasmedia. Lakonnya, Sketsa-Sketsa di Kebun Warisan, terpilih sebagai naskah terbaik pada Sayembara Naskah Teater Rawayan Award 2022 oleh Dewan Kesenian Jakarta. Karya-karyanya mencakup Sisir-Sisir Bunga Eja yang diterbitkan oleh Nyala pada tahun 2019 dan Indeks Penghabisan Manusia yang diterbitkan oleh SOKONG! pada tahun 2023. Selain menjadi bagian di Rumata’ ArtSpace dan Studio Patodongi, ia juga kerap terlibat dalam kerja-kerja seni budaya berbasis komunitas.